For a team that is sitting pretty with a 2-0 mark, there’s been an awful lot of complaining when it comes to the Philadelphia Eagles‘ offense.
Eagles offense off to a cooler start than expected
Of course, that’s what happens when the offensive line, quarterback, and play-caller take a full six quarters to look like the All-Pro group they were expected to be when the season began. After struggling to find any sort of rhythm through Week 1 and the first half of Week 2, Philadelphia went back to their basic principles to show just how good they are.
The numbers shortly followed. Over 400 yards of offense, over 200 on the ground, and a barrage of big play scores helped the Eagles overwhelm a Vikings team in disarray Thursday night. It also showed why this group will be just fine once the full rust of the offseason comes off.
“Fortunately for us, we’re able to win on the ground, and we are able to win in the air, and so you are able to balance off what the defense does,” head coach Nick Sirianni said to kick off the week.
Philadelphia is still 2-0 despite having the inconsistencies on offense. The biggest part of the group’s slow start has been through the passing game. For two straight games, franchise quarterback Jalen Hurts has looked confused as he gets used to a new play-caller and defenses being thrown at him.
Despite the slow start of back-to-back games of under 200 yards passing, the Eagles aren’t at all concerned about last season’s MVP runner-up.
“We are talking about a two-game sample size,” Sirianni said. “We’re just going to keep doing what we need to do to put the guys in position to succeed, and that’s our job as coaches. We know for sure that we have the right guys in this building to go out and execute against the defenses that we see.”
Eagles offense provides room for optimism
A big part of the passing struggles the Eagles have faced is the multiple looks they’ve received in two weeks of action. Play-callers like Bill Belichick and Brian Flores have thrown everything plus the kitchen sink at Philadelphia’s offense.
Most coordinators now do not follow the Belichick style of defensive strategy. That means the first two games against top coordinators might be one of the only times that the Eagles’ offense sees the multiple looks on offense.
Sure, other defenses like their upcoming matchup against the Buccanneers, Cowboys, and Dolphins could cause problems, but Philadelphia’s offense has the luxury of seeing how to react to some of these different looks. They’ll be better prepared for them, and be better organized when changes come.
Arguably the most important takeaway from Thursday’s win against Minnesota was that offensive coordinator Brian Johnson showed his willingness to adapt to change. When the Vikings fully supported stopping the pass over the run, Johnson took what the defense gave and ran the ball down their throat.
The jury may still be out in his first year in the new role, but Johnson showed he’s more than capable of adjusting on the fly when the team needs him to. It’s a big reason why they were up three scores for most of that contest.
Two weeks of NFL football are not enough to have people panicking about groups. Injuries and effectiveness change over the course of months in a season. The fact that the Eagles find themselves 2-0 with an injured defense and with their offense not in sync is a good sign that they’ll be just fine.
They showed an inkling of what they could be on Thursday night at home. Once the rust fully comes off, it should be smooth sailing for one of the top offenses in all of football.
Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire
