Remember when the Philadelphia Eagles' offense was an unstoppable powerhouse and they knew it? That swagger and confidence is gone right now, as evidenced by a few extraordinarily passive play calls in high leverage situations against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football.
Let's start with the Eagles' third drive of the game, which resulted in a field goal. The Eagles faced a 3rd and 6 from the Seahawks' 20 yard line, and they called a designed run for Jalen Hurts that got two yards. 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey, who appeared on the Manning brothers' telecast, correctly predicted the play call.
The Eagles went for it on fourth down and completed a 6-yard pass to Julio Jones for the first down.
Later on that drive, again facing a 3rd and 6, this time from the Seahawks' 8 yard line, the Eagles called another run play, this time to D'Andre Swift, which was stopped for no gain. The Eagles then settled for a field goal.
Two 3rd and 6 situations, two ineffective runs.
Because McCaffrey diagnosed the play from afar, Sirianni was asked on Wednesday about the predictability of his offense. He dismissed that the play was predictable, citing that the offense hadn't run that play from that formation this season. However, his reasoning for calling a run in that situation was more alarming.
"That play was designed to put us in fourth and short or to get the first down," he said. "We accomplished the goal from that play. Got ourselves in fourth and short and ended up getting a first down from that."
To begin, they didn't even get half the yards they needed for a first down, and left themselves with a 4th and 4. Sure, they converted, but I don't think anyone would consider a 2-yard run on 3rd and 6 a successful play.
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Of course, the Eagles do have one of the most successful plays in the NFL in the Brotherly Shove, which is nearly automatic from 1 or fewer yards out. However, that should be a play that the Eagles can utilize when they find themselves in those situations. They shouldn't hope to be in them, with a few exceptions. "A run and a shove" is logical on, like, 3rd and 2. On 3rd and 6, aspiring to just get a shorter distance on 4th down is a lack of trust in your outstanding QB-WR1-WR2-TE1 foursome to simply make a play and avoid the 4th down altogether.
Another highly questionable call from the Eagles' loss was the deep ball down the field from Hurts to A.J. Brown, which was intercepted by Seattle safety Julian Love. On the surface, the play call — a deep shot to the alpha receiver — seemed to be aggressive. Here it is, as a reminder.
"At times there we've seen you can get a pass interference there," Sirianni said. "It was what it was on that particular play, but if you get a pass interference call there and if a team is giving you a one-on-one shot... We had a one-on-one shot against the Rams, and you can get a pass interference, and now you're in position to kick it. So, we have some of the best receivers in the NFL outside. So, there are times where you're going to do that. We felt like in that situation we had an opportunity to. Hey, it didn't work out that particular time.
"But we've done it at other times in two-minute drills, and it's worked. In that particular time, it didn't work, so we understand the criticism, but not only could you get a pass interference, but also A.J. has a tremendous ability to come down with the football in one-on-one situations."
Beyond the "Let's hope the other team does bad" aspect of the play call, it was also a low percentage call.
The Eagles had the ball with 13 seconds left at their own 45 with two timeouts. Somehow they felt that one chance at a pass interference call plus a medium-range field goal gave them a better chance to win than two shots at getting 15-20 yards and a 50+ yarder from their star kicker who consistently drills pressure kicks. (Yes, it was a rainy game, but there was virtually no wind.)
The Eagles have arguably the best offensive line in the NFL, a quarterback who nearly won the MVP a season ago, and star receivers, and they are choosing to play milquetoast beta ball.
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