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The Eagles will want to erase this one from their memory.
Philadelphia wasn’t necessarily supposed to win Sunday against the Rams. The Eagles were without No. 1 wideout DeVonta Smith, tackle Lane Johnson was a late scratch and early in the game, star running back Saquon Barkley exited with a hamstring injury.
After taking a 20–10 lead by halftime, however, the Eagles appeared to be on the way to an upset victory. Matthew Stafford threw two interceptions, the Rams committed multiple special teams errors and the Eagles capitalized off those mistakes with 17 points. When the Rams stopped shooting themselves in the foot, however, the Eagles blew their lead and ended up losing 24–20. Here is the main number that defined the Eagles’ collapse on Sunday.
0
A pair of zeroes, actually. It’s the number of points the Eagles scored in the second half and the number of third downs the Eagles converted in the game. There were multiple games last season (Week 12 against the Cowboys and Week 17 against the Bills) in which the Eagles failed to complete a pass and/or score points in a half, and now in 2026, the Eagles have failed to score in the second half in two consecutive weeks.
On top of the lack of points, the Eagles failed to convert a single one of their 12 third-down conversion attempts, which according to RedZone’s Scott Hanson, is the worst third-down performance in franchise history. The Eagles were undermanned, but this is an unacceptable showing for a team of Philadelphia’s caliber.
Not all of the Eagles’ third downs were third-and-longs, either. They had multiple third downs of five or fewer yards, including a third-and-goal from the Rams’ 2-yard-line in the fourth quarter. The Eagles failed to convert on third or fourth down, and came away with zero points as the Rams mounted the comeback win.
Beyond their lack of third-down success, the Eagles converted just one of four fourth-down attempts. Jalen Hurts was far from efficient as well, completing 12-of-27 passes for just 93 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Rams and the Eagles’ defense gave the team plenty of opportunities, but the Eagles’ offense mustered only 172 yards of offense, their fewest in a game in 12 years, per The Ringer’s Sheila Kapadia.
Five more numbers that defined Week 4 of the NFL season
42:45
The amount of time the Bears held the ball in their 23–12 win over the Jets. Chicago dominated time of possession, holding the ball for 42 minutes and 45 seconds, compared to New York, who had the football for 17:15. Once again, the Bears’ run game dominated, carrying the ball 54 times for 232 yards.
The Bears compiled more first downs (34) than the Jets had offensive plays (32) as the Jets managed just seven and eight total completions. Per Football Perspective, the Jets’ 32 plays compared to the Bears’ 89 plays is the second-worst ratio in a game in NFL history, only behind the Browns-Steelers in 1999. The Browns tallied 28 plays while the Steelers ran 90 plays in that matchup. Turns out the easiest way to limit the Jets’ explosive passing attack from the week before was simply to keep them off the field.
16
The number of penalties called on the Jaguars and Bengals in the first half of their matchup, the most in a first half this season according to On SI’s James Rapien. This was nearly matched by the Vikings and Dolphins later in the afternoon, as they combined for 15 penalties in the first half. Yellow flags littered the field across NFL games on Sunday, most notably in Jaguars-Bengals. Ten of these penalties went against the Jaguars. Even so, Jacksonville still led 13–3 at the half and went on to win 22–17.
Penalties had a greater impact in the Texans-Cowboys game, which saw Houston lose 34–30 after committing 13 penalties. This included a pair of fouls on cornerback Kamari Lassiter in the red zone in the third quarter. Both fouls—including a defensive holding call on fourth-and-goal— gave the Cowboys’ offense new life to score a touchdown and trim the Texans’ lead.
80%
The percentage of passes Dak Prescott completed in the second half of their win over the Texans. Per Sumer Sports, he completed 20-of-25 passes for 245 yards in the second half. Speaking of the Texans’ defense, it’s not easy to close out a win when allowing Prescott to complete 20 passes in a half. The Texans were supposed to boast the league’s best defense, yet their All-Pro pass rush and stellar secondary came up well short of their expectations to be dominant. Instead, Prescott and his top receivers—CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens—had their way late in the game. Lamb finished the game with 17 receptions for 189 yards and a touchdown while Pickens hauled in two crucial catches for 75 yards.
12
The number of carries Bills running back James Cook had in the loss to the Patriots. Despite averaging 6.2 yards per carry, Cook saw only half the carries he got a week ago in their win over the Chargers. Last season, the Patriots made the mistake of not running the ball much in the second half of their matchup against Buffalo. This time, it was the Bills. Even though the Patriots’ backs were not efficient running the ball—Drake Maye led the team with 54 rushing yards—TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson still combined for 27 carries (and 89 yards). As such, the Patriots controlled the clock for 33:41 while the Bills did not utilize their best skill-position playmaker enough to their advantage.
20
The number of seconds it took for Justin Herbert and Sam Darnold to throw interceptions in the Chargers-Seahawks game. Herbert threw a pick to Drake Thomas on the Chargers’ first offensive snap and Darnold followed on the ensuing play by throwing an interception to Tuli Tuipulotu. Per Ben Solak, this is the first game since at least 1978 to start with an interception by each team on consecutive snaps. Hard to imagine a more Charger-esque start to a game.
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EVA GEITHEIM
Eva Geitheim is an NFL writer at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor’s in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or rewatching Gilmore Girls.
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