‘Close’ isn’t close enough for struggling Eagles
PHILADELPHIA » The Eagles need a win, not another excuse to hang their heads and wonder if all the hard work is worth it.
From head coach Nick Sirianni and his relatively young staff to quarterback Jalen Hurts and the lineup of talented yet inexperienced skill players, the Eagles need something to feel good about before the season gets away from them. A loss Sunday to the rebuilding Carolina Panthers and the Eagles won’t want to look at the schedule again until November. After the Panthers, it’s the Buccaneers, Raiders and Chargers (oh my) with a stopover in Detroit to play the angry Lions.
Truth be told, there aren’t a lot of reasons to believe the Eagles can turn it around this week either.
The defense is full of holes. Fletcher Cox isn’t the force he used to be. It’s fair to wonder if defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon has him in the best role. The injured Brandon Graham is sorely missed. The back end of the defense is full of unproven or one-year-contract guys.
The Eagles aren’t going to want to hear it, but after giving up 83 points and 360 rushing yards the past two weeks they’re known as a bend-andalso-break defense.
Panthers quarterback Sam
Darnold isn’t exactly a legend in Charlotte. But he leads the league with five touchdown runs, which is two more than the Eagles have. The Birds don’t have a player with more than two TDs.
Worse, running back Christian McCaffrey (hamstring) could be back for the Panthers. He was limited at practice Wednesday.
On the offensive side of the ball for the Eagles, tight end Dallas Goedert could make a difference against the Panthers if he’s given more opportunities. Goedert is a legit first-down maker. His yardsafter-catch ability is stunning. Veteran Zach Ertz also is showing signs of life. The Panthers
don’t have the personnel to stop them.
At running back, does anyone think Miles Sanders suddenly will turn it around and dominate the way he did during stretches of his rookie season? He’s been a disappointment compared to rookie Kenneth Gainwell, who is better equipped to produce in Sirianni’s system than anyone outside of Goedert. Gainwell reminds Sirianni of former San Diego Chargers running back Danny Woodhead. Great comparison, except Gainwell is a little more elusive.
The Eagles’ offensive line came together last week against the Kansas City Chiefs after the surprising pre-game omission of right tackle Lane Johnson, who is dealing with a personal matter. With no time to worry about his late reassignment, Jack Driscoll stepped in and held his own at right tackle. That meant Nate Herbig had to play right guard, where Driscoll was slated to start because rookie Landon Dickerson was moving to his more comfortable position of left guard.
Now it looks like Jordan Mailata could be the right tackle, Driscoll and Dickerson the guards and Andre Dillard at left tackle. That lineup could work. Who would have imagined that unit being out there together?
Then there is Hurts, who threw for a career-high 387 yards last week and ranks among the quarterback leaders in explosive plays. In his first eight starts, he has put up better stats than everybody but Patrick Mahomes and Cam Newton. And yet Hurts is just 2-6 in those starts.
The kid has courage, though we’ll never know the extent of it as long as the locker room is off limits. Hurts offered a snippet of his conversation with Mahomes after the Eagles were beaten by the Chiefs last Sunday. It wasn’t the first time they got together.
“He said, ‘keep balling, it’s going to come,’” Hurts said.
It had better come this week. “Close” and “very close,” which Hurts used to describe where the Eagles are in their search for an identity, are vague terms. The reality is there is nothing about the numbers from their 42-30 loss to the Chiefs or the 41-21 setback to the Cowboys that denotes “close.” The majority of games in the NFL are decided by seven or fewer points. Those were double-digit defeats that cannot be blamed on penalties, convenient excuse though that is.
The Eagles are at a crossroads. It’s going to be clear how much the players want to fight for Sirianni and Hurts this week.
“If we score points in the red zone, we’re sitting here with a different record,” Hurts said of last week. “We’re going to learn from it. We’ve learned from a lot to this point. We’re going to continue to learn, we’re going to continue to grow, and it’ll click.
“When it does, it’s going to be real pretty.”
If it doesn’t, rest assured Sirianni and Hurts are going to have to try something else.
“Everything I do is just what I think is best to do to win that football game,” Sirianni said. “That’s going to look different each and every week. Some weeks, it’s going to look like there’s a lot of RPOs. Some weeks there’s going to be gadgets. Some weeks there’s going to be shots down the field. Some weeks it’s going to be dink and dunk.
“We know there’s many different ways to win the game. And we do have a scheme. And we do have players that fit our scheme and vice versa. We try to fit our scheme for our players. And that just changes. That’s why I just don’t get too caught up in all that.”