NFL
Looking Back and Breaking Down the Eagles’ 2018 Season
The preseason power rankings had them as the NFL’s top dog, just 12 weeks later they had less than a 20% of making the playoffs. The Philadelphia Eagles had a rollercoaster of a season starting in the offseason and continuing until their very last drive. The franchise and fans alike are ready to close that chapter on the 2018 season.
Before the team can move onto 2019, it’ll be important for team executive, Howie Roseman, head coach, Doug Pederson, and owner, Jeffery Lurie, to deconstruct the past ten months. We’ll also take a moment to do just that.
2018 Offseason – Draft & Free Agency
After an upset victory in Super Bowl LII, the Eagles were left with little recourse at the draft. Philadelphia had the last pick in the first round and wasn’t set to pick again until the fourth round.
In a last-second trade with Baltimore, Philadelphia improved their standing. They traded their first and fourth-round pick for a 2018 and 2019 second round pick, and a 2018 fourth-round pick. The Eagles then selected
- Dallas Goedert: TE, South Dakota State – Round 2
- Avonte Maddox: CB, Pittsburgh – Round 4
- Josh Sweat: DE, Florida State – Round 4
- Matt Pryor: G, TCU – Round 6
- Jordan Mailata – Round 7
Philadelphia also retained, released and picked up several notable players in free agency during the offseason:
- Brent Celek, TE – Released
- Nigel Bradham, LB – Given 5-Year Contract
- Corey Nelson LB, Mike Wallace WR, Haloti Ngata DT, Paul Worrilow LB, Darren Sproles RB – Given 1-Year Contract
- Vinny Curry, DE – Released
- Nick Foles, QB – Contract Restructured to Extend to 2019 with Mutual Option
- Nelson Agholor – Exercised 5-Year Option
- Mychal Kendricks – Released (later arrested and indicted)
Howie Roseman negotiated two main trades before the start of the season:
- Michael Bennett, DE – Acquired in Trade Along With 2018 Pick to Seattle for 2018 Pick and Marcus Johnson
- Torrey Smith, WR – Traded to Carolina for Daryl Worley, CB (later released)
Injuries
Week 1 saw 12 Eagles on the injury report, including Carson Wentz, Nick Foles, Jason Peters, and Jason Kelce. At the end of the season, 12 players were on the Injury Reserve list. Each week seemed to bring about another injury.
On 40 occasions, there was a questionable player, on 47 occasions there was a doubtful player, and 250 times there was an occasion where a player was on the injury reserve therefore inactive. Some of the impactful injuries include:
- Mack Hollins – WR, Groin, Week 1: Out for Season
- Jay Ajayi – RB, Knee, Week 6: Out for Season
- Alshon Jeffery – WR, Shoulder/Illness, Week 1-4
- Timmy Jernigan – DT, Back, Week 1-11, Week 13-15
- Lane Johnson – Tackle, Ankle, Week 10 + Missed Snaps
- Sidney Jones – CB, Hamstring, Week 7-10, 12, 15+
- Jason Kelce – Center, Knee, Missed Snaps
- Chris Maragos – S, Knee, Out for Season
- Rodney McLeod – S, Knee, Out for Season
- Jalen Mills – CB, Foot, Out for Season
- Jason Peters – LT, Quadricep, Missed Snaps
- Isaac Seumalo – OG, Pectoral, Week 15-17
- Darren Sproles – RB, Hamstring, Week 1-12
- Destiny Vaeao – DT, Undisclosed, Out for Season
- Mike Wallace – WR, Shin, Out for Season
- Carson Wentz – QB, Knee/Back, Week 1-2, Week 15+
In-Season Dealings
After losing several wide receivers to injuries, the Eagles re-signed former WR, Jordan Matthews. The Eagles also acquired Golden Tate III from the Detroit Lions in return for a 2019 third-round pick. An important trade clause included a 2020 compensation pick if Tate walked after the season.
In the middle of September, the Eagles waived WR DeAndre Carter and promoted RB Josh Adams. In November, they claimed Cre’Von LeBlanc off the waivers which would later prove valuable.
Week by Week Performance
- Week 1: W 18-12. Foles and offense can’t get much together; defense makes key red zone stops to save season opener. (1-0)
- Week 2: L 21-27. Eagles suffer another slow start while Bucs score on the first play of scrimmage. (1-1)
- Week 3: W 20-16. Wentz makes his return against Colts; defensive stops save game again. (2-1)
- Week 4: L 24-26. Eagles blow the lead in the fourth quarter; defense fails multiple times to stop Titans in OT. (2-2)
- Week 5: L 21-23. Eagles climb back from a 20-3 deficit, but it isn’t enough (2-3)
- Week 6: W 34-13. All pistons firing for Eagles’ offense against Giants (3-3)
- Week 7: L 17-21. Eagles blew a 17 point lead, giving up 21 points in the fourth quarter in a loss to the Panthers (3-4)
- Week 8: W 24-18. Wentz’ 3 passing TD’s are enough to put Jags down (4-4)
- Week 10: L 20-27. Dallas runs all over Eagles, Elliot notches 151 yards while Eagles only score three points in first half (4-5)
- Week 11: L 7-48. Saints trample Eagles in an embarrassing 48-7 loss; season low (4-6)
- Week 12: 25-22. Philadelphia comes back from being down 19-11 at the half against NYG (5-6)
- Week 13: W 28-13. Eagles’ offense shows former explosiveness against Washington (6-6)
- Week 14: L 23-29. OT loss to Cowboys in a series sweep, Eagles’ offense can’t find a way to score (6-7)
- Week 15: W 30-23. Foles returns as starting QB to upset Rams (7-7)
- Week 16: W 32-30. Eagles score early and consistently. Defense contains Watson (8-7)
- Week 17: W 24-0. Eagles secure playoff position in part from the win against Washington (9-7)
What Went Wrong
In October, we discussed why the Philadelphia Eagles weren’t winning. The problems outlined back in the earlier weeks of 2018 continued to haunt them up until their playoff exit against the Saints in the Divisional Round.
