10 greatest performances by former Eagles vs. the Eagles – NBC Sports Philadelphia

D’Andre Swift on Friday set a record of some sort for most rushing yards against the Eagles by a former Eagle.

Swift’s 125 rushing yards in the Bears’ 24-15 win at the Linc broke the “record” of 101 yards set 62 years earlier by the Steelers’ Clarence Peaks. More on that below.

Swift, who made the Pro Bowl in 2023 in his only season with the Eagles, also ran for 144 yards for the Lions against the Eagles, which makes him the first player since Gerald Riggs in the 1980s with rushing performances of at least 125 yards against the Eagles for two different teams. Riggs had 129 yards for the Falcons in 1985 and 221 for Washington in 1989.

Swift’s performance got us thinking about the best games ever by former Eagles against the Eagles. 

(Note: Too soon? Maybe. If you’re still hurting after Friday afternoon, set this aside to read later this week. Or next month. Or in 2036.)

Here in chronological order are 10 of the best performances by former Eagles against the Eagles that we came up with! Who’s missing? [Thanks to Eagles historian Nate Aldsworth for his assistance with this list. He has a better memory than me!]

1. Before there was D’Andre Swift, there was Clarence Peaks: Running back Clarence Peaks was the seventh pick in the 1957 draft, but in nine NFL seasons he only had two 100-yard games. He had one in his seven seasons with the Eagles – 102 yards vs. the Browns in Cleveland in 1960. The other one came against the Eagles four years later at Pitt Stadium as a member of the Steelers. Peaks ran just 11 times but for 101 yards in a game the Eagles won 34-10. Peaks had a career-long 70-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.  Peaks’ 101 yards against the Eagles remained the most rushing yards in a game by a former Eagle against the Eagles until Friday.

2. Sonny Jurgensen tosses 5 TDs: In his fifth game with Washington after spending seven seasons with the Eagles, Sonny Jurgensen threw five touchdowns and passed for 385 yards in a 35-20 win over the Eagles at District of Columbia Stadium in October 1964. Along with Don Meredith and Joe Montana, he remains one of only three QBs in history with 385 yards and five TDs in a game against the Eagles. That turned out to be the only five-TD performance Jurgensen had in his 11 seasons with Washington. 

3. Cris Carter returns to the Vet: In his sixth game with the Vikings after he was released by the Eagles after training camp in 1990, Cris Carter came back to the Vet and caught six passes for 151 yards from Rich Gannon in a game the Eagles won 32-24 behind 262 passing yards and two TDs and 90 rushing yards from Carter’s friend and old quarterback, Randall Cunningham. Carter went on to catch 1,101 passes and like Jurgensen and Owens became a Hall of Famer.

4. Randall gets last laugh on Reggie: In Week 2 of 1993, Rich Kotite brought the Eagles to Lambeau Field to face the Packers. Somehow, the Eagles won, but Reggie White had quite a game against the team he starred with from 1985 through 1992. In just his second game as a Packer, White sacked Randall Cunningham in the second quarter and forced two Cunningham fumbles in the first quarter. White had 3 ½ sacks in five games against his former team, but the Eagles won 20-17.

5. Darrin Smith? Really? After four years with the Cowboys, linebacker Darrin Smith signed a one-year contract with the Eagles in 1997 but lasted only seven games before his season ended with an ankle injury. He signed the next offseason with the Seahawks, who happened to open the 1998 season against the Eagles at the Vet. And Smith had two sacks, 12 tackles and a fumble recovery in the Seahawks’ 38-0 win, still the Eagles’ worst opening-day loss ever. 

6. The Eagles got torched by a guy named Bubby: With John Elway out with a hamstring injury, Bubby Brister got a Week 5 start against the Eagles in 1998. The Broncos were on their way to a Super Bowl championship and the Eagles were on their way to a hapless 3-13 season that cost Ray Rhodes his job. After seven years in Pittsburgh, Brister played for the Eagles in 1993 and 1994, going 4-6 in 10 starts. By 1998, he was 36 years old and had won just seven games over the previous six seasons. But on Oct. 4 at Mile High Stadium, he went 16-for-29 for 203 yards and four TD passes, beating his former team 41-16 in a game the Broncos led 28-0 in the first quarter. It was Brister’s first four-TD game since he was with the Steelers in 1990.

7. T.O. lights up the Linc: In November of 2007, in his second game in Philly after signing with the Cowboys after his Eagles career ended in 2005, Terrell Owens had 10 catches for 174 yards and a touchdown from Tony Romo in the Cowboys’ 38-17 win at the Linc . That remains the 17th-most yards ever against the Eagles and the 7th-most in Philly. It’s also the most yards ever by a former Eagle against the Eagles.

8. Kevin Kolb shines after leaving Philly: Kevin Kolb didn’t have a lot of success in his brief NFL career. He only won nine games, three with the Eagles in 2009 and 2010 and then three with Arizona in both 2011 and 2012. One of his best came against the Eagles, who drafted him in the second round in 2007. In Week 3 of the 2012 season, Kolb completed 17 of 24 passes against the Eagles for 222 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 127.4 passer rating in a 27-6 win in Glendale, Ariz. 

9. Danny Amendola was an Eagle? Before he caught over 600 passes for the Rams, Patriots, Dolphins, Lions and Texans, Danny Amendola spent a chunk of the 2009 season on the Eagles’ practice squad. Nine years later, Amendola faced the Eagles as a member of the Patriots in Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis after the 2017 season. He caught eight passes for 152 yards in the Eagles’ 41-33 win. That remains the most receiving yards ever in a Super Bowl by an undrafted player.

10. D-Jack does it again: DeSean Jackson had four 100-yard games against the Eagles, three with Washington and one with Tampa. The only players with more are Jason Witten and Julio Jones. (Jackson also had 21 100-yard games for the Eagles, and only Pete Retzlaff had more). D-Jack’s biggest game against the team that drafted him in the second round in 2008 came as a Buc in 2018, when he opened the game with a 75-yard touchdown catch from Ryan Fitzpatrick and finished 4-for-129 in a 27-21 Tampa win at Raymond James Stadium.