Doug Pederson Must go Back to Drawing Board

Eagles coach and staff have to find ways to make this offense run smoother

Two years ago, Doug Pederson went back to the drawing board with his then-assistant coaches Frank Reich and John DeFilippo right before the start of the 2017 playoffs.

The three coaches had two weeks to devise a way to make their offense work for Nick Foles, who played to very mixed results in the three games after the team lost starter Carson Wentz to a knee injury. Pederson and his assistants broke down tape of Foles’ career, seeing what worked for him and what didn’t then incorporated those results.

It paid dividends as Foles was mostly a maestro during the team’s three-game run to the Super Bowl LII title and was named Super Bowl MVP.

Reich and DeFilippo have moved on, but the idea in the two weeks the Eagles have now before hosting the New England Patriots coming off this weekend’s bye remains the same.

Pederson must go back to the drawing board.

This time he must find a way to get the passing game to work consistently, and he will do that now with offensive coordinator Mike Groh, run-game coordinator and offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, and assistant head/running backs coach Duce Staley.

“I think that's the challenge this week as a staff to go back and just assess and re-evaluate and really break down these first nine games and really look at it with open eyes, honestly,” said Pederson on Monday. “We're not game planning this week, so we get a chance to do that. I think out of this, we have to find consistency, especially in our passing game.

“We have to find a common thread there and we have to see what has been the breakdown, right. You have to be able to target an area, and then (say), ‘Okay, here is our plan to fix it.’ These next couple days will be important for us to make those decisions and try to be a little more consistent moving forward.”

The Eagles again added Jordan Matthews to the mix because DeSean Jackson was placed on Injured Reserve and because the receivers that remain cannot be trusted to consistently catch the ball or regularly get open.

It is particularly important to find ways for Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor to regain their 2017 form.

“We just have to continue to work with these guys,” said Pederson on Monday, adding that both have been good but not great. “Every week is a new week. Every week is a new set of challenges.

“As we put game plans together, we do think about these guys and putting them into positions and look, sometimes you get in the game, and I'm the one calling the plays and sometimes the game kind of steers a different direction than what you think during the week. But I think overall, these guys have been in a position to help and help us win, and have a lot of confidence in both those guys moving forward.”

The same cannot be said for the other two - Mack Hollins and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Hollins return to full-time special-teams duty. The Eagles simply cannot afford to play someone who gives them zero production and allows defenses to completely ignore whichever Hollins’ side of the field.

As for Arcega-Whiteside, who knows? He’s only a rookie but his inability to get on the field when the team clearly needs a productive receiver is the season’s biggest puzzler.

Matthews figures to play more snaps going forward than either Hollins or Arcega-Whiteside.

Perhaps Pederson and his staff scrap the receivers all together, or at least reduce their targets, and rely heavily on tight ends Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert and a run game that has shown plenty of juice.

With Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders becoming a solid one-two punch, the Eagles rank 13 in the NFL in rushing yards per game, averaging 127.3 yards, which is 35 yards more per game than a season ago.

Already Howard has more yards this season (525) than last year’s Eagles leading rusher, Josh Adams, who had 511. In three of their biggest wins of the season over the Packers, Bills and Bears they ran for 176, 218 and 146 yards, respectively, as a team.

Finding ways to scheme Ertz and Goedert open, much the way Patriots coach Bill Belichick did when he had Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez at his disposal, is also a good homework assignment for Pederson and company.

Against the Bears on Sunday, the Eagles played most of their snaps with both Ertz and Goedert on the field in 12 personnel. Goedert got 66 snaps; Ertz 65.

So there are options.

It is up to Pederson and his staff to find the best ones, and they have two weeks to do it.