Week 3 Preview: Eagles Search for an Identity Against Bengals
PHILADELPHIA - It’s getting late awfully early for the 0-2 Eagles, who will meet a similarly disjointed 0-2 Cincinnati Bengals team at a virtually empty Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
The circumstances are different, however, as the Bengals came in understanding they are still rebuilding with No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow as the centerpiece.
In many ways the Eagles wanted to serve two masters, staying competitive in the NFC East while infusing some youth into an aging roster.
While that's still a possibility in a weak division for Philadelphia, the search is on for an identity to build on and a setback in Week 3 would be disastrous for the Eagles vs. just another growing pain for Cincinnati.
OFFENSIVE SCHEME: You saw a lot of what Zac Taylor wants to implement last week from Sean McVay. Taylor got the gig in Cincy because he was a McVay acolyte and so far the Bengals have used 11 personnel on 78 percent of their offensive snaps. Even the Rams have only done that 73 percent of the time and only Dallas (84 percent) has used that personnel grouping more to date.
"I’m sure they will have some of those things (that the Rams did) because this is a copycat league and you always try to have some of the plays that we struggled with," Brandon Graham said. "But as long as we correct what we did, what we messed up on, and understand that they’re probably going to try and attack us the same way."
That means the Eagles cornerbacks will need to bounce back this week against a group with some significant size starting with A.J. Green. Tyler Boyd, a teammate of Avonte Maddox at Pitt, John Ross, and rookie Tee Higgins are the bodies Burrow relies on.
The big issue is the offensive line, although 2019 first-round pick Jonah Williams has shown signs at left tackle.
DEFENSIVE SCHEME: Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo often runs a five-man front with just two linebackers, a contrast to most of the league that would prefer to go big nickel in such situations.
To date, however, the Bengals have been successfully defending the pass (No. 7 overall) and not the run (No. 30) which is a bit counterintuitive or perhaps just a chicken-or-egg existential question.
Cincinnati is allowing 185.0 yards-per-game on the ground and Geno Atkins will likely miss the game with a shoulder injury so why risk the pass if you're the Eagles? Especially with the way Carson Wentz is throwing the football and the banged-up receiver group.
After the early fumble last week, Miles Sanders settled down and gave the Eagles offense a foundation to build on and the opponent this week also plays into that thesis perfectly.
STRENGTH: The Bengals have a host of talented, rangy receivers starting with the nearly 6-foot-4 Green. From there, Higgins, a rookie from Clemson, is 6-4 and Boyd is nearly 6-2 so the Eagles cornerbacks could have some issues if Burrow starts feeling it.
With receivers like that, 50/50 balls turn into 80/20 with the correct ball placement. The group has underachieved a bit through the first two games so a progression to the mean would be a disappointing development for Jim Schwartz.
“Play ball, that’s all I can say,” Darius Slay said when discussing the Bengals WRs. “They got some tall guys, some baby giants. But we go compete. That is what I put into the group. The group knows. We go out there every play and play as hard as we can. Fight for every down. So that is our goal is, to go in and compete at every level.”
The 5-9 Avonte Maddox expects to be picked on at least a little bit.
“Big challenges,” said Maddox. “They’ll probably go for the deep jump balls, you know, more often on my side or whatever. But I like it. I like the challenge, I love the challenge.
“I'm really familiar with one of the receivers over there, Tyler Boyd. I played college ball with him. He's definitely a good receiver as well. So, you know, I'm looking forward to these matchups coming up and we just want to come out with a victory so we have to execute we have to do.”
WEAK LINK: You can point to the run defense early in the season for the Bengals or perhaps the red-zone offense, which is 30th in the NFL early, something that says Burrow, like most rookie quarterbacks, is probably hesitating a bit when things get condensed on a short field.
With so few proven commodities to lean on in their own passing game right now and Wentz struggling with his mechanics, this should be a 20-plus touch game for Sanders.
UNDER THE RADAR: The Bengals CBs have been playing well early in the season, particularly William Jackson on the outside and Mackensie Alexander in the slot. The Eagles, meanwhile, have been getting virtually nothing from their receivers and now Jalen Reagor is out for the foreseeable future and Alshon Jeffery is still likely a week or two away from getting back in the lineup.
MATCHUP TO WATCH: Joe Mixon vs. the Eagles run defense. The best friend of any young QB is the run game and Philadelphia is coming off a terrible performance against the Rams when it comes to stopping the run, getting caught up in the misdirection that McVay is famous for.
Add in the oblique injury to Fletcher Cox and this is something that could tilt things toward the Bengals.
Schwartz has been particularly upset about the inability to stop the run in the red zone.
"Defenses take pride in a lot of things, but number one is their physicality and getting runs stopped," the DC said. "If we can stop the run, it allows a lot of those other things to play."
OUTLOOK: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. A third time and I’m a sadomasochist but here we are. This is more a pick against the Bengals, who simply aren’t ready to compete at a high level yet, than for the Eagles.
If Philadelphia can’t stop the negativity, however, things could come off the rails quickly.
Final Score:
JOHN MCMULLEN: Eagles 24, Bengals 17 (0-2 on the season, 0-2 vs. the spread)
ED KRACZ: Bengals 24, Eagles 23 (0-2 on the season, 0-2 vs. the spread)
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM and every Monday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SportsMap Radio. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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