Sonny Jurgensen’s Return to Philly
April 1, 1964 was the day the Philadelphia Eagles traded quarterback Sonny Jurgensen to the Washington Redskins for quarterback Norm Snead. The trade was a four player deal that saw the Eagles swap cornerbacks and quarterbacks with the Redskins as Claude Crabb went to Philly, and Jimmy Carr joined Washington as well.
The Redskins would start their season 0-4 before the team played the Eagles for the first time in 1964. Jurgensen made it a point to show Philly exactly what they decided to get rid of as he went 22 of 33 for 385 yards, five touchdowns, two interceptions and a quarterback rating of 120.6. The Redskins went on to sweep the season series that year. That first year would set the tone for Sonny’s career as a starter vs Philadelphia, he finished with a 13-3 record vs the Eagles. In those 16 games Jurgensen threw for 33 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.
“After they traded me, it was always a special game for me,” Jurgensen has said. “Anybody who tells you differently is lying.”
Jurgensen didn’t only have success against his old team. After he was traded, he made the Pro Bowl in three of the next four seasons and eventually was elected to the Hall of Fame.
Norm Snead went on to make the Pro Bowl in 1965, but would end his time in Philly with a 9-26-2 starting record in his final three seasons there.
In 18 years as a pro Jurgensen had 255 touchdowns, 32,224 yards and had an overall quarterback rating of 82.6.
