Things to Fix

With the Eagles on their bye week,  the coaches will have time to self-scout and figure out what needs to be fixed. I can make a couple of suggestions on areas that definitely need some improvement.

The Eagles were the #1 running team after Week 5. They averaged more than 160 yards a game to that point. Since then the Eagles have not had more than 109 rushing yards in a game. What happened?

The injury to Cam Jurgens is a key part of this. The run game isn’t magical. The Eagles have a great OL that can open holes and create good opportunities for the RBs. Jurgen’s absence has hurt that. Sua Opeta replaced him initially. Opeta struggled to get movement at the line of scrimmage. He also didn’t do a good job of blocking in space. You either want a mauler, an athlete or both. Opeta was none of those things.

There was a red zone run in a recent game where Jalen Hurts was stopped for a minimum gain. Watching live, we all blamed Brian Johnson for a bad call. Rewatching the game, you could see the design of the play actually worked. Opeta failed to block his guy and that defender made the tackle. Any kind of block there gives Hurts a chance to score. The whiff meant the Eagles got nothing.

Putting Jurgens back at RG will give the Eagles someone who can get movement and who excels in space. That will help a lot.

One thing we have to realize is that defenses are playing the Eagles differently. Last year they finished 5th in the league in rushing yards. This offseason defenses seemed to decide that the key to stopping the Eagles was taking away deep balls. They played light boxes and kept safeties deep. The Eagles ran wild on the Vikings and Bucs. Defenses seemed to adjust after that and dared Hurts to beat them.

Hurts has been red hot the past three weeks and the Eagles are averaging 32 points a game. We could see defenses shift back to being more coverage-based than focusing on the run. We’ll have to see how that plays out.

Nick Sirianni pointed out that the Eagles run RPOs a lot and that some of the short passes that work so well are like runs. That’s true to a certain extent, but the Eagles need to be better when they hand the ball to the RB. D’Andre Swift is a talented runner. There is no reason he should be averaging less than 4 yards a carry over a four-game stretch. That tells you something is up with the run game.

The coaches need to adjust the plays they are calling and/or the situations they call them in. They need to come up with some ways to get Swift into space. When he has room to run, Swift can be very dangerous. He just hasn’t had much room in recent weeks.

Hurts and the passing game are really clicking right now. If the run game can get going, the Eagles offense will be even harder to stop.

*****

The pass defense is a big issue, especially the nickel position. CeeDee Lamb gave the Eagles fits. You know future opponents will study that and do a lot of the same things.

Getting Bradley Roby healthy will help this situation a lot. He is a veteran player and has a lot of experience in the slot. Eli Ricks is a rookie and is built more to play on the outside. Playing nickel against Lamb is not something he’s built to do, at least as a rookie.

The Eagles cannot just count on getting Roby healthy. He might get hurt again. They need to figure out some other ways to handle slot receivers. There isn’t an obvious solution on the team.

One of the other things the Eagles must figure out is how to fix James Bradberry. He was one of the best corners in the league last year. This season Bradberry is more of a speed bump than a stop sign. Heck, I’m not sure he’s even that right now. Beyond struggling in coverage, Bradberry isn’t tackling well so short gains become medium gains. I don’t know what the coaches can do, but they need to figure out something to try. Bradberry is hurting the defense.

I do think more practice and game time will help the secondary to gel. You can’t have that many new faces coming together and playing at a high level right away. It takes time for them to get on the same page. Sean Desai must figure out the best way to use his players.

*****

The Eagles have fixed some issues already.

The team was 27th in red zone offense. They are now up to 13th. The coaches have gotten better with play-calls and the players are executing better.

The pass rush has picked up. It felt inconsistent early on. The DL is playing much better now.

It seems like the Eagles have found a solid punter in Braden Mann.

Sirianni and his staff usually do a pretty good job of solving problems. It helps having a talented, versatile roster. It also helps that Howie Roseman will look for talent year round. This team has Super Bowl potential. If the coaches can find some more answers, they will have an even better chance of getting back to the big game this year.

_