Risk-Averse Or Bust: The Eagles' Offensive Scale Back Is Working
PHILADELPHIA - On paper, Sunday’s Divisional Round matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles could develop some real Old Testament stuff.
The last time these two teams met the Eagles bullied the Rams into submission in Week 12 with Philadelphia’s offensive front bulldozing crater-like holes for Saquon Barkley by leaning on Los Angeles’ talented but undersized front.
The result was Barkley rushing for an Eagles’ franchise record 255 yards with two 70-plus touchdown runs en route to a 37-20 laugher.
Take that out of the equation and Sean McVay’s Rams haven’t lost a game they were trying to win (L.A. suffered a Week 18 loss to Seattle while resting its key contributors) since Nov. 11.
Of course, you can’t take the Eagles’ dominance on that road out of things, especially with a fair-weather team heading cross-country to what’s expected to be mid-30s weather with a touch of snow not to mention an sometimes untoward fan base that made headlines last week for all the wrong reasons.
Maybe it won’t be biblical but it sure shapes up like the Rams being led to slaughter.
Complicating matters is the Eagles’ passing offense which had regressed to being risk-averse.
Against a Packers defense without star cornerback Jaire Alexander, Jalen Hurts only attempted one pass that traveled more than 20 yards downfield, a failed “trick shot” on a 3rd-and-1 tush push in which the quarterback wasn’t close on a throw to A.J. Brown.
If you believe that’s an anomaly consider over his past nine starts Hurts has attempted just nine passes of 20 air yards or more.
"We do what it takes to win each and every game," Eagiles coach Nick Sirianni said Wednesday. "So if that means you're in a two-minute to end the game and you gotta throw it like we did against New Orleans to get the ball down in position to score, you do that.
"If you're in a four-minute and you're running out the clock to do whatever you to win the game and you're running it well, then you do those things. And that's the nature of how that's went. Any time that you have won 14,15 (games), your quarterback's been playing well."
Sirianni has been consistent with that sentiment. That said, by relying on the running game and defense to carry most of the load, the Eagles risk allowing lesser teams to hang around in games. And that means close games where a crazy bounce of the football could shift things dramatically.
The belief internally is that if the Eagles don’t turn the football over they are going to win the game and we’re too deep into the calendar to change that philosophy.
After throwing four interceptions in the first three games this season, Hurts has just one in his last 13 starts.
Take away the Tampa Bay game pre-bye week when the Eagles made the changes on offense and the Week 16 game at Washington where Hurts was knocked out with a concussion early in the first quarter and Hurts had thrown it 246 times in 11 games, an average 22.4 times per game with the one INT.
Super Bowl or bust is still the end game for Philadelphia and the path to get there is risk-averse or bust.
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