Were Eagles too conservative on offense, as WR A.J. Brown suggested?

A lackluster 17-play sequence against the Rams validated A.J. Brown's "conservative" label for the Eagles' offense, but then a switch flicked.

By Geoff Mosher
PhillyVoice Staff

Eric Hartline/Imagn Images

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver AJ. Brown (11) walks off the field after the win against the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field.

Sometimes, good things can happen from something bad. A positive can come from a negative.

For the Eagles, they were outright bad offensively Sunday against the Rams for five consecutive possessions after capitalizing on an interception and short field for a touchdown on their opening drive.

Suddenly, they went from up 7-0 to down 26-7 because their defense was also getting carved up by the Rams' ground game and their offense stacked up four consecutive three-and-outs going into the break.

Then two terrible plays led to something unpredictable, and good. A turnover and holding penalty in the third quarter forced the Eagles to get out of their comfort zone, which it turns out, they badly needed.

The first terrible thing was Hurts getting leveled by Jared Verse deep inside Eagles territory on the second play after they came out from halftime. Verse, who treated right tackle Matt Pryor (in for an injured Lane Johnson) like a cone drill, easily sidestepped the fill-in lineman and leveled Hurts so hard as the quarterback loaded up for a pass that the ball rocketed out of Hurts' hands for a rare fumble and turnover. 

The Rams scored a touchdown on the very next play, but the Eagles responded by sitting Pryor and subbing in reserve offensive tackle Fred Johnson, whose insertion was the first positive to come from a negative.

The next terrible thing came from Landon Dickerson's holding on a well-crafted Hurts designed run to the left side that took away the first down and instead staked the Eagles to 2nd-and-13 at their own 29-yard line.

To that point, the Eagles had just 25 total passing yards. On their 17 prior plays between their first-quarter touchdown and their 2nd-and-13, the Eagles had gained three or more yards just twice, and Hurts had put the ball in the air longer than 10 yards just three times, with all three being incomplete.

Here's what wide receiver A.J. Brown said after the game about the Eagles' offense to that point:

"We have so many good players. At times you can feel like we're being conservative. I don't think it should be like that. Let your killers do their thing. Play fast and play aggressive. Not saying we haven't been, but me personally, that's what I would like. I feel like you should just let us go."

Here is the 17-play sequence in order from 17-1:

Some notes about this sequence:

• After consecutive incompletions on first down (Plays #1 and #4), both on attempts 10 yards or more downfield, the Eagles completely stopped trying to attack aerially on first down. Their next three 1st-and-10 play calls were Barkley run, Barkley swing pass, Barkley swing pass – resulting in three total yards.
• After the A.J. Brown drop (#4), Hurts put the ball in the air past 10 yards just once. His three passes to Barkley were all dump-offs.
• Barkley was either a ball carrier or receiver on 10 of those 17 plays.
• In total, the Eagles netted 9 yards on those 17 plays.

Does Brown have a point? Absolutely. The force-feeding of Barkley, even given his history against the Rams, wasn't working, and the reluctance – or inability – to throw to anyone else on 2nd-and-10 (#5), 2nd-and-9 (#8), and 2nd-and-17 (#11) really stood out, and brought a chorus of boos from around the Linc. 

It's also fair to suggest that conservative play calling wasn't responsible for the entire offensive dormancy. The Eagles did try to pass on first down on their first two drives after their first-quarter touchdown. On the first, Hurts couldn't find an open receiver, drifted to his right and threw out of bounds. On the next, the Eagles dialed up a rare play-action pass from under center but Hurts' throw – perhaps a tick too late – got to Brown right as Rams safety Quentin Lake was closing in. Lake hit Brown right at the catch to cause a drop.

But from that point on, yeah, a complete handcuffing of the offense that overfed Barkley on first and second downs, and then couldn't protect Hurts on third down.

That brings us back to the Dickerson penalty that staked the Eagles to 2nd-and-13. At that point, everyone at the Linc expected another handoff or dumpoff to Barkley. 

The Rams showed blitz but only rushed four. Rams left corner Cobie Durant played 10 yards off Brown but bit on the wideout's inside-out double-move that helped Brown get leverage to the outside.

Brown wasn't yet open when Hurts launched the ball down the right sideline, but as the ball arced through the air, Brown did what he does best, getting just enough separation and then stretching his outside right arm late to haul in the pass one-handed for a 38-yard gain to the Los Angeles 33-yard-line.

It's like the negative energy balloon had popped for Hurts and the Eagles' offense, with all the timid play calling and passive attacking flowing out like a gigantic deflation.

On the next first down, the Eagles did something they hadn't done since early in the second quarter; they passed on consecutive 1st-and-10s. From shotgun, Hurts observed the Rams making a post-snap change from traditional Cover 2 to Cover 2 – a safety crept into the box right at the snap, leaving just one safety deep.

The best attack for Cover 2 invert is the seams, and maybe the coaches anticipated that coverage change, because Jahan Dotson ran a post up the left seam and Goedert ran the same route from the other side at the right seam. Hurts threw a beauty to Goedert, who had soared past the linebacker, before post safety Kam Kinchens could get over in time. Goedert had the red carpet to the end zone after the catch.

What kind of impact did that two-play sequence have on the Eagles' offense?

On their next drive, starting at their own 13, the Eagles not only passed on the first five plays of the possession – and seven straight going back to the prior drive – but they passed nine total times on the 13-play drive (69% pass clip) that ended with Brown catching a 9-yard touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, on their go-ahead TD drive, the Eagles passed 10 times on the 17-play drive (59%), including DeVonta Smith's 4-yard TD catch.

"We learned a little bit about ourselves today and what we need to be able to do every game, and every game plan finds different things that you have to do," head coach Nick Sirianni said after the game, when asked about Brown's "conservative" offense assessment. "We found a way to win, but we all have to find ways to get better, to put points on the board, to make sure stall-outs don't happen. This is football, though. There are ups, there are downs, and you just have to find ways to keep moving forward."

https://www.phillyvoice.com/were-eagles-too-conservative-offense-j-brown-suggested-los-angeles-rams-aj-brown-devonta-smith-jalen-hurts-nfl-analysis/

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