A Counterintuitive Thought Reveals Strength Of Eagles' OC

Kellen Moore explained revealing tendencies can sometimes be a strategy

Eagles OC Kellen Moore / John McMullen/Eagies on SI

PHILADELPHIA - Recently the talk about the Eagles’ WR3 position has shifted toward a piecemeal approach to better complement the team’s two star wideouts: A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

Head coach Nick Sirianni, a receiver himself during his playing days at Mount Union, recently discussed the more layered approach.

“When you have a receiving corps you're looking for different skill sets so you can run different styles of plays, get the guys the ball different ways,” Sirianni said. “As far as the No. 3 receiver, I mean, it can be a lot of different things, but you need different types of skill sets, and I'm really excited about the skill sets we have at the No. 3 receiver.”

The candidates remain veterans Parris Campbell and John Ross, as well as the undersized Britain Covey and king-sized rookie sixth-round pick Johnny Wilson. 

A groin injury for Campbell has opened the door to important reps for Covey and Wilson and each has excelled differently. Covey with his short-area quickness and ability to create separation and Wilson with his 6-foot-6 size becoming a red-zone threat. 

Sirianni, meanwhile, has referenced Campbell’s yards-after-catch ability and Ross’ vaunted 4.22 speed as strong points.

The issue with piecemealing the role with multiple options is signaling tendencies to the opposing defense.

To some extent, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore agreed with that assessment.

“Certainly once you get to game plan football and you get into the regular season, you have to be really conscious of who is on the field and what those tendencies dictate,” Moore admitted to Eagles on SI before practice on Tuesday.

However, as a play-caller, Moore turned toward a counterintuitive route and noted that sometimes you put tendencies on film purposefully.

“Sometimes you want to create tendencies for your own ability to trump them at later points,” Moore explained.

The “call back” is something former Eagles OC and now Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen excelled at by giving teams one look early and then going back to the same one in the guts of the game with a different primary option.

Moore seems to be cognizant of getting the Eagles back to that kind of approach with an offense that became stale and predictable late last season.

“We'll continue to evolve and utilize all those different points, whether it be who is on the field from tight ends, running backs, it’s every single unit,” Moore said. “We have to really conscious of that to protect our tendencies.

“Like I said, sometimes you want to have tendencies to break them in critical moments.”.

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