Could More Pre-Snap Urgency Help Eagles' Offense?

PHILADELPHIA - Eagles’ star left tackle Jordan Mailata recently lamented that Philadelphia’s offense needs more urgency when it comes to getting out of the huddle.

"I think it's got to do more with the consistency,” Mailata told Eagles On Si Wednesday when asked about his comments. “Again, the consistency was there against the Rams in the second half.  It wasn't there the first half. So we were like, yeah, we had to add that urgency to the war.

“And then the urgency was there the first half against Tampa, wasn't there in the second half.  So whilst being critical of ourselves, it's just something that I thought that we could be better at that could contribute to more consistency up front.”

Nick Sirianni was also asked about that issue in advance of Sunday’s game against Denver and its talented defense.

The Eagles’ head coach used the question to highlight just how much goes into something the average fan might think is simple.

More Complicated Than You Think

Nick Sirianni, Kevin Patullo and Jalen Hurts — Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni and offenisve coordinator Kevin Patullo speak with quarterback Jalen Hurts (1). | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

“There's obviously a lot that goes into that,” Sirianni said. “It starts with how you practice and go through that. So obviously [Eagles offensive coordinator] Kevin [Patullo] has to say what personnel we're in and then those coaches offensively have to send in that personnel, whether you're in 11, 12 variations of 11, 12, 21, whatever it is.”

At that stage, things have just gotten started.

“Then Kevin calls the play in to [Eagles QB] Jalen [Hurts]. Then Jalen has to read the call there, and then everyone's expected obviously to know exactly what they have to do there because if there's any hesitation, then there has to be another bit of communication,” the coach said.

If things go smoothly to that point, “they have to go get lined up, get set,” Sirianni explained.

“Then there's the aspect of seeing what the defense is, and so you can make your calls, whether it's a run game, pass game or anything, so everyone's on the same page. There's so much to it,” Sirianni said.

“... You want to be able to get up to the line of scrimmage so you're able to go through your entire process and account for some of these things that I just talked about,” Sirianni continued. “And that way you're getting the snap obviously oftentimes all those different things, but there's so many pieces that go into it. That's why you practice. That's why you go about that so you can be as efficient as you possibly can there.”

The mindset can also change depending on the situation of the game.

“There's a time, different scenarios in the game call for different things, whether you're in a two-minute [drill], whether you're in a four-minute [drill]. So there's scenarios that call for all these different things within it, but our goal is to be as efficient as possible.”

What can’t be debated is the quicker you are at the line of scrimmage the more time the QB has to decipher everything properly and distribute that information from inside, out.

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