Last night the Eagles unveiled their new coaching staff. Gone are the frustrations of Carson Walch and Mike Groh. Enter Rich Scangarello and Andrew Breiner. Doug Pederson was told to fire his Offensive Coordinator and Wide Receiver coach and hire people outside the organization with new ideas. In the end, Pederson decided to forgo actually naming an OC and moved to just naming specific offensive coaches: one of which is actually a defensive coach. Here’s a list of new offensive coaching positions:
- Press Taylor – promoted to Pass Game Coordinator/QB Coach
- Rich Scangarello- Hired as senior offensive assistant
- Aaron Moorehead- Hired as wide receivers coach
- Andrew Breiner- Hired as pass game analyst
- Matt Burke- Promoted to run game coordinator/defensive line coach
Scangarello and Breiner come from outside the Philadelphia organization and bring fresh new ideas to an offense that desperately needs it. So what does this mean for the face of the franchise, Carson Wentz? What does this mean for the offense in general?
Carson Wentz
Breiner and Scangarello come from a strong QB/offense pedigree. More important than anything else, both coaches bring a different outlook than most coaches the Eagles have had since Frank Reich left. When Scangarello was OC in Denver last year, the move to Drew Lock at QB allowed for Scangarello to use the QB outside the pocket. The Broncos went 4-1 in their last five games thanks to the offensive shift. No QB was a better passer in 2019 outside the pocket than Carson Wentz. Scangarello was criticized for being very basic with Joe Flacco and not being creative. One argument could be made for the fact that Flacco’s mobility is nowhere near Lock or Wentz’s. Regardless, Scangarello comes from the Kyle Shanahan tree. A tree that utilizes the zone blocking scheme that keeps the QB outside the pocket. Scangarello isn’t labeled as the OC but the thought process is that he is going to (FINALLY) utilize Wentz’s strengths and put the offense in a position to throw the ball downfield.
Breiner is a QB coach from college. He was the QB Coach/OC for Mississippi St. that allowed Nate Fitzgerald to run for 1,000 yards as a QB. Airgo- same as Scangarello- Wentz is going to be moved outside the pocket a lot more than the last couple of years. The expectation is that with Wentz being utilized more to match his skill set, the offense will be better than last year’s fiasco.
An underrated piece to this equation is the promotion of Press Taylor. Taylor is only in his early thirties and has a great relationship with Wentz. Taylor is thought of as one of the brightest young minds in the NFL. It helps he was the originator of the Philly Special. This gives Taylor a better chance to not only show Wentz’s overall development with Taylor, but show how good of an offensive mind he can be as passing game coordinator.
The Offense
In reality, we won’t have an understanding of how good the offense is if no one is healthy. HOWEVER, let’s go on the assumption that everyone WILL be healthy in 2020. Like Shanahan, Scangarello used a lot of motions and decoy’s to trick the opposition last year. Breiner will be able to help more along the passing game. It’s fair to note, Courtland Sutton had a very good year last year making the pro-bowl with a 1,000 yard year: much better than what any receiver provided last year for Philly. Can Scangarello make the most out of an older receiving core? Very similar to Scangarello, Breiner will bring new ideas to the offense. An offense that desperately needs more deception and creativity may just have gotten it.
Overall
Let’s be frank. Doug Pederson is still calling the plays on offense. There isn’t necessarily a need for an offensive coordinator. There IS a need for new ideas however. Groh and Walch displayed a failure to bring new and creative ideas to the team. If there was one true positive out of this, it’s this: when Mike Groh was on the LA Rams, the Rams were the worst offense in football (Groh was passing game coordinator). The year after Groh left, the Rams led the league in points per game. Last year the Eagles were one of the blandest offenses in football with Groh. Can the Eagles have a similar turnaround as the ’17 Rams offense? With Scangarello and Breiner, the possibilities are endless for a QB and team needing a spark.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
