Eagles vs. Jets NFL Week 6: Jalen Hurts can make history, Philly unbeaten all-time in series
Perhaps the “greenest” game of the 2023 #NFL regular season is Sunday as the Philadelphia Eagles visit the New York Jets in what looked like a possible Super Bowl 58 preview when the season opened, but that all went out the window when Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1. The Eagles are 7-point favorites and amazingly are 12-0 all-time vs. the Jets, covering the spread in all but one game.
That 12-game Philadelphia winning streak in the series is tied for the longest win streak to start a head-to-head matchup in NFL history with Browns vs. Cardinals from 1950-55. Philly has won those 12 by an average of 11.7 points per game (27.9 to 16.3). That 12-0 record is the best in league history by one team against another; obviously the Cardinals eventually beat the Brown.
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts, meanwhile, is looking to join legends Joe Montana and Tom Brady as the only signal-callers since the merger to win 12 straight road starts. When the Eagles won 33-21 at the Jets in 2021, Hurts was out with an ankle injury and Gardner Minshew started. #FlyEaglesFly have started nine different QBs in the series during the winning streak and Hurts will be No. 10. Montana’s 18 straight road wins is the record since 1970. Brady’s streak reached 13.
Philadelphia is 5-0 for the fourth in franchise history (1981, 2022, 2023) and won its six game in each of those three. The Eagles, who are the first team since the 1991 Bills to start 5-0 after losing in the Super Bowl, have been playing with fire often so far and own the 14th-worst point differential (+37) among the 133 5-0 starts in NFL history.
Hurts and that Eagles offense are well-known for the "Tush Push," a controversial QB sneak that is nearly unstoppable. The Jets are well aware of it and plan to punish Hurts if the Eagles try it Sunday.
"You know the reality is that they're really good at it and it feels like the quarterback is wearing a bulletproof vest when you look at him he's got all that padding on. We're gonna do our best to try to stop it." New York coach Robert Saleh said. "But if the quarterback carries the ball, we've gotta give him 11 kisses, and just figure out a way to do that."
The Jets have had 12 different starting QBs during this skid and that will stay at 12 as Zach Wilson will start Sunday and had one of his better games in that 2021 Eagles loss in throwing for 226 yards with three total TDs. In last Sunday’s upset win in Denver, Wilson completed a season-high 73% of his passes and New York snapped a 10-game streak without running offensive play while leading in a game. That was the longest such streak in NFL since first tracked in 1991.
All three of New York’s home games this season have been decided by six points or fewer and the #TakeFlight have hosted two other Super Bowl contenders in Kansas City and Buffalo (and New England).
The Jets are 0-4 SU & ATS in their past four games vs. NFC opponents and this is their first of 2023. Philly is 3-0 ATS on the road this year.