There has been a lot made of the recent struggles on offense for the Philadelphia Eagles, who have been mightily struggling.
It's been more noticeable in the last two games, with 26 points combined in the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions games. Many of the complaints have focused on the passing game, with Jalen Hurts completing just four passes of 20 yards or more in those two games. The worst is that only two passes were completed that traveled 20 yards or more in the air, which usually indicates the team is not calling deep ball passes or not executing them.
NFL analyst Ross Tucker was none of that talk when he appeared on SportsRadio 94 WIP, as he shut down the narrative that the Eagles aren't being aggressive enough on offense. Tucker shared the data behind it.
"I think we forget a couple of things. One is, you know, it was the Vikings game where they had over two 100-yard receivers and were throwing the ball deep the whole game, and do you know going into Sunday night's game against Detroit that Hurts had an NFL-best 17 completions of over 20 yards in the air?"
Nobody would have (guessed) and that's fair, but it's true. I did the game for Westwood One, so I did all the research. 17 completions of over 20 air yards. Now, he had 16 going into the Packers game, which was really impressive. The only one in the Packers game was a touchdown to DeVonta (Smith). So, it was 17.
So, this idea that they don't push the ball down the field is false. They had several bad drops. It was clearly a really tough night to throw the ball."
If the Eagles are being aggressive, then what is going on with the offense?
Does it all come down to execution for the offense, then? Most likely, this Eagles unit has been as bad as any that have stepped on the field in midnight green in quite some time.
They are bottom 10 in the NFL in total offense and passing, while leading the NFL in three-and-outs. Hurts has not completed over 60% in a game over the last two contests, the first time he has done that all season.
If there is a silver lining to it all, at least the running game is staying consistently average, as they rushed for 111 yards against the Packers and 148 yards against the Lions. Not the type of numbers from 2024, but Eagles fans can take some comfort in the fact that it's at least getting better in that department.
Blame should also be placed on Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo's play-calling, with his love for the hitch route. Some blame the wide receivers themselves for a lack of consistency in creating separation from defensive backs.
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Eventually this offense has to get better, but it's taking way longer than it needs to.