‘Unacceptable’: Diagnosing the Eagles offense’s struggles in the red zone

When Nick Sirianni watched film of the Eagles’ trips to the red zone against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week, he didn’t like what he saw.

The Eagles were in control for most of the 25-11 win in Tampa but couldn’t shake their offensive struggles inside the 20 for a third week in a row.

The offense converted just one of its five red-zone opportunities into a touchdown, although the final nine-minute drive to end the game, at the 11-yard line, should be considered a successful one.

After being one of the better teams at finishing red-zone trips with touchdowns the last two seasons, Sirianni said the coaching staff would place an added emphasis on efficiency inside the 20 this week as the Eagles prepare to host the Washington Commanders on Sunday.

“I came out of that dragging myself through the mud there and some of the things that we tried to do,” Sirianni said.

“We just have to help [players] be in better positions there, both in the passing game and run game,” Sirianni said. “We’ll spend extra time making sure we’re doing what we need to do to fix that. We’ve been really good in the red zone the last two years.”

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Through three weeks, the Eagles rank 25th in red-zone efficiency, scoring touchdowns on just 45.5% of their trips inside the 20. By comparison, they were third in the league last year at 67.8% and eighth the year before at 62.3%.

A confluence of factors have led to the Eagles’ struggles so far. There have been a few play calls that put players in dubious situations and some costly penalties on key downs.

The Eagles still managed to generate 472 yards of total offense against Tampa and scored one touchdown from 34 yards out on a nice throw from Jalen Hurts to Olamide Zaccheaus, but offensive coordinator Brian Johnson said the effort near the goal line is what stood out most.

“You do leave that game with a feeling of, we left a lot of meat on the bone in terms of points,” Johnson said. “When you look at it, out of the four scoring opportunities, to score one touchdown is unacceptable.

“We know we have to be better. We have to put them in better spots. We have to execute better. And it takes all of us,” Johnson said.

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Said Hurts: “I think it’s about finishing drives and scoring points. It’s our job to execute whatever’s called. We’ve had a number of opportunities to do that, so we just need to put it in the end zone.”

Hurts has been part of the struggles as well. He has completed just three of his nine passes in the red zone, including some errant throws. Last season, Hurts completed 50% of attempts there.

Aside from quarterback sneaks, there has been an apparent drop in Hurts’ rushing attempts near the end zone.

Hurts’ ability to keep the ball on zone reads and force defenses to account for him in the running game has been a staple of the team’s red-zone offense the last two years, but he hasn’t had the same impact as a runner this season.

Without the sneaks, Hurts has just two rushing attempts through three games and has gained 2 yards on each of them.

Johnson, in his first season as the Eagles offensive coordinator and primary play-caller, said there haven’t been fewer zone-read calls in the red zone but suggested that defenses may have been playing them differently than in the past.

“I think the read takes you to a certain place, and there have been some read plays where he’s had to give the ball and not pull it,” Johnson said.

“There have been different reads, probably a different emphasis defensively of how to play some of those reads.”

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In general, the offense has slowly emerged from a sluggish start to the season in New England.

Some of the struggles can be attributed to the defensive game plans implemented by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, and Bucs head coach Todd Bowles. Each put together aggressive approaches with plenty of blitzing and a variety of coverages on the back end.

This week’s matchup against Washington and fourth-year defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio will offer a more familiar scheme, even though the Commanders have been stingy in the red zone (eighth in conversion-percentage against) through three games.

“I’d say the first three weeks will probably be the three most exotic [defenses] that we play, with the coaches and schemes that the other teams have,” Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert said.

“Watching film this week, it seems like we’re going to know when they’re in certain personnel, what fronts they’re going to play, what coverages they’re going to play,” Goedert said.

“When they change personnel, we know that they’re going to change fronts and change coverage. We’re aware of different things that they do with the back. We feel like going forward we’ll probably be seeing more defenses that are kind of routine in the NFL, not the exotic stuff that we have been seeing.”