Jalen Hurts’ milestone pass reaches NFL, Alabama firsts

When Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jahan Dotson with 5:59 left in Sunday’s 38-20 victory over the New York Giants, the former Alabama signal-caller reached a milestone in his NFL career.

And the 100th regular-season touchdown pass for Hurts also established an NFL first and an Alabama first in the league.

The touchdown pass was Hurts’ fourth of the game, and at the same time on Sunday, former Alabama teammate Tua Tagovailoa was passing for four touchdowns in the Miami Dolphins’ 34-10 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

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Six Crimson Tide alumni have produced 27 NFL games with at least four touchdown passes, but Sunday was the first day in league history that two accomplished the feat on the same date.

Hurts has three games with at least four touchdown passes and Tagovailoa has five – four with four and one with six.

Ken Stabler had seven regular-season games with at least four touchdown passes, Joe Namath had six and Bart Starr and Richard Todd had two apiece in regular-season play. Starr and Stabler had one such game each in the playoffs.

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Hurts also became the first player in NFL history with at least 15 touchdown passes, five TD runs and no more than one interception eight games into a season.

No player in NFL history has had that set of numbers eight games into a season before Hurts. The closest had been another Philadelphia quarterback. In 2010, Michael Vick had 13 touchdown passes, five touchdown runs and one interception after eight games.

“Playing like the quarterback that we know he can be, and that’s the best in the league,” Dotson said of Hurts after Sunday’s game. “He’s doing a great job commanding the offense and making sure that everyone’s in the right spots, putting the ball out on time. So it’s nothing new to us. We see it every single day, and it’s cool to see it come true on Sundays.”

Hurts has completed 151-of-215 passes for 1,677 yards with 15 touchdowns and one interception and run for 208 yards and five touchdowns on 58 carries.

One odd note about Hurts’ three four-touchdown games: All have occurred in the eighth week of the season. Hurts also had four TD passes in a 35-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 30, 2022, and a 38-31 victory over the Washington Commanders on Oct. 29, 2023.

Hurts became the sixth player with 100 regular-season touchdown passes for the Eagles. Donovan McNabb holds the franchise record with 216 while playing for Philadelphia from 1999 through 2009. The other players with 100 TD passes for the Eagles are Ron Jaworski, Randall Cunningham, Carson Wentz and Norm Snead.

At 6-2, the Eagles don’t play again until Nov. 10. After its Week 9 bye, Philadelphia plays the Green Bay Packers at 7:15 p.m. CST Nov. 10 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. ABC and ESPN will televise the Monday night contest.