January 08, 2024

Eagles playoff confidence meter: Offense edition

Evaluating the Eagles' offense position by position heading into the playoffs.

By Shamus Clancy
PhillyVoice Staff

Kevin R. Wexler/USA Today Sports

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts will try to have this offense fully click in the Wild Card round.

The Eagles' regular season ended with a thud. The playoffs are here, however, regardless of whether Philadelphians are ready for it. Morale is lower than it was just 24 hours ago, an ultimately impressive turn of horrific events for this franchise, but a meeting with the Buccaneers in Tampa still awaits.

To kick off Bucs Week, I'm going to do a confidence meter for every position on the Eagles offense. There will be three grades: green light (🟢) for confident, yellow light (🟡) for somewhat confident and red light (🔴) for not confident.

Come Tuesday, I'll do the same for the defense (it's easy to imagine what my confidence will be there).

Let's begin with QB1...

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts dealt with a finger injury on his throwing hand on Sunday, but was taped up and returned to play in an utterly terrible game. It's safe to assume he'll be out there to open the postseason. Hurts has been pretty good this season, not at his 2022 MVP-caliber level, but truly great at times. Turnovers have not gone his way. Hurts threw 15 interceptions. That's as many as he had in 2021 and 2022 combined.

Still, while everything has gone off the rails over the last month or two, it's impossible to ignore the playoff success he's had. Hurts turned in one of the best passing performances in Super Bowl history last February, dropping dimes all over the field. Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles made Hurts' life hell during the 2021 Wild Card Round, but Hurts has come a long way since then even with this extra bumpy 2023 campaign.

Confidence: 🟢

Running back

D'Andre Swift has been good this year. He made the Pro Bowl, a nice nod, but not the most meaningful designation in the NFL. Running back in general, and with the Eagles specifically, is a hard position to judge in this light unless you're dealing with a Derrick Henry or Christian McCaffrey All-World back.

Swift's success is dictated by how much the coaching staff wants to run the ball, how the offensive line is holding up and how Hurts has his touch on every facet of the offense. Tampa Bay has a stout run defense under Bowles, but the Eagles may need to rely on the run game more than they have in a long time if A.J. Brown and/or DeVonta Smith are limited.

Confidence: 🟡

Pass-catchers

I'll lump the wide receivers and tight ends together.

Injuries, naturally, are the biggest variable here. Brown suffered a knee injury that caused him to leave Sunday's game early. The NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported, "My understanding is it's not believed to be a serious injury." The Eagles will take an even limited Brown against Tampa Bay.

Smith sat out Sunday with an ankle injury, the first missed game of his three-year career. That felt more precautionary than anything though. The Eagles will need Smith as healthy as possible with Brown being such a variable at this stage of things.

Dallas Goedert has battled injuries this season, yet again, but is one of the most talented players at his position. To hammer it home once more, the Eagles will need Goedert at his best if the Brown situation isn't as rosy as the organization hopes it is.

Taking health out of it for a second, that's an elite collection of pass-catchers. That's not up for debate. Beyond that is rough.

The No. 3 receiver is never going to be in line for a big target share behind the likes of Brown, Smith and Goedert, but it feels like the Eagles are only using three skill position guys on obvious passing downs at times with how little they get out of Quez Watkins and Olamide Zaccheaus.

One suggestion to combat that problem would be to not dial up a bomb downfield to Watkins in a high-leverage spot. I've witnessed that play enough to know how it ends.

Confidence: 🟡 due to injuries

Offensive line

The Eagles' offensive line doesn't quite resemble the juggernaut they've long been in this league. They're still good, of course, but the eye test is just off of what's been the norm. The biggest issues on this team lie on the opposite side of the ball, but the offense has not been at the level the talent should dictate.

Again, scheme plays so heavily here, as I'll get to shortly with the coaching section. An endless array of blitzes plagued the Eagles in Week 18. That's what the Giants defense does under Wink Martindale and the Eagles were helpless against it. How often have we seen Hurts dislodged from the pocket in the face of pressure this season?

Giving these proven vets the benefit of the doubt is the right call, but they're not the 2021/2022 offensive line.

Confidence: 🟡

Offensive coaching

Parsing blame for this late-season collapse will continue until this coaching regime (maybe sooner than expected!) is gone and the big-time reports and leaks come out. Offensive coordinator and play-caller Brian Johnson has been maligned and he deserves it. While Nick Sirianni works with all units, he is an offense-first coach. This is his offense. He is the root of the system. Blame should first fall upon him and that's before even getting into the way this offense looks like it's just frankly given up, mailed it in and ready to book their trips to Cancun.

Brutal. Just brutal.

Confidence: 🔴

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