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The Eagles Might Be the Worst Bubble Screen Team in All of Football (College and Pro)
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The Eagles ran three sideways screens on Sunday afternoon:
- screen 1: Jalen Hurts to Makai Lemon for a five-yard loss (7:07 in the 1st quarter)
- screen 2: Jalen Hurts to Makai Lemon for a three-yard loss (14:14 in the 3rd quarter)
- screen 3: Jalen Hurts to Saquon Barkley for a three-yard loss (8:50 in the 4th quarter)
The first one was blown up because Dontayvion Wicks totally whiffed on a block. They ran Lemon across the formation with orbit motion and had numbers against a Washington blitz, but took a big loss to set up 2nd and 24.
The second one went nowhere because K’Lavon Chaisson sniffed it out and got into the backfield before the offensive line could peel off. Same orbit motion, they just ran it to the left instead of to the right:
The third one went to Saquon Barkley, trips left with Wicks and Dallas Goedert. Goedert couldn’t hold his block and one of the linebackers came over to blow it up for a loss:
The thing that was particularly annoying about this game is that the interior offensive line wasn’t playing very well. They had mixed results running the football. So you’d think you go to the screen game, catch Washington off guard, maybe rip off a chunk play with one of the receivers or get Saquon out in space. They just couldn’t block these plays. Wicks and Goedert did the matador routine on the first and third screens and the second was sniffed out by the defense.
Final results: three bubble screens for -11 yards.
It seems like the Eagles are the only team in the NFL AND college that cannot run these screens. They tried to run them in recent years with A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, and while they’d occasionally pick up three or four yards, they rarely ever saw significant gains. They’d have Smitty out there as a lead blocker, which makes no sense. Remember when DeVonta was rolled up because they called a bubble screen for Kenny Gainwell on 3rd and 19 back in 2023?
We wrote about this in a Pulitzer-losing article titled “The Front Cover of the Eagles’ 2023 Yearbook Should be 170 Pound DeVonta Smith Getting Injured While Blocking for Kenny Gainwell on a 3rd and 19 Bubble Screen.” –
They also called a timeout before returning with that play.
ANYWAY –
Throwing sideways in general never made much sense when you had two deep threats and a big sideline body in A.J. There was no reason to throw these screens because the downfield passing game was very good. Jalen Hurts always seemed more comfortable throwing outside the hashes back then instead this little dink and dunk finesse pass stuff.
Where the Eagles did excel was throwing short to Goedert, for instance, that inside/tunnel screen. They always seemed to do well with that, or dumping it off to him via read-and-pull. It just feels like whenever they take anything out of the college screen playbook, it never really goes anywhere. They have small receivers right now who aren’t exactly known for their blocking, and if just one of those blocks is missed, it’s a yardage loss and a drive killer, as we saw in Week 1 against the Commies.
It’s not to say they should remove screens from the playbook entirely. They just have to get rid of the bubble variety. And don’t force these Makai Lemon behind-the-line targets. Let the guy go short and intermediate, but forward, not sideways.
(it feels like we write this story at least once per season)
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com