Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Position Updates – Offense

Posted August 4th, 2024 | 1 Comment »

The coaches have had a chance to see several practices and also to see different players in different roles. This will help them to figure out some battles for starting positions, but also how to fill roles. Let’s take a look at how things are going at certain positions.

QB – Everyone is in agreement. Jalen Hurts has a pretty good shot to be the starting QB. Joking aside, Hurts has had a great summer so far and looks like he is ready for a big year. He was terrific in the public practice at The Linc. The Eagles traded for Kenny Pickett in the offseason. I think the perecption is that he’s been so-so this summer. I wonder what the coaches think. They always have more context. They know what play is called. They know who is blocking and who is defending. People watching practice focus on the result. The coaches are mixing in Tanner McKee with the 2’s at times. Is that a reward for him, a sign that Pickett is struggling or just the coaches mixing things up?

Fran Duffy did have some good notes on Pickett from Friday night.

Kenny Pickett found Grant Calcaterra wide open in the left flat on the next snap for a first down as the offense began to move the ball. Johnny Wilson caught a quick throw from Pickett a couple of plays later, running a route from the slot. Gainwell got another look on the ensuing snap, catching a quick ball from Pickett that was perfectly placed to allow for yards after catch. Gainwell put his foot in the ground and made a nifty move in space to evade the defender for a first down. Patrick Johnson knifed into the backfield to wrangle Gainwell on the next snap. Next, Pickett broke the pocket and stepped up to deliver a strike to Calcaterra between the hashes for another first down as the young tight end got popped by safety Avonte Maddox for his trouble. Gainwell would then finish the drive with a walk-in touchdown run as Fred Johnson got excellent movement with left guard Trevor Keegan to create room to work.

Brandon Lee Gowton wrote about both QBs in Sunday’s practice notes.

Pickett could’ve been flagged for intentional grounding during a situational drill late in practice. Not what you want to see. Pickett’s desperation throw on the final rep of a situational series was too far out of bounds for Joseph Ngata be able to catch in-bounds. Tanner McKee recognized a weakness in the Eagles’ coverage that allowed him to quickly throw to an open Jacob Harris for a first down and then some. That rep was against the Eagles’ starting defense, too. McKee had two good completions to E.J. Jenkins on back-to-back reps (more on that again below). McKee certainly did not look threatening as a runner after keeping the ball on an option. And he overthrew Ainias Smith on a throw towards the sideline. But McKee should gaining ground on Pickett.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Last year Marcus Mariota struggled in camp, but remained the backup. Tanner McKee was Checkdown Charlie in camp, but came alive in the preseason games. Ian Book stunk and got cut. I don’t care who the backup is. I just want one of the players to win the job. Pickett is the better athlete. McKee has the better combination of size and arm strength.

RB – Saquon Barkley has looked terrific. I can’t wait to see him in action. Kenny Gainwell has looked good. The big news is that rookie Will Shipley has been very good. He’s really stood out as a receiver. Sirianni is impressed by his rookie RB.

WR – AJ Brown looks great. DeVonta Smith looks to have gotten even better. He’s played at a high level so far in his career, but seems to have taken things up a notch. That’s bad news for opposing defenses. There is no clear-cut #3 receiver. The good news is that multiple players are showing that they can contribute in that role. Britain Covey is having the best summer of his young career. He has the size and skill set of the traditional slot receiver. Rookie Johnny Wilson is the exact opposite, but the coaches have mixed him in with the 1’s to take advantage of his 6-6, 231 size. He is an intriguing player. You can play him outside and move Smith to the slot. Or Brown. Parris Campbell flashed early. He missed Sunday’s practice, which just meant more chances for Covey and Wilson to impress. Rookie Ainias Smith has really struggled.

TE – Dallas Goedert looked great in the public practice and is having another strong camp. Grant Calcaterra is poised to be the #2 TE. Things are wide open after that. BLG had a note on the TEs.

E.J. Jenkins had a nice catch-and-run moment on a pass that went over the middle. And then again on the very next play. Jenkins has shown the most juice out of the tight ends behind Dallas Goedert and Grant Calcaterra. That being said, Albert O had his best day (by far) so far with a couple catches.

Who? Jenkins is a second year player who has spent time with the Jets, Raiders and Eagles. He is 6-6, 245. Jenkins only caught 17 passes as a senior at Georgia Tech, but a strong Pro Day got the NFL’s attention. Albert O is also a good athlete. No one questions his talent, just his blocking and consistency. The Eagles need someone to emerge and win the #3 job. McCallan Castles got hurt and the Eagles just signed Foelsch to replace him.

OL – The only mystery with the starters is the RG spot. Tyler Steen has been injured, opening the door for others to show what they can do. Mekhi Becton has gotten most of the reps with the 1’s. He has terrific size and really looks the part. Becton is a powerful run blocker. He’s been up and down in pass pro. Becton is used to playing OT. Pass protection there is different than on the inside. Steen and Becton will battle it out, but Steen has to get healthy and back on the field.

The Eagles lost key backups Sua Opeta and Jack Driscoll in the offseason. Fred Johnson is the top backup at OT. He’s been feisty this summer, getting into multiple shoving matches. Jon Runyan would be proud. Rookie Trevor Keegan has seen reps at LG and RG. He’s looked good at times, but also has gotten banged up and missed time here and there. Brett Toth, who first signed with the Eagles five years ago, got reps with the starting OL at RG on Sunday. Becton was out with an illness.

