Adversity Strikes

Life was good for the Eagles for the first few months of the season. They got off to an 8-0 start and things seemed to go their way. That has changed in recent weeks. The Eagles are 5-2 since then, turnovers have become an issue and now injuries are starting to hit on a weekly basis.

Losing in Dallas wasn’t a big deal.

Losing Lane Johnson is a big deal.

Eagles’ are hopeful that four-time Pro Bowl OT Lane Johnson will return for the postseason, but he is not expected to play again this regular season due to what tests revealed was a torn tendon in the abdominal area, per sources.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 26, 2022

Hopeful. It is easy to think Johnson will return, but there are no guarantees. A torn tendon in the abdominal area does not sound like a good thing for a big man who relies on athleticism to get his job done. Johnson is tough and incredibly driven so I’m sure he’ll do everything he can to get back. If the Eagles secure the #1 seed, they’ll have the last two weeks of the regular season, the bye week and some days leading up to the first playoff game for Johnson to rest and recover. Let’s hope that’s enough.

For now, expect Jack Driscoll to play RT. He has started there in the past and played well. Still, he’s a downgrade from Johnson.

The Eagles rely on their OTs to win one-on-one matchups in pass protection most of the time. Johnson and Mailata get that done. That frees up the coaches to use the skill players how they want. Think about how good the Eagles are from empty sets. A lot of that is due to the OTs. Driscoll can win some of these matchups, but you don’t want him vs Micah Parsons on a regular basis.

Jeff Stoutland was able to build his protections with the idea of helping Mailata if needed. He could rely on Johnson to win on his own. Now Stoutland and the coaches will have to be ready to help both OTs. They’ll have to figure out who is most vulnerable in certain matchups and help accordingly.

The Eagles should be fine this week against the Saints. They have a solid rush (40 sacks), but don’t have elite DEs.

You could consider moving Andre Dillard to RT or putting him at LT and shifting Mailata to the right side. That’s just too much moving around. Dricoll started at LT for a game and replaced Johnson at RT in both Dallas games. I think you plug him into RT and keep Dillard as your top backup.

Johnson wasn’t the only casualty.

#Eagles CB Avonte Maddox suffered a significant toe injury, per me and @MikeGarafolo. He had his MRI this morning to confirm the news that he's out indefinitely. Philly does have CJ Gardner-Johnson eligible to come off IR and is a possibility to play in the slot.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 26, 2022

Ugh. Maddox has looked good as the NB in the last two years. Josiah Scott took over for him on Sunday and struggled. As Ian noted in the tweet, if CGJ returns, he could take over as the NB. He played that role for the Saints and was quite good at it.

Scott has been involved with multiple coverage breakdowns this year. He has the physical ability to be a functional NB, but he seems to get confused when offenses attack his side with bunch sets and/or intertwining routes. And you sure don’t want him one-on-one with a receiver like CeeDee Lamb. If Scott is the NB in the postseason, teams will attack him over and over.

As for Jalen Hurts, lots of speculation by insiders, but no real news. He will do everything he can to play this week. The Eagles also have to be smart. They don’t want him to rush back and get hurt again. They need him for the playoffs more than anything. We’ll deal with lots of speculation, but probably won’t know anything for sure until Thursday or Friday.

*****

You hate to see players getting hurt anytime of the year, but especially down the stretch. You want your best players on the field in the biggest games. If there is an upside to this, it can help bring players together. The OL has to block a little bit better with Johnson out. The receivers have to get open quicker. The QB must get the ball out quicker.

You also get a chance to see what the replacements can do. They will surprise you at time. We saw the 2017 team overcome key injuries. If Darren Sproles is healthy, I don’t know if Corey Clement is on the field in the Super Bowl. Clement came up huge on the biggest stage. That was the best game of his career.

Nick Foles performance in the NFC title game and Super Bowl is one of the best two-game stretches in NFL playoff history. Carson Wentz might have played well in those games, but it is hard to imagine he would have duplicated what Foles did. Those were amazing games.

It would be nice if the injuries would stop for a week or two. I think adversity can be a good thing. It toughens teams up, which is needed for the postseason. But enough is enough. I don’t think the Eagles need any more adversity at this point.

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