Eagles Offense Putting Up Numbers, but Where Are the Points?: On paper, it looks about right. The fast-paced Philadelphia Eagles are averaging 398.7 yards per game, which ranks fifth in the NFL, and 29.0 points, which ranks fourth. As a result, theyre 5-2 with some predictable wins and a couple of predictable losses. It looks like theyre in good shape. But football isnt played on paper, and when you dive below the surface, you begin to see why the Eagles have some legitimate reasons to be concerned as they try to hang with first-place Dallas entering November. Because the Eagles have scored a league-high seven non-offensive touchdowns, those points-per-game numbers arent indicative of how the offense has performed. Remove the points created by the defense and special teams units from the equation, and Philadelphia would actually rank below the middle of the pack with 22.0 points per game. Yes, most other teams would take a small step backward when losing their non-offensive touchdowns, but nobody else in football has scored more than three times in those situations. Defensive and special teams touchdowns arent sustainable and cant be relied on, which explains why the Eagles came back to earth and had their scoring problem exposed in Sundays 24-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Against, the Cardinals, the Eagles became just the 20th team in NFL history to go over 500 yards but be held to 20 or fewer points. Their issues in the red zone were the main culprit, as Philly came away with zero touchdowns on three trips inside the Arizona 20-yard line. Now, their red-zone touchdown rate has fallen below 35 percent. Nobody else in football is under 40. How does that happen? Well, it doesnt help that the Eagles turned the ball over twice inside the 20 on Sunday and have now done so four times this season. Nobody in the NFL has committed more turnovers in that area of the field. On Sunday, rookie receiver Josh Huff fumbled when failing to secure the ball while darting inside the Arizona 10-yard line in the second quarter. The Cards recovered that, and they also came away with a turnover on the following drive when Antonio Cromartie stepped in front of a Nick Foles pass intended for Huff in the end zone for an interception. There, Foles made a rookie mistake by holding on for too long before throwing an ugly, unbalanced pass into the middle of the field. The Eagles also had red-zone turnovers against Jacksonville and the Giants. You cant afford to be that sloppy deep in enemy territory. But even without taking those turnovers into account, theyve often been paralyzed by questionable play calls and a simple lack of execution. Twice now this season, the Eagles have been stuffed at the goal line with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. They had 3rd-and-goal at the San Francisco 1-yard line down five with two minutes to play in Week 4, but head coach Chip Kelly had Foles in shotgun and ran passing plays on both third and fourth down. The running game wasnt having a good day, but thats just ridiculous. Not having your big, tall quarterback under center when youre one yard out of the end zone makes things easier on the opposing defense. Kelly outthought himself there, and he became a goal-line-botching recidivist Sunday when he once again had Foles in shotgun on 3rd-and-inches from the Arizona 1-yard line with two-and-a-half minutes left in a tie game. The draw to running back LeSean McCoy went nowhere, and it was another example of Kelly getting too fancy. Its become a trend. For good measure, heres another example on a 3rd-and-3 inside the red zone during the second half of a close game against Washington. The Eagles run a bubble screen for receiver Jordan Matthews, and with a poor pass from Foles, theyre basically starting the play five full yards behind the original line of scrimmage: That play would go for a two-yard loss and theyd settle for a field goal. The Eagles had made a habit out of not throwing passes to the required yardage marker on third downs, relying instead on their receivers to pick up significant gains and break tackles after the catch. We also saw it against the Colts on 3rd-and-goal in Week 2: Keep it simple! One final factor: penalties. The Eagles have been penalized 10 or more times on three separate occasions this season. Last year, that didnt happen once. On Sunday, six of their 11 penalties took place on offense, costing them 58 total yards. That naturally lowers your chances of scoring while also giving the offense more room to gain additional yardage that widens that gap between your total offense and your scoring offense. Its like the football version of eating empty calories. A few penalties have been absolute drive-killers. Center Jason Kelce was flagged for illegal use of hands with Philly in a goal-to-go situation in the third quarter of that Indy game, forcing the team to settle for a field goal. A false start from left tackle Jason Peters forced the offense into the fourth-quarter 3rd-and-long that resulted in a Foles interception Sunday. Its still not even the midway point of the 2014 season. Last year on this very date, Philadelphia was 3-5, so the Eagles might not be panicking just yet. Appearing on Philly Sports Talk (h/t Phillys Jimmy Kempski), Evan Mathis suggested that he and Jason Kelce are ahead of schedule and could be back by Weeks 10 and 9, respectively. The Eagles will also have some favorable matchups with soft defenses down the stretch. Still, with Foles no longer sneaking up on the league and with opposing defensive coordinators having a feel for what Kelly does, it is fair to wonder if this offense has lost some of the magic that we saw from it in 2013. If thats the case, the Eagles will eventually find it to be impossible to mask their offensive problems. Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012. Follow @Brad_Gagnon Read more NFL news on BleacherReport #Football #NFL #NFCEast #PhiladelphiaEagles
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 20:46:22 +0000
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