IT’S easy to blame the Offensive Line for the mess that our Offense has become, and while they shoulder part of the responsibility, the Offensive Line isn’t overthrowing WR’s, or dropping passes. The Offensive Line isn’t holding onto the ball too long, or dancing around before it hits the hole. We have other problems.
Of course, the first step to fixing any problem is correctly identifying it.
The first problem (nope, no foreplay), is that we’re missing DeSean Jackson. Or more accurately, Nick Foles is missing DeSean Jackson. And Riley Cooper is missing DeSean Jackson. And so is LeSean McCoy.
Last year in 10 starts Nick Foles got to just lay the ball out there, knowing Jackson has the speed to get under it. In case after case this year, we’ve seen that Foles no longer has a WR who can do that. That’s where all those rainbow shots are coming from, as Foles tries to put enough air under the ball to allow who he has left, to run under the ball. The result has been more than twice the interceptions in half the starts, compared to last year. You may say you don’t miss Jackson, but the numbers don’t lie. Nick Foles misses DeSean Jackson.
Let’s take drops out of the equation. Last year Riley Cooper averaged 17.8 yards per catch, and generally caught balls with lots of space around him. This year the coverage is tighter and he’s averaging a meager 8.3 yard per catch. I had a laugh when Chip Kelly said that aside from Calvin Johnson, no WR in the NFL sees double coverage. I’ll give Kelly the benefit of the doubt and say that instead of lying to make the loss of Jackson more palatable for fans, he merely doesn’t recognize bracket coverage when he sees it. Regardless of which one it is, Cooper is no longer the beneficiary of loose coverage. At this rate by season’s end, his new, over-inflated, NON-GUARANTEED contract won’t be commensurate with his play and will be expendable. I promise you, right about now DeSean Jackson is one n***** Cooper misses.
When the Free Safeties of most defenses you face, line up almost in the parking lot on most downs, it makes turning short runs into long runs much easier. On runs when LeSean McCoy can make it out of the backfield, he has plenty of those short runs to his credit. Problem is, there isn’t much space for him to create now. Now all the dancing around people loved about him last year, is getting him hemmed in most of the time this year. LeSean McCoy misses DeSean Jackson.
Getting rid of Jackson was one thing, but assuming that you didn’t have to replace his effect as a catalyst was outright foolish. But again, this is just to identify the problem. We don’t have a player on the roster who can do what Jackson did (try as Jeremy Maclin might). But there are things we can do to get us back on track, and what’s more, we can do it with guys we already have under contract.
And I’ll get into that, starting tomorrow.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 
Look Foles is a decent QB but you are absolutely right he isnt a premier QB. He wont get that fat contract. He’s very serviceable but replaceable. This would have been a superbowl team with Jackson in Philly. It comes down to money. All the crap with the gangs, kelly , bad in the lockeroom was a public relations smokescreen to jettison a large contract. Make no mistake Lurie cares about that bottom line first and winning second. When Trent Dilfer attacked Kraft and the front office for not giving Tom Brady anything he could have easily been talking about Lurie and McNabb. And include Foles on that list. Foles is still working off his rookie contract . It doesnt get any cheaper for Lurie. But come contract time he will get a second level NFL contract IF he stays in Philly. This team as usual will come up short .
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think NOW more than ever between: finding the new normal with a relatively new CBA (Foles would be our first big QB signing since), and trying to undo so much fiscal irresponsibility on Howie Roseman’s part; the bottom line has never mattered more to Jeff Lurie.
I’m highly skeptical that Foles gets a 100M$ deal as an EAGLE. I could be wrong but, I said earlier this year that something was rotten in Denmark with how the organization apparently sabotaged his future.
A young QB in a new system, statistically CRUSHES shit, and what do they do? They take away his most dangerous weapon. (Because as we all know, that NEVER hurts a QB’s performance the following year. Smh)
Meanwhile fans who lay blame for offensive problems at the organizations feet, are practically non-existent. Almost everyone you talk to wants to blame Foles. And McCoy. And Cooper. And the Offensive Line. I even talked to some guys who blame (in part) Lane Johnson.
Few people get that the SYSTEM is what’s buggy, that’s why the SYSTEM isn’t working.
BUT, as long as we’re narrowly escaping the NFL’s bottom-feeders and piling up wins, everybody’s happy. However, starting Sunday the screws get tighter and right now the Giants and Cowboys are absolutely breathing down our neck.
