Eagles

Eagles Offensive Coordinator Mike Groh Puts Incompetence on Full Display

By Russ Joy

Published: Nov 20th, 2018 · 5:01 PM EST

---

On Monday’s Crossing Broadcast, Kevin, Bob, and I bantered about a piece Kevin wrote last week about the loss of Frank Reich. Kevin posed the question, “Has Mike Groh ever said anything that sounded remotely impressive this year or intriguing in a press conference? Is there anything on his resume that stands out to you as impressive?”

Mike Groh obviously listened to the show. He wanted to say something intriguing, perhaps even impressive. I don’t think this qualifies as either:

#Eagles OC Mike Groh: It’s been challenging to find ways to fit new WR Golden Tate into the offense.

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) November 20, 2018

Oh? Has it Mike? It’s been hard to figure out how to use a guy with Per-16 game averages over the past six seasons (including 2018) of 88 receptions and 1,026 yards? That must be hard. The next logical progression for outraged Eagles fans has to be pulling the numbers for other receivers acquired prior to the trade deadline:

Some might be encouraged by the enormous jump in snap % Tate saw between his first and second games in an Eagles uniform, but that would miss one huge point: the Eagles acquired Tate while on their bye week. Was this on Groh and Doug Pederson for not properly designing a game plan that could optimize Tate’s skillset? Was it on Tate for failing to pick up the playbook more quickly?

The numbers don’t lie:

	Amari Cooper	Golden Tate
Targets	23	12
Catches	14	7
Yards	169	67
TD	1	0

Has Tate been worth a third rounder? Do seven receptions for 67 yards scream high value? What about Amari Cooper? Has he been worth a first round pick? NFL’s Next Gen Stats would suggest his value has been felt by his QB and RB:

Through 2 games with the @dallascowboys, Amari Cooper has had a positive impact on both Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott according to @NextGenStats pic.twitter.com/aJ9UVCesIY

— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) November 13, 2018

The Eagles organization doesn’t need to assign blame publicly, but the move to acquire Golden Tate has been an abject failure to this point. Then again, what did you expect from the guy who served as the 2016 St. Louis Rams’ passing game coordinator, a team whose offense ranked 31st in passing yards per game and 32nd in passing DVOA?