2023 Eagles playoff notebook: Key facts, figures, MVPs, top stories from Philly's march to NFC championship

The Eagles demolished their division rival Giants on Saturday night, claiming a 38-7 divisional round victory and the most lopsided win of the 2023 NFL playoffs, as well as franchise history. Frankly, it was never a contest. Now, the team is one win away from making its second Super Bowl appearance in five seasons. With that in mind, here's a special Philadelphia-themed notebook, compiling fun facts, key figures and the top stories from the Birds' latest run to the NFC championship:

MVEs (Most Valuable Eagles)

For much of the year, the Eagles' quarterback has been in the NFL MVP conversation. He also headlines our ranking of the top 10 best, most important members of the 2022 Eagles:

Key Facts and Figures

1: The number of teams who have allowed fewer total yards than the Eagles this year

8: The number of Eagles wins this season that came by multiple scores

21: The number of wins in the Eagles' last 24 home games with Jalen Hurts as their starting QB

38: Jalen Hurts' touchdown total across 16 games, including playoffs

38-7: The score of the Eagles' Jan. 21 playoff win in both the 2017 and 2022 seasons

75: The total number of sacks recorded by the Eagles across 18 games, including playoffs, this year

75.5: Miles Sanders' average weekly rushing-yard total, including playoffs, which marks a career high

The Undying Contender

The Eagles' rout of the Giants on Saturday didn't just confirm the 2022 team as a success story; it also cemented the organization as one of the NFL's most reliable contenders of the last two-plus decades. By advancing, they earned their seventh NFC championship appearance since 2001, the most in the NFL. That means, during that span, the Eagles have made an NFC title bid almost 32% of the time, or roughly once every three years. Only five teams have more NFC championship game appearances all-time. And only the Patriots have more conference championship appearances since 2001 from the AFC.

The Howie Model

It's a testament to owner Jeffrey Lurie's hiring process that the Eagles have remained so consistently competitive over the last 20+ years despite multiple regime changes, with Andy Reid, Doug Pederson and now Nick Sirianni guiding the team to an NFC championship since the turn of the century. (And how fitting that both Reid's Chiefs and Pederson's Jaguars were going head to head for a spot in the AFC championship earlier Saturday.)

But the Eagles' most recent breakouts are also a big credit to general manager Howie Roseman's penchant for quick rebuilds. Roseman infamously botched some big-name gambles at the end of the Reid era, leading to a brief demotion, and struggled to maintain a balanced roster after winning it all in 2017. But two times now in the last five years, he's successfully struck gold on multiple draft-day swings, blockbuster trades and free-agent splurges to assemble arguably the NFL's deepest lineups.

In 2017, he surrounded a second-year coach (Pederson) and second-year QB (Carson Wentz) with upgrades at the skill positions (RBs Jay Ajayi, LeGarrette Blount; WRs Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith) and across the "D" (DE Chris Long, DT Tim Jernigan, CBs Ronald Darby, Patrick Robinson) to find MVP production and, ultimately, a title run led by handpicked backup QB Nick Foles. In 2022, he surrounded a second-year coach (Sirianni) and third-year QB (Hurts) with even better veteran plug-ins across the board: Brown, Reddick, Bradberry and Gardner-Johnson, among others.

Stories of the Season

Relive some of the best on- and off-field moments of the 2022 Eagles with these stories of the club's difference-makers:

Jalen Hurts changing lives as Eagles' QB1: 'This is who I am' Nick Sirianni's rapid rise to

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