Eagles Receivers not Catching on, especially Mack Hollins
Eagles receivers are under fire, and rightfully so, and not just because they lead the NFL in dropped passes.
Nelson Agholor is defending himself against charges of not giving maximum effort, and Alshon Jeffery, at the age of 29, is either playing hurt or in decline and, oh by the way, may or not be the anonymous source leaking information to ESPN’s Josina Anderson.
Furthermore, second-round rookie draft pick J.J. Arcega-Whiteside mostly languishes on the bench and owns just two catches for 14 yards in the Eagles’ first seven games.
As for DeSean Jackson, who knows when the veteran receiver will play again as he struggles to recover from an abdomen injury suffered six weeks ago.
Then there’s Mack Hollins, who could go to a masquerade party this Halloween as the Invisible Man.
Hollins hasn’t caught a pass in four straight games.
“Sometimes the ball just doesn’t come your way,” said Hollins on Tuesday. “It is what it is. When the ball comes my way, I’ll make a play on it when it does.
"If it doesn’t, I’m not going to go to (quarterback) Carson (Wentz) and tell him I need the ball. I’m going to keep doing what the coaches want me to do and we’ll go from there.”
Unless general manager Howie Roseman makes a deal to bring in another target – and the trade market at the receiver position is thinning with the recent trades of Mohamed Sanu and Emmanuel Sanders – this is the group the Eagles will ride with the rest of the season.
Maybe it’s not all Hollins’ fault that he hasn’t caught pass since having a productive game against the Detroit Lions with four receptions for 62 yards. But that was back on Sept. 22.
He has only been targeted six times on 138 offensive snaps in the four-game catch-less drought.
“Plays are designed not always based off one guy or another guy, so I run every route as if I’m the primary read,” said Hollins. “Whether the ball comes my way when I come out of the break, I’m super excited when the balls come my way, when it’s not, I’m super excited when somebody else catches the ball and I can go get a block that could potentially open up a touchdown.”
The former fourth-round draft pick in 2017 has speed, demonstrated when he latched on to a 64-yard touchdown strike in his rookie season against the Washington Redskins.
Yet there don’t seem to be any plays designed to get Hollins deep, leaving Agholor as the lone deep threat option. And that's not working out too great.
Last week, quarterback Carson Wentz said there was “no rhyme or reason” why the ball hadn’t been delivered to Hollins with more frequency.
On Tuesday, offensive coordinator Mike Groh said that, despite the lack of production, Hollins is doing everything the team asks from him.
“The ball hasn't found him,” said Groh “I actually thought in this past game, from a passing-game perspective, you look at the routes that he ran and put on tape, he was improved week over week from the week before. I think he's put a lot into practice and trying to refine his technique and he's done a good job.
"I think you'll continue to see both those guys, J.J. and Mack, in the game.”
Hollins played 30 snaps in Dallas and was targeted only once. Arcega-Whiteside was on the field for 12 snaps, but wasn’t targeted at all.
“The thing that’s upsetting is we’re losing games,” said Hollins. “We’re not taking care of the football. We’re not playing at the level I know we’re capable of.
“We have a whole bunch of stars on this team and great potential on this team to be putting up 30, 40 points a game and we’re not doing that right now and that’s the frustrating thing.”
