Jalen Hurts Green Bay in Loss to Philly

 By Eric Goska 

Jalen Hurts rushed for 157 yards against the Packers
(screen capture from NFL Game Pass)

Ouch! That hurt!

Make that Jalen Hurts.

The elusive signal caller sparked a land grab for the ages Sunday night as his Eagles trampled the Packers 40-33 at Lincoln Financial Field. In doing so, the third-year phenom established a record for the most rushing yards gained by a quarterback in a regular-season game against the Green and Gold.

Historically, the Packers have struggled containing quarterbacks who can run. From Bobby Douglass to Michael Vick to Justin Fields, Green Bay has yielded more real estate to throwers nimble on their feet than it cared to.

That Hurts falls into this category is no secret. He, along with Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Kyler Murray, is one of four quarterbacks to have rushed for more than 1,500 yards over the past three seasons according to Pro Football Reference.

Hurts took his game to a new level against the Packers. He ripped off 157 yards on 17 carries to easily break his career-high of 106 on 18 rushes in a 24-21 win over the Saints in 2020.

In hitting the century mark, Hurts joined Douglass (100 yards) and Vick (103) as the only two quarterbacks to hit triple digits against Green Bay in the regular season. San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick had 181 in a playoff game in 2013.

Hurts started feasting early. He hustled for 24 and 28 the first two times the Eagles faced third down.

Stymied on third-and-one on the Eagles’ third possession, Hurts scooted for 42 the next time the team came up against that down. He also moved the chains on an 8-yard advance to set up Miles Sanders’ 15-yard jaunt that gave Philadelphia a 13-0 lead just six minutes into the game.

All that added up to 103 yards on seven totes for Hurts in the first quarter. In the past 100 years, only Walter Payton (117 yards in 1977) and Fred Gehrke (114 in 1945) gashed Green Bay for more than 100 on the ground in an opening period.

Though Hurts gained only 54 yards rushing the rest of the way, he had opened the floodgates. The Eagles tore into Green Bay for 363 yards with Sanders contributing 143 on 21.

Only the Bears of 1955 (406) and 1977 (375) chewed up more at the expense of the Packers in a regular-season game.

Also of note, the combined 300 yards produced by Hurts and Sanders is the most by a duo against Green Bay. The pair surpassed the 281 generated by the Rams’ Tom Wilson (223) and Joe Marconi (58) on Dec. 16, 1956.

So effective was Philadelphia that four players – Hurts (5), Sanders (3), Boston Scott (2) and Kenneth Gainwell (1) – bounded for gains of 10 or more yards. Sixty-seven years have passed since the Bears, with 16 such runs in a 52-31 romp over Green Bay on Nov. 6, 1955, had more than 11 against Green Bay.

So, amidst all this carnage, a question emerges. How often in this era of passing have teams surrendered 350 or more yards on the ground.

Nine times this century, according to Pro Football Reference. And the 363 the Eagles gained ranks fifth best.

For Green Bay, that has to hurt.

Opening the Floodgates

Since 1923, the six players who gained 90 or more yards rushing in the first quarter of a regular-season game against the Packers.

Yds.	Att.	Player	Team	Date	Result
117	10	Walter Payton	Bears	Oct. 30, 1977	GB lost, 0-26
114	2	Fred Gehrke	Rams	Nov. 11, 1945	GB lost, 7-20
103	7	Jalen Hurts	Eagles	Nov. 27, 2022	GB lost, 33-40
99	5	Elmer Angsman	Cardinals	Oct. 10, 1948	GB lost, 7-17
95	6	Hugh McElhenny	49ers	Nov. 23, 1958	GB lost, 21-37
90	9	Chris Brown	Titans	Oct. 11, 2004	GB lost, 27-48