5 Reasons for the Eagles Offensive No-Show Against the Patriots

Sunday’s loss to the Patriots was an abysmal loss featuring a ton of punts.  The Eagles wasted possibly their best defensive effort all season with just a putrid performance from the offense.  People have been trying to point out a single reason for the problems that the offense had throughout most of the game, but here’s five reasons that contributed to the groan inducing football that we had to watch from the offense this past Sunday.

1. The Coaching

I don’t know what is going on with Doug.  He is really hurting this team right now.  I am still trying to figure out why, in a 7 point game, you only run the ball 8 times in the second half.  Your team strength is running the football.  That has been established throughout the year.  So why on a day with 20 MPH winds do you decide to throw the ball almost every play?  The only possible explanation is the absence of Lane Johnson. Aside from that, it wouldn’t make any sense. In the Super Bowl, Doug out coached Bill Belichick. On Sunday, that didn’t happen, and the Eagles paid the price.

2. The Receivers

Going into the game, with Alshon Jeffery out, everyone and their mother figured that the Patriots strategy was going to be to double Zach Ertz.  He was the Eagles only serious weapon on the field during the game.  They did double him, and no one else on the offense stepped up.  At this point we don’t expect them to, but it is still so frustrating to watch.  Mack Hollins is just a guy in there to take up space.  I am not even sure he actually runs routes when he is in there.  And do not even get going with Nelson Agholor.   His mental obstacles are absolutely killing his talent and this team.  There is no other way to put it.  It was just another week with huge, game changing catches going through his hands.  The collective receiver unit as a whole right now is garbage.  Watch the replays of a lot of those passes and literally no one is even close to being open.  Carson is trying to do the best he can with the hot trash they are rolling out at the receiver position right now.

3. Carson Wentz

With that being said, Carson has to shoulder a good amount of blame for the struggles the offense had Sunday.  He was not good at all, and I have to think even the most ardent Wentz defenders will admit that.  He held the ball too long sometimes, he seemed to get a little jittery in the pocket and he was inaccurate with some big throws, especially on the last two drives.  A lot of that has to do with the lack of talent on the outside but he still has to be able to make some basic throws on third down.  It is hard when you are constantly in third and longs, but that’s what he is going to be getting paid the big bucks for.  He needed to have a great game to beat New England, and he didn’t.  Simple as that.

4. Tackle Problems

Lane Johnson going out really hurt the offense.  They were not the same after he left with a concussion.  Big V played pretty well replacing Peters during the Super Bowl run, but he is nothing better than a backup who doesn’t bring even half of what Lane Johnson brings to the table.  Then there is Jason Peters.  You gotta love the guy and he is a future Hall of Famer, but he just doesn’t have it anymore.  He can’t stay healthy and even when he tries to play he has to come out at least four times a game for one reason or another.  He was the best left tackle in the game for a four to five year stretch, but he is a shell of that now.  The Eagles need to make Andre Dillard the full time starter and just move on into the future.  Those two issues flew under the radar as to why the Eagles struggled so much.

5. The Wind

Yeah, I am going to be that guy and blame the wind.  It may seem like a lame excuse, but if you were down at the stadium you know how hard that wind was blowing.  It was blowing so hard that it caused Tom Brady, to have his worst game of the season (although our pass rush helped with that too). You could see how frustrated he was getting when he would let a ball go and it didn’t go close to where he wanted it to.  I am surprised the kickers were able to kick as well as they did.  I know it may seem cheap, but the wind in that stadium had a little to do with both offenses struggling as bad as they did.

So where do the Eagles go from here?  One can only hope it can go up.  The Seahawks are coming into town next Sunday, and they don’t have nearly as good a defense or secondary as the Patriots had.  So hopefully this is the opportunity for the Eagles to right the ship heading into the last crucial month of the season.