I wonder how many losses it’ll take before the blame shifts from the players to the organization. For Foles it won’t even matter though, because the damage will already be done.
LikeLike
I talked sabotage a couple of years ago. I wouldnt use sabotage . More like a tightening of the screws. I dont think Foles has a huge upside. He needs a top quality supporting cast. He has pretty good help but its not elite. You add Jackson and that makes the offense nearly indefensible and elite capable. There are always intangibles but with Jackson I think Foles would slice through teams like butter. sort of in the way mark rypien did it with washington. Obviously sanchez is insurance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The bottom line is Foles, Kelly, and the entire offense needs to forget Jackson. Kelly chose to let him walk, but that doesn’t mean he has to keep acting like he’s in the lineup. Shady is going to have to accept the fact that safety is in the box now. No more dancing until after you get through the line. Foles is going to have to accept these receivers aren’t going to provide him with the same type of seperation that was afforded with Jackson. He’s going to have to let go of the football and trust these guys. With that being the case I understand. Not only Jackson’s speed has been lost so has his very underrated hands. One thing I do not like about Our current receivers is they catch the ball with their bodies! Watch them and you will see the actually cause themselves yardage cause they don’t use their hands like other receivers do. The have to jump unnecessarily for balls. You saw how Kenny Britt just used his hands to bring balls in on our defenders. Our receivers when they try to use their hands get drops like Jordan Mathews does. Josh Huff isn’t going to fix the Jackson problem. So what he’s fast. He’s not faster than Jackson, and his hands aren’t better than even Mathews right now. So the solution for our offense will need to be to take what the defense gives them. Stop the deep ball until the run game develops again. That won’t happen until Shady simply takes the 3-4 yard carry and stop trying for the 20-30 yard run every time. I think in Chips mind guys are “open”, but these guys aren’t open unless they are five yards away from everyone open. I also would like to point out the loss of the two linemen have forced the Eagles to use Ertz much less. James Casey is getting about as many snaps as Ertz cause he’s a better blocker, and Celek is getting twice as many snaps for the same reasons. Ertz is probably our best middle of the field guy right now who can get good seperation from nearly any linebacker or safety. Missing Jackson is very important, but losing those two linemen have changes the offense entirely. Did any of you notice the run play where Molk was driven right into Shady? That doesn’t happen to Kelce or Mathis.
LikeLiked by 1 person
YES!!!! That play and the one where Molk seemed to be “looking” for someone to block. If you’re a Center there’s ALWAYS someone to block, even if all you’re doing is giving a help block.
McCoy won’t become a guy who is fine with the 3-4 yard gains. It’s what he did in Pittsburgh, it’s what got him drafted, what he did well under Reid and what got him his Rushing Champion title. This IS who he is now. Life has taught him that what he does is what makes him successful. In his interview last week with Beasley Reece, he made it clear that he “still knows who he is”. The word ‘still’ doesn’t favor a change in attitude and speaking of attitude the way he wouldn’t even turn his head to look in Reece’s direction as he spoke does NOT indicate good things coming.
LikeLike
Shady and Foles have been struggling (and so has Kelly) since the season has started so much of this has happened even before Mathis and Kelce went down. Clearly there’s something missing (number 10), but if they change up they would fair much better in the long run. All three guys need to realize things have changed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree that would help, but I don’t actually see it happening.
I think Kelly is going to have to make the adjustments himself and explain what needs to happen.
LikeLike
I agree with EZ here. He got paid big bucks to gain yards. He is going to get punished one way or another with the new offense. It can be behind the line of scrimmage or with his head down. But I said it years ago he is soft. I took alot of ribbing about Beanie Wells. But the fact is in this particular scenario Wells would be gaining 3 .3- 3.5 yds a carry while McCoy is moving sideline to sideline. Ill put it to you this way Sproles was hitting the holes much better than Mccoy and hes a 30 something. McCoy needs to shut his mouth and man the fuck up.
LikeLike
Benie Wells sucks Hollywood. He won’t be gaining anything cause he’s out of the league. The reason is his body couldn’t live up to the NFL pounding. Big backs get injured. That’s what they do, and I get McCoy wanting to make the big play, but at this point he’s hurting the team by trying. I just want to see him take what the defense is giving him at least until his lineman come back healthy. Wells last year in the league he averaged 2.7 yards a carry. He’s a terrible example for you analogy. Use someone like Lynch who can actually play football.
LikeLike