Eagles Fixes To End Three-Game Slide Right Under The Coaches' Noses

PHILADELPHIA – It’s right there, right under the coaches’ noses. Two fixes to ending the Eagles’ three-game slide.

One: Don’t let Jalen Hurts throw the ball more than 30 times. They are 1-5 when that happens.

Two: Line up under center more. Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis noted that the Eagles ran the shotgun formation on 29 plays on Monday night in Los Angeles, averaging 3.2 yards per play in those 29 snaps. When Hurts was under the center for eight plays, the Eagles averaged 9.4 yards per play.

It’s a small sample size when it comes to being under center more than in shotgun or pistol, and offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo doesn’t want to become too predictable on what each formation is running. Still, there seems to be some credence to getting under more often and trying to limit Hurts to fewer than 30 pass attempts.

Runnng back Saquon Barkley, who has just 862 yards on the ground with four games remaining, addressed the under center vs. shotgun formations.

Saquon Barkley On Offense Under Center Vs. Shotgun

“I feel like for me, personally, it doesn’t make a difference,” he said. “It’s just running the football. Is there a difference? Yes. …I’m not trying to brag here (because) I was drafted very high in this league from Penn State, and the last few years (there), I never went under center. And then when you get to the NFL, you have to adapt and learn how to run under center.

“I feel comfortable in either. …the player I want to be, it shouldn’t be that way where we’re having more success one way, because ultimately, the run game falls on me. Yes, we’re producing underneath, but I gotta find a way to help us produce from the gun, too, because it gives us a better balances.”

Then there’s the Hurts 30-plus factor. The only win the Eagles had when Hurts threw for more than 30 passes as against the Rams. He was 21-for-32 with 226 yards and four touchdowns – three passing and one running.

The five losses where Hurts threw more than 30 times was all three in this current losing streak – Cowboys, Bears, and Chargers – and, before that, it was during a two-game losing streak against the Broncos and Giants.

Offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo said that each game was different, citing that there were more plays against the Chargers because it went overtime.

“If you have more third downs or you have more passes into the two-minute, sometimes those numbers can go up,” he said on Thursday. “If you look at it situationally, sometimes you can see your target area of trying to be very balanced, which is always what we want to try to do. If it gets over those kinds of numbers, if a quarterback's throwing a ton, why is it? Is it situational ball? We have a lot of third downs; we have a lot of two-minute drives. Do we get an overtime where we're doing something? Are we on the ball?

“We're pushing the pace, and we're completing it. I think when you look at it from there, that kind of tells you more the picture. I don't think when you just look at numbers, that's really a thing, or if you're down by points or you're chasing points. We've had some games like that this year, too, so I don't think it's a real stat that you really need to look at too much.”

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