Bleeding Green Nation
QB vs. QB look at Philadelphia’s 2025 schedule.
Jalen Hurts will hopefully break the bobbing trend he has been on over the last three years: Even years he does exceptionally well (2022 and 2024 reaching the Super Bowl), and the odd year, there was a dramatic fall (2023). Last year, when we did this, Hurts came out 10-7 (he finished 12-3 as a starter and looked good). Two years ago, we had Hurts 16-1 (he went 11-6, though lost six of his last seven starts, and didn’t look good). Three years ago, we had Hurts coming out 4-13 over the 17 games we predicted in the quarterback challenge. It was terribly wrong.
This year, we have Hurts as the better quarterback in 12 of the Eagles’ 17 games in 2025.
In compiling this year’s stats, the Saquon Barkley effect leaped out: Except for two, Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott (who played in only eight games due a season-ending hamstring injury), every quarterback the Eagles are projected to face this year that played last season threw for more completions and more yards than Hurts (248 completions/2,903 yards) in 2024.
That includes three rookies, Jayden Daniels (331/3,568), Bo Nix (376/3,775) and Caleb Williams (351/3,541).
The Eagles showed that they could have an effective passing game in their 40-22 Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, despite Hurts throwing the ball just 22 times.
How long, however, can a team sustain that throughout a whole season?
Not long.
Captain Obvious: You need to throw the ball to win consistently in the NFL.
The Eagles and the city of Philadelphia have been marinating in Super Bowl bliss since February. Someone needs to remind them that winning a Super Bowl does not automatically make a quarterback elite (see Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, and Joe Flacco). Hurts is a razor-thin level below the elite. The 2024 Eagles benefitted more from Hurts not throwing the ball than throwing the ball—and his passing ability should be more consistent, as it was in the Super Bowl, not the way he played during the regular season.
This season, Hurts and the Eagles will again be facing a solid group of opposing quarterbacks, topped by two-time former MVP and three-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen, and rising stars Jayden Daniels, mixed with established, though considered second-tier elite starters like Matt Stafford, Justin Herbert, Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff. Geno Smith has, and can, beat the Eagles.
It’s an interesting list who the Eagles and Hurts will face in 2025.
Hurts is the best quarterback in the NFC East, however, it is a reign that may not last long, with the Washington Commanders’ Daniels showing remarkable poise and polish his rookie season beating the Eagles on a last-second TD pass. Dak Prescott is still formidable, just two years removed from going 12-5 as a starter, while throwing 36 touchdowns against nine interceptions for 4,516 yards. Wilson, however, is shot.
The Eagles will...
