Do the Eagles have a passing problem? A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith voice their frustration despite Eagles win.
Jalen Hurts only managed 108 passing yards which left top wide receivers Brown and Smith searching for answers.
A.J. Brown offered terse, pointed answers like the following when asked how hard it was as a wide receiver to get into rhythm with the Eagles attempting so few passes.
“Incredibly tough,” he said.
DeVonta Smith didn’t mask his dissatisfaction with the offense even though the Eagles had won.
“We didn’t play up to our standard,” the receiver said.
And Jalen Hurts used buzzwords and phrases like “synchronization” and “being on the same page” when the quarterback addressed woes in the team’s air attack that resulted in him throwing for less than 120 yards for the second straight week .
The above postgame consternation from the main cogs in the passing game wasn’t from last December, despite how similar the sentiment was to Brown and Smith’s reaction at times during last season’s collapse. It came after Sunday’s 22-16 victory over the Panthers that moved the Eagles to 11-2 and eventually helped them clinch a playoff berth.
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There’s a lot to be proud of, and certainly the receivers understand the “Any given Sunday” adage, even against 3-10 Carolina, despite its recent improvement. Pride is also a part of the receivers’ frustration. They’ve dutifully accepted the Eagles’ shift to a run-based offense.
But Sunday’s passing performance was particularly daunting, especially from the quarterback, and especially with higher aspirations than just getting to the postseason. Brown defended his angst-ridden reaction.
“I think that’s a fair emotion when we’re not playing up to our standard and what we’re capable of,” Brown said. “But it’s also a good thing that we’re racking wins together. But we got to clean up the little things because you don’t want it to bite you from the end.”
It was the start that had the offense spinning its wheels again. The Eagles went another first quarter without scoring a point, marking the 10th time they were shut out in the opening period.
The offense eventually got moving in the second quarter, mostly behind Saquon Barkley and the ground game. Hurts hit on some passes, including a 4-yard touchdown toss to Smith that put the Eagles up, 14-10, before the half.
But it took nearly the entire first half for Brown to be targeted. There were multiple reasons why Hurts couldn’t get him the ball, and film review from those inside and outside the Eagles will reveal more, but the quarterback struggled to see the field and held the ball too long.
The advanced numbers from Next Gen Stats on his dropbacks were troubling. Hurts was sacked four times on nine pressures with an average time to pressure (3.29 seconds) that was the slowest in the league this week entering Sunday Night Football.
Even more damning was his slowest-of-the-season 3.47 seconds to throw vs. average yards per attempt (5.1) and average air yards (5.6) — also season lows — that showed he wasn’t even holding the ball for longer developing routes.
“I think they did a good job. I think we did a bad job,” Hurts said when asked about the Panthers defense. “That starts with me, how I execute, and ultimately, I yearn for better synchronization among that, for a more complementary style of ball, in a sense.
“Some things don’t get you until it gets you. And there’s definitely been some urgency there, trying to figure it out. And got to keep climbing and trying to progress.”
Hurts typically loves deep shots, particularly to Brown if he’s singled up. There hasn’t been a quarterback in the league who has been as successful in completion percentage over expectation in the last two seasons. Chuck it up to Brown or Smith and they often come down with it.
But Hurts appeared to miss Brown on two deep routes in the first half when he was wide-open. On the first, which came on the Eagles’ first offensive play of the game, the receiver wasn’t the designed first read, but the quarterback said he could have thrown to Brown.
“Ideally, you like to alert him,” Hurts said.
Instead, he checked down to receiver Jahan Dotson for a 5-yard gain before an eventual punt.
A quarter later, Brown seemed to get open deep down the right sideline, but Hurts overthrew receiver Johnny Wilson underneath and the Eagles had to punt again.
Brown didn’t hide his emotions as he walked off the field and to the bench where he slammed his helmet into its stand.
“Three-and-out,” Brown said when asked to explain his actions.
Broadcast cameras later caught Brown and Smith in an animated exchange, but too much can be made of reading body language. The receivers have been up-front about wanting the ball and wanting to impact the game, and Brown’s demonstrative sideline emotion has often been more about rallying the troops than any diva-like behavior.
But he didn’t deny it was borne out of exasperation. And when asked about in-game problem solving, Brown said there wasn’t “too much conversation” with his quarterback.
“It isn’t about solving anything,” Hurts said when asked about resolving Brown’s frustration. “Everybody has a reason to want more. It’s a fair desire of being in the fullness that we can be. We’ve done it before.”
Indeed, but it’s been a while since the passing attack has had to shoulder the offense. Hurts has played mostly well since the transition to a run-heavy scheme that has played a role in the Eagles’ nine-game winning streak as much as the defense’s development.
He’s been cast as a game manager, which may have a negative connotation for some quarterbacks, but the Eagles have still needed him to make big throws, run when needed, change plays at the line, and limit his turnovers.
And he’s done the latter with only one interception and one fumble in the last nine games. He didn’t turn the ball over again on Sunday. But he made mistakes during the Eagles’ four-minute drive when he slid down for a sack rather than throw the ball away, and when he took a delay-of-game penalty four plays later.
“I was just assessing protection and made a mistake I never really make letting the clock run out,” Hurts said of the delay. “And then taking the sack. Had our RPO scheme on, so I didn’t want to risk the line of being downfield.”
But that’s faulty decision making when it would have been first-and-15 rather than second-and-19. Hurts gets credit for hooking up with Brown for 15 yards to convert third-and-13 two plays later. But the delay negated some of the positive from one of his good throws.
He also tossed two touchdown passes — the second was to tight end Grant Calcaterra early in the fourth quarter that put the Eagles ahead for good — and ran eight times for 59 yards with one Tush Push score.
Hurts completed 14 of 21 passes, but for only 108 yards against a passing defense that ranked near the bottom of the league in most categories. The Panthers’ run defense was considered even worse, so feeding Barkley (20 carries for 124 yards) was always going to be part of the plan.
But Brown and Smith, who missed the two previous games with a hamstring injury, had matchup advantages throughout the Carolina secondary. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had his issues against the Panthers just last month, so Hurts wasn’t alone in his struggles.
Smith, though, said that Sunday’s inefficiency was because the quarterback and his receivers weren’t “thinking the same, seeing the right signals” — the same reasons he gave last year when everything fell apart.
» READ MORE: The Eagles’ defense bent vs. Panthers, but Darius Slay and C.J. Gardner-Johnson were there to save the day
This year, the Eagles have Barkley and a stout defense to hang their hats on. Nick Sirianni’s decision to punt rather than have Jake Elliott try a 55-yard field goal into the wind or have the offense go for it on fourth-and-9 spoke partly to a tipping of the scales.
Even with the Panthers pinned on their own 2 after Braden Mann’s punt, the Eagles defense nearly allowed Bryce Young to march his offense to a touchdown, if not for receiver Xavier Legette’s drop at the 3-yard line.
Vic Fangio’s unit ultimately came up with the stop, but what if Legette had secured the football?
“In my mind it’s, OK, if he caught it, he scored a touchdown because he rolled into the end zone; we have three timeouts and 52 seconds to go,” Sirianni said. “Let’s go win.”
Hurts hasn’t been placed in many last-minute, must-win situations in his career. He’s led the Eagles to victories with eight fourth-quarter comebacks and 11 game-winning drives, but on this day, with his passing struggles, and Elliott having to kick into the wind, could he have gotten it done?
Maybe not on this day. More important ones are coming.