Deadline looming
Fixing Eagles’ offense is a complicated task and they are running out of time
PHILADELPHIA – They may not always be on the same page, which is troubling enough, but every member of the Philadelphia Eagles’ broken offense can do the math involved in their depressing predicament.
They’re 5-5 and a game behind the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East, with six other NFC teams also featuring better records in the race for two wild-card spots. Only six games remain.
What’s more, their offense, once a juggernaut, has been stalled by injuries, the unexpected decline of wide receivers Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor and a quarterback in Carson Wentz who seems more befuddled by those developments than anything else.
But with the trade deadline long expired, there can be no significant reinforcements, barring bringing in exiled receiver Antonio Brown, who likely would bring a whole new set of problems.
The Eagles have to take what they have and figure out a way to make it work — with basically no more time for trial and error.
That the Eagles have been here before, actually at 4-6 at this time a year ago, and still wound up advancing in the playoffs is something Wentz and coach Doug Pederson pointed to on Wednesday.
They had to. They have nothing else. “I mean, first of all, understanding adversity, going through it, always makes you stronger and you can learn and grow from it,” Wentz said. “I also say that every season is different, every season has its own case. Each example … is drastically different. This year is its own season as well.
“But I think just the leadership and the guys that have been through adversity, whether it’s in their life or within their career … are able to kind of pull some of the younger guys, the newer guys.”
Without Jeffery (ankle injury), top running back Jordan Howard (shoulder) and right tackle Lane Johnson, who departed last Sunday’s game with a concussion, the Eagles featured a pop-gun attack that was shut out in the second half of a 17-10 loss to New England.
Based on the way the week is going, there’s no guarantee any of them will be available for Sunday’s game against Seattle either.
Johnson remains in the concussion protocol and did not practice. Howard and Jeffery were among those who were limited.
At least the defense continues to get healthier. Linebacker Nigel Bradham practiced without restrictions on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an ankle injury that has kept him out of the last four games.
Wentz voiced confidence after Sunday’s loss that the offense will get it together without any personnel upgrades.
“For me, I get to see all of these guys in practice,” he said. “Everyone in here [the media] and the public doesn’t get to see that, so I have a lot of confidence in the guys that when their number is called, they’re going to make plays.”
Here’s what the Eagles’ offensive skill positions look like around Wentz based on the players available if a game had to be played today: Running backs Miles Sanders (a rookie), Boston Scott (a second-year player with limited experience) and Jay Ajayi (signed last Friday); wide receivers J.J. Arcega Whiteside, Jordan Matthews (signed on Nov. 11) and Mack Hollins; and tight ends Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert.
Agholor (knee) did not practice on Wednesday. Arcega-Whiteside is a rookie with three career receptions on eight targets. Hollins has played 392 snaps while catching just 10 passes, and none since September.
It’s even worse than it looks on paper.
Against New England, their normally reliable running game let them down against a team that doesn’t defend it very well, leading Pederson to abandon it, essentially squelching any chance his team had of a comeback once it fell behind.
So where do they go from here? Back to last year, of course.
“We can look back on that, and No. 1, through injury, which obviously we’re sustaining that on the offensive side of the ball a little bit right now, so the next man up has to play,” Pederson said. “That’s kind of the strength we leaned on with the defense. The next guy up had to play. It’s just a resilient group. I lean on the leaders, I lean on the veteran players on the team to really keep everything coming. We just have to go practice and continue to trust our process, and do all the little things that really helped us get to the postseason and then ultimately the Super Bowl a couple years ago.”
Resiliency, history and a defense that may be playing better recently than at any point since their Super Bowl LII win.
That’s about all the Eagles have going for them right now.
It’s going to have to be enough.