Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Babbling Birds can expect some times of turmoil
PHILADELPHIA >> Spreading the ball around equitably wasn’t a strength of the Eagles last year. It promises not to be easier this season with receivers DeSean Jackson and JJ ArcegaWhiteside, and running backs Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders joining the give-methe-ball mix.
While a locker room full of weapons beats the alternative for Eagles play caller Doug Pederson, he’s not the one distributing the ball. It’s fair to say there were issues last December when Carson Wentz was in charge of divvying up the touches.
It’s also worth noting the Eagles’ offense ran smoother when Nick Foles replaced the injured Wentz.
With Foles gone, imagine for a moment the potential chaos should the Eagles roll with an untested backup such as Nate Sudfeld. More on that in a moment.
Revisiting 2018, an ESPN report cited an anonymous team source unhappy that Wentz was favoring Zach Ertz, whose production was off the charts. Though Ertz set a single season NFL record for tight ends with 116 receptions, the Eagles were puttering around or under the .500 mark when the report broke.
Ertz has maintained that Wentz gets the ball to the open man, and it’s up to players to win individual matchups regardless of whether they’re the first or the fourth option on the play.
“People are going to make a story out of everything,” Ertz said. “I feel like that kind of took on a life of its own. It is what it is. Carson doesn’t pay any attention to that. I don’t pay attention to it. I think my catch rate was like 80 percent last year. So, it’s working.”
Strictly by the numbers, you could have made a case that midseason pickup Golden Tate was over-targeted for a portion of last season. With Foles at quarterback in the playoffs, no Eagles receiver got more targets than veteran Alshon Jeffery.
Foles and Tate are gone, and with training camp beginning Thursday, the new wave of playmakers is ready to shift into action.
Wentz also is rebuilding. After the 2018 season, in the wake of a story on the website PhillyVoice citing anonymous sources that he’d been a selfish leader, Wentz conceded he needs to be a better teammate. He already knows Jackson isn’t one to be overlooked. During an offseason practice open to the media, Jackson, wide open, threw his arms in the air when Wentz threw inside to Ertz.
Wentz rushed over to Jackson after the gesture. It won’t be the last time we see them get together. Conflict is inevitable with elite skills sets.
“There’s just one ball, and that’s just my opportunity to communicate that to players,” Pederson FG) said. “And listen, if defenses come in here and want to take DeSean away, then you’ve got two tight ends and two other receivers and running backs that you can kind of exploit and get touches to. So, it all kind of gets predicated on how teams want to approach it and how to attack us.”
Pederson reminded reporters the Eagles won a Super Bowl title without a 1,000-yard rusher or 1,000yard receiver. He could have mentioned they defeated the New England Patriots on the grand stage despite a Super Bowl record 505 passing yards by Tom Brady, but that’s another story for another day. The point is, offensive balance ruled.
“You can move the ball around a little bit and still be successful,” Pederson said. “You just have to sit down and say, ‘listen, there’s going to be times when you get either no targets, one target, (or) you might get 10 targets. The bottom line is winning the game, and how are you helping us win the game?’
“It just has to come through a lot of conversation and just making sure – even schematically on offense – that as we put game plans together, we keep all those guys in mind. We’ve got to because that’s the beauty of where we are, of having multiple weapons, so to speak, on offense. Some of them are young.”
In all fairness, Wentz moved the ball around well during the healthy portion of his 2017 season. He threw a club-record 33 TD passes in just 13 games. It helped to have a better run game than the Eagles put on the field last season.
The flip side is that for whatever reason – veteran leadership, poise, letting the playmakers do their jobs – the Eagles have shown better balance when Foles has been on the field.
The Eagles have their fingers crossed that Wentz, in his fourth year, will find a way to stay healthy for a complete season and the playoffs for the first time since he was a rookie. Jackson is the deep threat lacking last year. Howard is the grinding, short-yardage back the Eagles haven’t had since the Super Bowl season.
If Wentz can’t stay healthy, asking an inexperienced backup to take over an offense with star power and the egos to match is a gamble.
Contact Bob Grotz at bgrotz@21stcenturymedia.com; you can follow him on Twitter @BobGrotz.