Injuries, as previously stated, played a major role in Philadelphia’s season, but it wasn’t the only.
Personnel Changes and Qualms
A point that’s been talked about at length, but can’t be overstated is the loss of Frank Reich and John DeFilippo along with the premature promotion of Mike Groh. Reich, the former offensive coordinator, and DeFilippo, the former QB coach, left after the 2017 season to lateral positions. This left Wentz without his coach and Pederson without a dissenting opinion on the sideline.
The Eagles responded by promoting Groh to OC, who had been acting WR coach. Groh’s tenure in the league had been short and overall unimpressive, certainly not deserving of an offensive coordinator role. These events would come back to hurt the Eagles in several ways.
Defensive Woes
The Eagles ended the season with the 23rd overall defense (10th worst), allowing the third most passing yards per game in the league. Their run defense, which had been their bread and butter in 2017, slipped from second best to seventh overall.
In multiple games this season, the front seven specifically failed to stop the opposing team’s ground game or short yardage plays. This resulted in two overtime losses, two blown leads, and a swift booting from the postseason.
The discipline of the 2017 defensive squad seemed to fly out the window. The Eagles allowed opponents to convert on third down 35% of the time and 58% on fourth down. Additionally, they were penalized 115 times costing them 995 yards.
Secondary Issues
Philadelphia’s secondary allowed 348 points and 4,308 yards during the regular season. Opponents gained an average of 7.4 yards per pass against them. The secondary gave up 60 20+ yard passes, and six 40+ yard passes. The Eagles picked the ball off just ten times, which is eighth worst in the league.
While the secondary faced a series of injuries, the inexcusable performance wasn’t helped from the sideline. Jim Schwartz who had a considerably healthy front seven and a severely banged up secondary refused to blitz opposing offenses the majority of the season. In late November, the Eagles had one of the lowest blitz percentages at 18%.
On top of the lack of blitz, defensive backs began to play 15 yards off the line of scrimmage in attempts to avoid getting beat downfield. This resulted in a huge hole in coverage in the long midfield (60 passes worth), as well as around the first down marker. The lack of discipline also haunted the Eagles’ DBs specifically in Avonte Maddox who routinely cheated in coverage by jumping routes.
This resulted in big plays in the latter portion of the season, something Schwartz didn’t correct. To make matters worse, top league receivers like Michael Thomas were left open, as double coverage was rarely called by the defensive coordinator.
Low Flying Offense
The Eagles scored the sixth least points in the first half with an average of just 9.2. This was a far jump from their 2017 season. The inability to score early and get on the board left an injured defense to play clean up and forced Wentz and Pederson to play and coach from behind.
The injuries suffered at the beginning of the season, specifically in the backfield, affected Philadelphia’s ground game greatly. With Ajayi out for the season, as well as Sproles and Clement out for weeks on end, the Eagles were forced to turn to Wendall Smallwood and Josh Adams. Smallwood had only played eight games in 2017, while Adams went undrafted and was then signed to the practice squad.
The Eagles ended the season with the fifth worst backfield, averaging just 98.1 yards a game. The lack of talent in the backfield matched with their poor performance at times left the Eagles’ offense one dimensional.
Play Calling Problems
By the end of the season, Philadelphia passed the ball on 61.77% of plays, up from 55.78% the previous year. At various points in the season, the number was upwards of 70%. While the Eagles lacked healthy talent in their backfield, their RB’s did manage to average 3.9 yards-per-carry. What really affected the run efficiency was the lack of run plays during most of the season.
Due to the Eagles often falling behind early in contests, Pederson’s play calling became slightly eradicate. Drives in the middle of a game with plenty of time left on the clock felt like two-minute drills. Rather than sticking to the run game, and prioritizing dink and dunk style passes, Pederson and Wentz seemed to only look downfield.
Additionally, with the reduction in run plays, the team should have also seen a reduction in pass-action plays, but it didn’t. This left defenses unfooled by the play-action and the offensive line tired and vulnerable. As a result, Wentz and Foles took over 100 QB hits throughout the season. The sheer number of hits resulted in fractured vertebrae for Wentz and bruised ribs for Foles.
The overuse of trick plays and abandonment of simple screen passes, wheel routes, and two-tight end formations led to awkward offensive performances. The offense struggled to move the chains while they tried to find their rhythm.
The lack of time of possession kept them on several occasions from being able to come back and rally and keeping the other offense off the field.
It Wasn’t All Bad
The Eagles accomplished several impressive feats this season. Zach Ertz set a league record for single-season receptions by a tight end, Wentz ended seventh in passer rating (100+ attempts), and despite all odds, Philadelphia made it into the playoffs.
A missed field goal gave them a win against the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card round before the Saints would defeat them for the second time in New Orleans. Despite not returning to the NFC Championship, the Eagles beat all odds in making it into the middle of January.
Everything from the strength and conditioning staff to coaching personnel, the playbook to the roster will need to be looked at this offseason. There is a lot to deconstruct and digest, however, the foundational building blocks are there to rebuild what at times felt lost.
The Philadelphia Eagles in two weeks will no longer be the reigning Super Bowl champions and will return next season as underdogs, and that just might be what the doctor ordered.
Photo Credit
Featured Image courtesy of Keith Allison
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