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This Eagles Play Makes No Sense, Unless We’re All Confused or Someone Really Messed Up (UPDATED)
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Baldy shared an Eagles breakdown on Twitter.
It shows a backside defensive end crashing on a handoff and blowing up the play in the backfield:
Interestingly enough, this was a tweet and delete. Baldy posted the same clip earlier Tuesday with a caption reading “the Eagles run game STINKS; and here is just one of many examples! I wonder how many NFL TD’s (sic) Jalen has scored in the NFL on just this play alone?”
The confusion stems from whether or not this play has a read mechanism built into it. It sure does look like a standard zone read, with an unblocked defensive end bearing down on the running back. This is a play the Eagles have run a hundred times before, where Jalen either hands it off or keeps it based on what the unblocked player does.
I saw this response to Baldy’s original post, which may have been the reason for the re-post:
I don’t think this is the play in question. I went back and listened to Jalen’s postgame press conference in London and found this quote:
Jeff McLane: There was an early zone read play, on 4th and 1, I guess you had the option to keep it there, was there –
Hurts: I did not have the option to keep it there.
McLane: Was there a plan to have you more involved in the run game considering all of the deficiencies at the running back position?
Hurts: No sir Jeff, I’ll say you guess, that’s an assumption –
McLane: The question is about whether they had a plan for you to run.
Hurts: That’s not how the game went. So I would say no.
The only 4th and 1 play on the afternoon was a shotgun handoff for Will Shipley. It was an abomination, and worthy of its own post, but it’s not the play in Baldy’s video. And, unless, I missed it, I didn’t come across any other quote where Jalen Hurts talks about this particular Dameon Pierce handoff.
Right, so there there are only three plausible explanations here, that 1) this is the worst run design ever, 2) there WAS a pull-and-run option and we’re all confused, or 3) somebody totally missed an assignment. Either Markel Bell wasn’t supposed to pull or Makai Lemon was supposed to block Josh Hines-Allen, which also makes no sense. That would be suicidal. And surely you’re not going to try to simply outrun a guy like Josh Hines-Allen without putting any body on him at all.
More than anything, I think the posting and re-posting and widespread confusion leaves us with a general takeaway that the Eagles’ offense is currently a mess.
EDIT – Alright, we’ve got this thing figure out, thanks to Fran at PHLY. Apparently it WAS Makai Lemon assigned to JHA, which makes little sense to me since there’s a 60-pound difference there.* Fran pointed out that they ran the same play later in the game with Darius Cooper (5’11, 210 pounds) blocking Hines-Allen and they turned it into a positive gain:
*You know what? On further observation, this probably doesn’t matter so much. I think I’m being deceived by the optics of a rookie giving up 60 pounds and having to block one of the best defensive ends in the game. But he doesn’t have to pancake the guy, he just has to kind of body him and obstruct him and slow him down, which is what Darius Cooper does in the clip above.
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