Why The Philadelphia Eagles Aren’t Winning

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NFL

The Philadelphia Eagles Fall To 12th In The NFC

If you were to walk up Broad Street last February, pieces of confetti could be found stuck under bus stops, strewn across barren trees and gracing the tops of halal stands. Philadelphians could physically see the signs of victory everywhere.

Now, the only grace to be found is that the Phillies’ season is over and the pictures of new Flyers’ mascot Gritty have decreased from everyone’s timelines. It’s dark times in the City of Brotherly love just five weeks into the Eagles’ season. The fall from glory was harsher than the city’s soda tax.

Analysts and fans are left wondering: what’s happening and what’s next? Predictions for the rest of the Eagles’ season are almost impossible to make. However, there are definite answers for what’s going wrong down on South Broad Street. Well, a lot is going wrong down there, but you get the point.

Record Scratch, Freeze Frame

I bet you’re wondering how the Super Bowl Champions got to 2-3. In the season opener, the Eagles evaded a loss to the Falcons by key defensive fourth-quarter stops. The 18-12 game couldn’t end soon enough for both Birds.

In Week 2 the Eagles traveled to Tampa Bay to face Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Buccaneers. The Eagles lost 27-21 to the Bucs after allowing almost 400 passing yards. The Eagles came back to Philadelphia to take on the Indianapolis Colts, this time with a healthy Carson Wentz.

Philadelphia beat the Colts in a similar fashion to the Atlanta game; another contest they maybe should have lost but won due to defensive stops. Then in Week 4, the Titans beat the Eagles in a game that many fans thought would end like Week 1 and Week 3.

The Eagles were slightly ahead and had three chances to stop Tennessee on fourth down in overtime. The Titans were able to stay alive and score a touchdown thereby ending the game. Following the loss to the Titans, the Eagles lost another winnable game in Week 5 to the Vikings.

Personnel Changes

As is with most Super Bowl-winning teams, Philadelphia’s coaching staff got poached. Eagles’ head coach Doug Pederson lost two key assistant coaches this past offseason to other teams.

Offensive coordinator Frank Reich and quarterback coach John DeFilippo both departed Philadelphia due to promotions. Reich is currently the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts while DeFilippo is now the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. More to be discussed on this later.

The Eagles also lost several key players from their Super Bowl winning-roster. The offense lost running back LeGarrette Blount, tight ends Trey Burton and Brent Celek, and wide receiver Torrey Smith. Most potently missed are Blount’s abilities to bruise a defensive line and secure 2-4 yard gains. Burton’s potential as a deep ball threat also would have been helpful this year.

The defense took the bigger hit losing a top cornerback Patrick Robinson, defensive tackle Beau Allen, defensive end Vinny Curry, as well as linebackers Mychal Kendricks and Najee Goode.

Injuries

“Injury” is the buzzword this Eagles’ season. After losing several key players to injury last year, including starting quarterback Carson Wentz, the curse continues this season. At one point three wide receivers were ruled out due to injury leaving Nick Foles and Wentz to throw to practice squad talent.

Lead RB Jay Ajayi is now out for the season after tearing his ACL. This injury along with Jason Peter’s health status has led to a downfall of the Eagles’ run game and pocket protection. Currently, the Eagles are one of the most banged up teams in the league.

Defensive Woes, The Secondary’s Primary Problems

Philadelphia’s run defense is second best in the league only allowing 66.4 rushing yards a game. However, their pass rush is ranked 16th in the league in sacks. So while Philadelphia’s run defense has followed suit from the previous year, the pass rush has weakened allowing quarterbacks better opportunities to look downfield. This only further perpetuates the severe problem that is the Eagles’ secondary.

Philadelphia has the 11th worst secondary in the league allowing an average of 276 passing yards a game. After just five weeks of football, they have allowed 18 20+ yard passes and four 40+yard passes. The Eagles’ secondary lost CB Patrick Robinson to the Saints and FS Rodney McLeod to injury. Philadelphia’s front office obviously didn’t predict Robinson’s departure having such a drastic effect.

The heir apparent to Robinson, Sidney Jones, and Avonte Maddox, have not yet been able to fill his shoes. The other DBs on the roster have had their own struggles this year as well, particularly Jalen Mills. Mills has been getting burned by more than just WRs this year. Twitter has erupted after each game with criticism of Mills’ lack of speed and unearned celebrations.

Mills calling some Eagles’ fans fake did not help the situation. The lack of speed and awareness at the CB position has been suffocating for Philadelphia. With McLeod out and SS Malcolm Jenkins getting older, the CBs won’t be receiving much help.

Low Flying Offense

Problems at the Offensive Line

The Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line was once ranked first in the league. They are now ranked 26th in the NFL. They’ve allowed 42 QB hits and 17 sacks this season thus far. At that rate, by the end of the regular season, they will have allowed over 130 QB hits.

