NFL: Previewing the Eagles-Jaguars matchup

The road here for the Eagles

After winning the Super Bowl on a miraculous run with backup quarterback Nick Foles, the Eagles looked like one of the heavy favorites once again throughout the offseason. They were scheduled to get back their MVP candidate quarterback Carson Wentz, potentially Hall of Fame left tackle Jason Peters, starting middle linebacker Jordan Hicks and other valuable parts, such as the versatile Darren Sproles and a Pro Bowl special teamer in Chris Maragos.

In addition to that, they acquired Michael Bennett and Haloti Ngata to improve on an already impressive defensive line and the few players they did give up, they replaced with comparable assets for the most part. However, what has hurt them so far this season has been the fact they saw their quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo take the Vikings’ OC job and their offensive coordinator Frank Reich take over a surprising opening for the head coach gig in Indy when Josh McDaniels pulled himself out at the last minute. Nevertheless, this team was loaded with talent across the board and there were no obvious weaknesses to be found.

Philly started the season with an 18-12 win over the Atlanta Falcons, a matchup in which the offenses struggled and that was very reminiscent of the last year’s Divisional Round when these two teams squared off against each other. When they lost 27-21 to Tampa Bay in game number two we already saw some of their deficiencies, but all concerns seemed to vanish when Eagles fans saw Carson Wentz return from his torn ACL and they won versus the Colts.

Since then they have lost three of their last four games. They gave up a 17-3 lead at Tennessee in the second half and lost in overtime, gave the Vikings their revenge after a blowout in the NFC Championship game, then won versus a pathetic Giants team and last Sunday they were up 17-0 heading into the fourth quarter versus Carolina and surrendered another big lead.

Why can’t they recapture that magic from last season? I have already mentioned the departure of the two most important members of the offensive coaching staff outside of Doug Pederson, but I see more of a psychological shift and a regression in some areas for them offensively, while the defense can’t seem to close games for them in 2018.

The offense

First of all, they have not found a dependable running game. Last season Philly was third in the league in rushing yards and tied for third in terms of yards per rush, gaining 4.5 yards per carry. They also led the NFL with 19 runs of 20+ yards. The regression of their ground attack comes down to two things – the offensive line taking a big step back and their running backs not being able to get more than what’s in front of them.

While center Jason Kelce has once again been a stalwart, Jason Peters and Steven Wisniewski have been in and out of the lineup, Brandon Brooks has struggled to some degree and even Lane Johnson, who I always say is the best right tackle in football, has already allowed five sacks, after he surrendered just 3.5 all of last season.

What made that unit special last season was the way they could task just about anybody to pull or down-block in their gap schemes as well as reach or stay engaged in the zone game. Moreover, none of their backs have really done anything outside of just running through the assigned gap or cutting it upfield. Jay Ajayi was one of the least dynamic starters in the league before heading for IR, Darren Sproles looked good in the season-opener but there hasn’t been a sighting of him since then and Wendell Smallwood is leading them in backfield snaps despite being more of a nice RB3 for most teams. The only guy I believe in is Corey Clement and he has fumbled three times already.

This team’s identity on offense was built around their elite offensive line and a versatile rushing attack, that would tire out defenses and be most effective in the fourth quarter. This season they have been average at best in those areas. That has forced them to fundamentally change their offensive approach.

Not only did they run the ball effectively on early downs and use numbers advantages on so-called “passing downs”, this also set up their play-action passing attack and the deep shots coming off it. Moreover, this has made the those RPOs way less effective. Defenses are not afraid of isolating their best corner on the backside of potential running plays and ask them to be aggressive in press coverage.

With Alshon Jeffery back they have more of a threat at that spot, but the Vikings matched him with Xavier Rhoades and that was that. They have now turned into this high-volume passing team that throws a ton of quick screens and passes short of the sticks. In the fourth quarter versus the Panthers, they called just one run out of their 13 plays despite starting with a 17-0 lead. That’s not what made them successful in 2017.

The defense

Defensively, the Eagles are still sixth in the league in points allowed and second in rushing yards surrendered. They are middle of the pack in sacks, first in QB hits and third in third down percentage. So overall they get people off the field, but for some reason that pass rush just doesn’t get home in the fourth quarter.

Fletcher Cox was a monster early on and they have a multitude of veteran rushers to go along with him, but when they have really needed them most Philadelphia has not been able to take opposing quarterbacks down. Since the season-opener, the Eagles have recorded just four sacks in the fourth quarters of those last six games, with half of them coming against the Giants’ lackluster O-line. Closing games with their defensive front is what made them great last season and even in a Super Bowl that produced crazy offensive numbers, it was a strip-sack by Brandon Graham that decided the game.

The second major factor for their problems on defense is a combination of personnel and play-calling. We all know defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz loves to be aggressive with blitzes and leave his corners on islands, but he just doesn’t have the right guys on the outside to follow that approach.

Outside of Ronald Darby I don’t feel like they have anybody who can hold up in true man-coverage consistenty. I like what Jalen Mills does in terms of supporting the run and shutting down short passes when he plays the flats, but he is a liability downfield. He can’t stay with speedy receivers out of their breaks, often times even falling down, and his coach treats him like a shutdown guy. I’m curious to see how Sidney Jones would look like outside, because I did have him as my number two corner in last year’s draft until he got hurt, but I just believe that the play-calling has to get a little more conservative.