The City of Brotherly Love is celebrating the Philadelphia Eagles’ status as the NFL championship team of the 2024 season with a parade on Friday.
“You look at the city of Philadelphia, and all the support, all the passion, the hunger, the eagerness, and it’s something that they all can celebrate,” Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said in the Philadelphia locker room on Thursday. “And I’m glad and blessed to be able to represent them and represent the city.”
The Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday in New Orleans to earn their title.
“As you reflect on everything, you put so much work in,” Hurts said. “And you work 364 days of the year just for one moment. And the mission has been accomplished. And I know the iteration of this team this year will never be the same. You go through changes, and every year is different, every team is different. And so we’ll have our moments allocated to enjoy everything we’ve been able to accomplish, but also understanding that we’re behind in terms of what’s to come. And it’s been a great ride this year with these guys, with this group.”
Hurts received the Pete Rozelle Trophy as Super Bowl LIX’s Most Valuable Player, joining Bart Starr and Joe Namath as former Alabama quarterbacks who have been named Super Bowl MVP. Starr won the award for the first two games, and Namath for the third. Hurts’ honor came in the 59th Super Bowl.
Hurts also played in the 57th Super Bowl, but the Eagles lost to the Chiefs 38-35 to cap the 2022 NFL campaign.
“It’s like the joy of winning, it still had no comparison to the pain of losing it,” Hurts said. “And so those things are still going to continue to motivate me and drive me internally.”
At his Super Bowl LIX postgame press conference, Hurts called his path to a Super Bowl-winning QB a “very unprecedented journey.” While he may have been referring to the loss of his starting position at Alabama to Tua Tagovailoa, prompting his transfer to Oklahoma, and his entrance into the NFL as a gadget player behind Eagles starter Carson Wentz, unprecedented also could be used for some of the numbers that Hurts has recorded during his NFL career.
Here are 10 numbers that outline the distinctiveness of Hurts’ five seasons in the NFL so far:
1 Of the 89 quarterbacks chosen in the NFL Draft since the Kansas City Chiefs selected Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes 10th in 2017 has started in a Super Bowl victory – Jalen Hurts in the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 victory over Kansas City in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday. Mahomes has been the winning quarterback in the Super Bowl three times. The other winning quarterbacks since the 2017 draft have been Nick Foles, a 2012 draft pick; Tom Brady (twice), a 2000 draft pick; and Matthew Stafford, a 2009 draft pick. Hurts joined the Eagles in the second round of the 2020 draft. Hurts is among the three quarterbacks who have beaten Mahomes in his 21 postseason games, joining Tom Brady (twice) and Joe Burrow.
1 Quarterback in NFL history had at least 14,500 passing yards and 2,800 rushing yards after making 66 regular-season starts – Jalen Hurts. In his 66 regular-season starts, Hurts has 14,525 passing yards and 3,051 rushing yards.
1 Player has two games with at least 300 passing yards and three touchdown runs. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has two of the five such games in NFL history. His first occurred in a 25-20 victory over the Chicago Bears on Dec. 18, 2022. His second happened in a 38-35 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, 2023. It’s the only postseason game among the five instances.
1 Starting quarterback has won a rematch in the Super Bowl. Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles defeated Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday after losing to them 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII two seasons ago. The Super Bowl had had three previous rematches between quarterbacks, and each time the QB that won the first game won the second – Terry Bradshaw and the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated Roger Staubach and the Dallas Cowboys twice, Troy Aikman and the Cowboys defeated Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills twice, and Eli Manning and the New York Giants defeated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots twice.
3 NFL games have featured a player who had at least 221 passing yards, two touchdown passes, 72 rushing yards, one touchdown run and a 77 percent completion rate. Jalen Hurts did it in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday. The other two quarterbacks to reach those numbers in the same game were Steve McNair in the Tennessee Titans’ 28-24 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 4, 2001, and Kyler Murray in the Arizona Cardinals’ 34-31 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 8, 2020.
4 Seasons with at least 10 rushing touchdowns for Jalen Hurts, one-quarter of the total times that it has been accomplished by a quarterback. Only two other quarterbacks – Cam Newton and Josh Allen – have accomplished the feat more than once. Since Hurts became the Philadelphia Eagles’ No. 1 QB in 2021, he has run for more touchdowns in regular-season play than any other player, regardless of position, with 52 – one more than Derrick Henry.
10 Rushing touchdowns in nine postseason games for Jalen Hurts, who has the most playoff rushing touchdowns of any quarterback. During the playoffs for the 2024 season, Hurts surpassed the career record of Steve Young, who ran for eight touchdowns in 22 postseason games. No other NFL quarterback who has played in nine or fewer postseason games has more than four rushing touchdowns. Four of Hurts’ touchdowns have come in the Super Bowl, which is tied for the QB record for the game with John Elway.
52 Years since the previous time a quarterback won his second Super Bowl start after losing in his first. Hurts became the first QB to accomplish this in the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday since Bob Griese and the Miami Dolphins defeated the Washington Redskins 14-7 in Super Bowl VII on Jan. 14, 1973, for the first of back-to-back Super Bowl victories. Miami lost to the Dallas Cowboys 24-3 in Super Bowl VI the previous season. Hurts and the Eagles lost to Kansas City 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII two seasons ago. Hurts was the seventh starting quarterback to make it back to the Super Bowl after losing. The Chiefs’ Len Dawson lost in Super Bowl I and won in Super Bowl IV. The Denver Broncos’ John Elway lost in Super Bowls XXI, XXII and XXIV and won in Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII.
55 Career rushing touchdowns for Jalen Hurts, the third-most in regular-season play for a quarterback in NFL history. Cam Newton ran for 75 touchdowns to set the NFL quarterback record. Josh Allen is second with 65 touchdowns. Newton played in 148 regular-season games. Allen has played in 111 regular-season games. Hurts has played in 77 regular-season games.
142 Rushing yards in the Super Bowl for Jalen Hurts. Hurts has the top two rushing totals for a quarterback in the Super Bowl with 72 yards in the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday and a 38-35 loss to Kansas City in Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, 2023. With 142 rushing yards, Hurts ranks second in Super Bowl history among quarterbacks to the 197 of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, who has played in five games. Fifteen of Hurts’ 26 rushing attempts have produced first downs, the most in Super Bowl history for a quarterback.