If they plan on keeping Wentz healthy, something will need to change. With a suffering running game and lack of receivers due to injuries, Wentz needs as much time and protection in the pocket as he can get.

Run-Pass Balance

RB Jay Ajayi has vocalized his disdain for the Eagles’ playcalling this season. The pass-run balance has been noticeably off since Week 1. The addition of Carson Wentz in Week 3 didn’t seem to help the problem.

The heavy reliance on the passing game makes little sense with a struggling offensive line and weak WR core. Keeping the ball out of Wentz’s hands also helps protect him from injury and eventually opens up the passing game. A higher frequency of run plays would also give the o-line an easier time.

Formations

There has been a hesitation, or maybe even a refusal, to use a pistol or shotgun formation this season similar to that of last. This has caused Wentz to take more hits and allotted him less time to find open receivers downfield.

Last year, Philadelphia often used a two TE formation where there is one less offensive lineman on the field. While it was successful last year with Ertz and Burton, the Eagles had a strong offensive line.

The poor performance of the current offensive line does not allow the Eagles to use this formation successfully yet they continue to. While rookie TE Dallas Goedert is an offensive talent, his presence on the field isn’t worth sitting a guard the o-line so desperately needs right now, at least now on a consistent basis.

Game Management

The playcalling problems extend beyond the frequency of the pass. On multiple occasions, Philadelphia has called trick plays, screen passes, or pitches on short yardage situations. The summation of this has led to the punt unit coming onto the field rather than a new set of downs.

Additionally, we have yet to really see the Eagles’ hurry-up offense Wentz thrives in outside of two-minute warnings. While their depth chart is lacking talent and experience, the currently available players can surely be expected to handle a faster tempo commanded by Wentz.

Is Doug Pederson Getting Exposed?

Last year, Frank Reich not only called the plays but shaped Pederson’s playbook adding run-pass options, heavy shot-gun formation, and a hurry-up offense. John DeFilippo was crucial in re-writing the playbook for backup QB Nick Foles when Wentz went down with a season-ending injury.

The two also helped coordinate with the various position coaches to create a seamless offensive scheme for their prized fighter, Wentz. With the absence of these two coaches, Pederson has been left to run the offense almost from top to bottom on his own, either by need or by choice.

New offensive coordinator, Mike Groh, joined the team in 2017 as the wide receivers coach. Prior to his time with the Eagles, Groh was the passing game coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams. After Reich and DeFilippo’s departure, Groh was prematurely promoted to OC.

Assistant head coach/running backs coach, Duce Staley, seems to have only been promoted in name. No additional responsibilities have truly been handed to him since becoming the assistant head coach; it may behoove of Pederson to do so.

It is clear that everything from the play calling, game management, and overall organization are missing from the high flying Eagles team of last year. This is due to more than just missing Blount.

Get it? So the question becomes, is Doug Pederson getting exposed? Was Pederson crowned king off of the merits of Reich and DeFilippo? It’s too early to make such a bold claim about a head coach just coming off a 13-3 season climaxing in a Super Bowl victory.

However, a reexamination of Pederson’s effectiveness and football acumen may be necessary. By no means would it be appropriate to say Pederson has not earned the head coaching position, but it is becoming clear that he needs to allow or obtain better assistance.

Lost Identity, A Crisis of Confidence

The chant could be heard from Girard Estates to Germantown, “We All We Got. We All We Need.” Last season’s motto impressed upon the team that no matter who went down via injury or trade, they had the talent and heart they needed to win right in their locker room.

They were a band of brothers and a family on the field. The underdog persona the Eagles adopted only further propelled this sentiment. With the best record in the NFL for the majority of the regular season, Philadelphia faced doubt and criticism. The Eagles believed they were the only ones who knew just how good they were.

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All we need. #FlyEaglesFly

A post shared by Philadelphia Eagles (@philadelphiaeagles) on Feb 19, 2018 at 10:50am PST

In contrast, the team entered the current season as reigning champions. While the drive to repeat is less fierce than the drive to prove a nation wrong, that likely isn’t the biggest problem.

The hungry dogs got full and comfortable on top. In the NFL, you are either moving forward or you are moving backward. There is no resting or sitting in moving water. Comfortability leads to complacency which breeds a lack of discipline.

The Eagles are learning what Philadelphians learned by March; the parade is over. While repeating is hard, a winning season is completely attainable, but at the rate, they are going they will not achieve it.

Doug Pederson, if you want confetti at the art museum to be Philadelphia’s “new normal,” do something different. Find out who your locker room is, find out what they can be, and find a way to get them there. They’re starting to think this Super Bowl ring is rented.

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#myteam #flyeaglesfly #weallwegotweallweneed

A post shared by Ally B (@xreally_bx) on Oct 7, 2018 at 11:43am PDT

Photo Credit

Featured Image courtesy of bslax28

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