How can the Eagles end their big-play drought?

[time2rock]

How can the Eagles end their big-play drought?

The Eagles are in pursuit of capitalizing on some big plays this upcoming Monday in Tampa Bay.

By Reuben Frank • Published January 11, 2024

 

This is an offense built to strike aggressively down the field. An offense built to throw deep. An offense built to attack vertically.

Lately, the Eagles have been doing none of the above.

The Eagles – one of the top big-play threats in the NFL last year – have been one of the worst the second half of this season.

With the offensive line the Eagles have and the quarterback they have and the skill players they have, there’s no excuse for the lack of firepower in the offense.

Part of it is play calling. Part of it is play design. Part of it is execution. Add it up and you have a shocking absence of chunk plays in recent weeks.

"I think if you look throughout the course of the NFL, you're seeing probably a lot more shell coverage this year than you have in past years,” Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson said Wednesday.

"I think one of the things it's making teams have to do is try to go on these long drives to go down to score. 

"In the past couple of years, there would be times where you get a lot of single-high press man and the ball's up and you're getting some (deep) shots. But that hasn't been the case this year. So we had to find some different ways to generate some of that stuff.”

The Eagles get another chance to connect on a few big plays - and maybe win a big game - Monday night in their wild-card game against the Bucs at Raymond James Stadium.

The Bucs will give up big plays. They allowed 42 plays of at least 25 yards this year, 6^th-most in the league. 

The Eagles didn’t hit on a pass play of at least 40 yards in their last seven games of a season for the first time since 1995.

If the Eagles can strike quick a couple times in Tampa, they’ll have a chance. 

Last year, the Eagles hit on 45 plays of at least 25 yards – 38 passing and seven rushing – and that was 3^rd-most in the league, behind only the Chiefs (56) and 49ers (46). They also had the 3^rd-most 40-yard plays with 15, trailing only the Lions (19) and Saints (16). 

This year, they hit on 37 plays of at least 25 yards and eight 40-yard plays, but most of them were early in the season – they have just nine 25-yard plays from scrimmage in the last seven games and no 40-yard plays. Only the Jets and Panthers have fewer 25-yard plays. The Eagles are the only NFL team without a 40-yard play since Week 10.

The last four weeks – losses to the Seahawks, Cards and Giants and an uninspiring win over the Giants – they had just two pass plays of at least 25 yards, one to A.J. Brown and one to DeVonta Smith in the first Giants game.

The biggest problem is that Hurts seems to have lost a bit of his mojo when it comes to throwing deep balls, and who knows how much his finger injury will affect his throwing this weekend.

A good chunk of his 15 interceptions – which matched the most by an Eagles QB since Randall Cunningham had 16 in 1988 – came on ill-fated deep passes. Not all his fault. But the Eagles especially the second half of the season just haven’t clicked on chunk plays.

And it’s hard to win without them.

Johnson said there are ways to create opportunities for big plays when a defense is legislating against them.

"You have to go into some catch-and-runs and try to find some isolations, some interior defenders,” he said. "And trying to manipulate some of these play-actions and get guys to have some eye violations and see if we can create some explosives that way. 

"And you've got to be able to run the ball. So, there's a bunch of different ways to do it. And we've got to make sure we get that done.”

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/how-can-the-eagles-end-their-big-play-drought/557668/

[UK_EaglesFan89]

They need to not force it and they need to run the ball. If they stick with the run and they establish that run then they can use play action more. If they do that then they may buy a little more time for those big plays to develop. But they can’t force it and they’ve got to let things come to them rather than forcing the big plays. And whilst they need big plays they don’t want too many because they need to control the clock.