Matt Hennessy hasn’t exactly stood out this summer. With his versatility and experience, he was expected to be a key backup. Darian Kinnard has gotten reps at RG and RT. He’s a big, physical blocker with some potential, but hasn’t stood out. Max Scharping has played multiple positions. Newly signed Nick Gates has a chance to show what he can do. I don’t think we’ve heard much about rookie Dylan McMahon, but Jimmy Bama wrote about him today.

Rookie sixth-round center Dylan McMahon was recently promoted from third-team center to second-team center. He had a good rep against Marlon Tuipulotu in 1-on-1’s, and I haven’t really seen any obviously bad reps from him in 11-on-11’s.

That is encouraging to hear.

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Coaching Update

Posted August 1st, 2024 | 2 Comments »

After last season’s epic meltdown, Nick Sirianni had to fight to keep his job in the offseason. He made changes to his coaching staff and even his role. Let’s take a look at how the changes are working so far.

Kellen Moore was hired to be the offensive coordinator. He was tasked with taking control of the offense and making changes that Sirianni hadn’t. Doug Farrar wrote an article on things the Eagles needed to do to fix the offense. I think Moore is doing a lot of those things. One example:

Beating the blitz will be a priority for Jalen Hurts

One way opponents “figured Jalen Hurts out” in 2023 was an increase in blitzes, especially aggressive blitzes out of Cover-0. Hurts faced by far the most snaps against six or more pass-rushers last season with Cover-0 behind them – 32 dropbacks, and just 10 completions in 29 attempts for 56 yards, 37 air yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 14.6. Only C.J. Stroud had a lower passer rating against Cover-0 blitzes last season. One reason defenses were comfortable doing this is that Hurts is not yet a comfortable “replacement-read” quarterback. He’s not always primed to take advantage of the gaps in coverage left by blitzes. Hurts had just 11 dropbacks against Cover-0 blitzes in 2022, so this is a recent thing, and it will continue until and unless Hurts learns to work around it.

“There’s a lot of different things we can do,” Moore said in May when asked about giving Hurts answers against any kind of pressure. “Just making sure it’s clean, effective. As you build it, you’ve got to continue to evolve so that one week maybe your answer is a certain play, then maybe the next week you’ve got to make the adjustment off of that.

“That’s, I think, the continuous evolution through the season. There’s going to be different challenges each and every week. We’re going to walk into a room and deal with the blitz protection, and we’re going to look at it, and there’s going to be a couple challenges each and every week. That’s what these defenses do. They’re really good. They scheme you up. They give you a lot of challenges.

“So you’re continuing to find, okay, what’s the next tool that we can use? What’s the next tool that we can use? While still keeping it clean for the quarterback so he knows exactly what he needs, and he can handle it accordingly.”

That would be an obvious improvement over what we saw in 2023.

The Eagles have done some blitzing in camp, but we won’t really know if this is fixed until the regular season when opposing teams get creative and aggressive.

We do know that Moore has made schematic changes. Pre-snap motion is a regular part of the Eagles offense this summer. They use some jet motion and have even handed the ball to the guy in motion a few times.

We know receivers are moving around and not lining up in the same spot over and over.

A small thing like that makes it harder on the defense. They aren’t getting static looks so they have to be prepared for different things.

We’re seeing other changes.

This is all very encouraging. More important than anything else, Jalen Hurts is playing well. The scheme and wrinkles don’t matter if he struggles. Hurts has had a strong showing so far in camp. He has embraced the new offense and Moore is getting the best out of him. That is critical to the offense getting back to being the explosive group it was in the past.

*****

Vic Fangio’s scheme isn’t all that different from the scheme used the previous few seasons. The difference with him will be how the scheme is run. We won’t get a good feel for that until games actually start.

I am encouraged by a few things. First, he is a tough, demanding coach. Fangio isn’t here to make everyone feel loved and special. He is in Philly to fix a broken defense and to get his guys to go kick some ass. Fangio gives honest answers to the media and says tough things behind closed doors.

The players are embracing the tough love style. As White points out, Fangio will praise. He’s not just ripping guys. But he isn’t afraid to call players out and let them know when they aren’t getting the job done. The defense was way too soft last year. Fangio won’t let that happen again.

 

I cannot imagine Jonathan Gannon saying something like that. Fangio isn’t ripping Huff. He’s talking about the need to develop a skill and to get better. That’s reality. There is nothing wrong with pointing out something like that. Gannon used to talk about how he had enough talent to get the job done. Anyone looking at the depth chart in 2021 knew that wasn’t true. It just made him sound delusional. Fangio isn’t going to play that game. He’s going to be honest about what guys can and can’t do.

I’m interested in the personnel side of things. Fangio seems to really like athletic players. He pushed for the Eagles to draft Jalyx Hunt and so far that seems like a good move. The scouts did the homework on Hunt, but Fangio advocated for him during the draft.

Fangio is using Quinyon Mitchell in the slot to get different looks and to see if guys can handle different roles. Mitchell is a gifted athlete and seems comfortable playing inside.

Fangio has had Zack Baun playing ILB. We all thought he was here as an edge rusher. Fangio sees something he likes and is going to try to make that work. Baun has had a good spring and summer and could help fix the LB spot.

Overall, it feels like the guys on defense are responding well to Fangio and his scheme/style. There aren’t a lot of underachievers so far this summer.

*****

It is too early to really tell how Sirianni is doing in his role as the CEO type of coach. He has turned over the offense to Moore. We can see the schematic changes and Sirianni has talked about how different it is for him not being in the QB room on a daily basis. Sirianni seems to have accepted the change. He had the Eagles at the top of the football world in 2022. Last year was humbling. I think Sirianni was willing to make changes so that he could keep his job, but also because he’s so competitive and wants to get back to the top.

For now, it sure feels like the changes are working. Hopefully that leads to a much more enjoyable season.

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