Eagles Recent Struggles
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Austin Darrow
The Eagles have come back down to Earth and no one is ready to admit it.
The Eagles team that outscored its opponents 92-27 and rookie quarterback Carson Wentz’s rating is now a thing of the past. That 3-0 team hasn’t shown up post bye week.
Coming out of that dreadful week 4 bye, the offense has been ice cold producing just two touchdowns and scoring a total of 29 points. They averaged that in their first three games.
So what has happened to this team that showed so much promise? Defenses and defensive coordinators might have finally gathered enough film on the young quarterback.
Wentz has been pressured more in the last two games than he was in the first three. Some of that has to do with the suspension of Lane Johnson, who is no longer going to protect Wentz for 9 more games.
The new right tackle, Halapoulivaati Vaitai was owned by Ryan Kerrigan and allowed 2.5 sacks from that side.
Wentz has also been holding on to the ball a little longer in the pocket than most quarterbacks do. When he sits in the pocket for that long, coordinators don’t have to throw the defense at him, they can just let the edge rushers get to him.
The Eagles have also gone into halftime down 14-0 the last two games. Ryan Matthews and Darren Sproles have only carried the ball 29 times in those two games.
Part of those two not getting the ball is because the Eagles have passed the ball more in the last two games, making it easier for the secondary to cheat.
Wentz’s passes haven’t been spot on either, when you lose games, those sailed passes are more noticeable then when you’re losing.
The Eagles have fallen short of expectations as of late and that’s partially the public’s fault, since everyone held them to a playoff spot after the first three games.
The receiving core has failed Wentz, defense has put the offense in a hole early, and the Eagles are the most penalized team in the league.
The Eagles schedule is not getting easier, since they got the easy teams out of the way, they now go against the undefeated Minnesota Vikings.
That Vikings defense is top in the league. The rest of their schedule is one of the toughest.
They have the 5-1 Dallas Cowboys on the road, New York Giants on the road, 4-2 Atlanta Falcons, 4-1 Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers, Cincinnati Bengals, another one with the Washington Redskins, a road game against the Baltimore Ravens, and the Giants and Cowboys to end the year.
The weaker teams are no longer on the schedule and Wentz and Co. is going to have to figure it out or else they won’t be flying high anytime soon.