Eagles offense has an identity crisis

With teams limiting their quick-strike opportunities, the Eagles have had to settle for long drives, less points.

  • Lawrence Timmons #94 of the Pittsburgh Steelers rips the ball from Michael Vick #7 of the Philadelphia Eagles during the game on October 7, 2012 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Lawrence Timmons #94 of the Pittsburgh Steelers rips the ball from Michael… (Justin K. Aller, Getty Images )
October 13, 2012|Nick Fierro


What we can reasonably expect from this team, based on the exciting new identity its forging with its defense and an offense that's been forced into ball-control by wary opponents, is a lot more of what we've been seeing through the first five games: mostly low-scoring, limited-possession contests decided in the final minutes and often the final play.

Maybe a blowout or two is looming, but it would be the exception to the rule that is starting to set in for this team.

Gone are the days of the traditional Eagles wins, in which big early scoring plays forces opponents out of their scripts and into one-dimensional, catch-up mode that a defense built to pressure quarterbacks can exploit.

The last half of Donovan McNabb's and first half of Michael Vick's tenures as quarterbacks of this team were littered with those kinds of victories.

McNabb often was criticized for leading so few game-winning drives in the fourth quarter, but a big part of that was because he had so few opportunities compared to his peers. His team would almost always be comfortably ahead by the time the fourth quarter began in its wins and often more than one touchdown behind in the stretch drive of its losses.

They'd often take and convert deep shots down the field, ball-control be damned. They wanted to score as quickly and as often as possible. Their victories were not only lopsided in score but in time-of-possession differential as well — only with their opponents finishing with a huge, meaningless advantage.

That whole dynamic has flipped to the point where the Eagles have trailed in the fourth quarter of every game this season, yet have won three of five.

From 2008, the year they drafted wide receiver DeSean Jackson, through the end of last season, the Eagles averaged 31 points per game in their victories, winning by an average score of 31-16 in the process.

Their victories this year have been by scores of 17-16, 24-23 and 19-17. Their 19-17 win over the New York Giants on Sept. 30 came down the final play, as did their 16-14 loss at Pittsburgh last Sunday.

The math and the circumstances this team faces now point to so much more of the same as defenses continue to play soft, forcing the Eagles to go 12, 13, 14 plays to score instead of four, five and six, the way they used to. Their problems have been compounded due to pathetic special-teams play.

As the laws of average predict, there's more of a chance for something to go wrong when you have the ball for 14 straight plays than you do for five or six.

This is what's been happening with the Eagles, among other things.

Opening week: Michael Vick is intercepted on the ninth play of a first-quarter drive.

Week 2: Vick is intercepted on the game's ninth play of the first, perfectly scripted series.

Week 3: In an attempt to finish off an 11-play touchdown drive that would have cut Arizona's lead to 10 points on the last play of the first half, Vick loses the ball on a sack. The Cardinals' James Sanders recovers and takes it back all the way for a touchdown and a 24-0 halftime lead.

Many other times, the turnovers came early, but the big scoring plays are down. Only one of their touchdowns this season has been longer than 20 yards. Last year, they had four by this time. The year before that, six.

"Defenses are doing more things to stay deep," said wide receiver Jason Avant. "They know that if they can keep the ball in front of them, eventually they can bat the ball down, eventually somebody will miss a block, eventually somebody will miss a pass.

"And it's a harder game like that, but you have to prove that you can keep drives alive consistently so the defense can come up and you can get a play behind them."

Winning games this way is no less comfortable, offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg insists.

"I'm satisfied any time we win a game," he said. "All those other things matter none, absolutely none. You do what you need to do to win a game."

Mornhinweg pointed to the Eagles' 3-2 record as proof they can win this way too. Furthermore, he believes they'll begin to break through with big scoring plays.

"But the first thing we have to do is take care of the football to allow that to occur," he said.

Even with no more turnovers the rest of the way, an impossibility, it will be much tougher to score from outside the red zone this season. That's just the way defenses play the Eagles these days, and there's really nothing they can do about it except continue to take what's being given.

So they will have to do more with less. Longer drives and fewer clock stoppages mean less possessions overall and shorter games.

Against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, the Eagles had the ball just three times in the second half, but produced 14 points. That kind of production will win them a lot of games.

But as we've seen, that kind of production is not always there and never will be consistently with this team.

So look for more of the same this season, with all the games coming down to the final moments — and most likely the season as well.



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