Eagles O-Line Warts Show up Again

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Just about everyone has looked for themes to explain the struggles of the Eagles' 3-5-1 start to the 2020 season.

Plenty have offered their opinions from outside the NovaCare Complex while those inside the organization, particularly head coach Doug Pederson and quarterback Carson Wentz, have been sure to keep any finger-pointing under a macro lens.

According to the Eagles' leaders, the blame should be divvied out in equal pieces like a pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.

The offensive line, particularly the interior, didn't get that memo on Sunday, however, and the big boys sliced up a piece of the blame during the 27-17 setback to the New York Giants that was fit for a king.

The eighth different O-Line group in nine games again did no favors for Wentz in the loss.

What started out as an optimistic week with hopes of seeing Isaac Seumalo as the starting left guard for the first time since Week 2 and Nate Herbig bringing his steady, if unspectacular, presence to RG, was upended on Play 1 when it was the overmatched Sua Opeta and Matt Pryor flanking All-Pro center Jason Kelce.

Even Kelce wasn't himself, turning into "Wild Thing" Ricky Vaughn with his shotgun snaps, perhaps due to the presence of the 320-pound Dalvin Tomlinson on his nose or the realization of how much help Opeta and Pryor were going to need on a snap-to-snap basis.

Too often the middle of the offensive line was a sieve and Wentz was being engulfed. More so, even when it held up the Eagles' quarterback was seeing ghosts and expecting the pressure that he was sure was coming.

Call it a prophecy vs. a self-fulfilling one.

And neither was positive so if you want to start handing out blame for the Giants halting a four-year losing streak that spanned Donald Trump being elected and defeated, start with the interior of the offensive line.

It was telling that none of the Eagles' offensive linemen were made available in postgame Zoom interviews.

"(We) just felt that was the best five," Pederson said with the thought Seumalo needed more time to ramp back up. "Herbig did sustain a little hand issue during the week of practice and just wanted to make sure he was fine, but Opeta had really stepped in and done nice during the week of practice. I felt comfortable putting him in there and (offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland) and I had conversations on that, and that was our five."

The result was Seumalo conjuring up memories of Randall McDaniel and Herbig evoking the sunny days of John Hannah from the sidelines.

When poor is in play, average looks like a supermodel.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Tuesday and Thursday on "The Middle" with Eytan Shander, Harry Mayes, and Barrett Brooks on SportsMap Radio and PhillyVoice.com. 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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