Last week I did a deep dive into the issues the Eagles were having in the red zone through the first 7 weeks of the season. I mention in that post that Chip seemed to be doing a good job of scheming player into one on one opportunities but the players simply weren't executing. Whether it was poor throw from Foles, a drop from a WR, blocking up front, etc. The Eagles had 3 red zone opportunities yesterday and they scored TDs on all 3 (note, we had one possession just on the outskirts of the 20 and Sanchez got sacked on 3rd down). How did they do it? There's no magic, razzle dazzle, or innovative scheme changes here. Just excellent execution highlight by Mark Sanchez's accuracy and good execution from the OL up front.
Let's start on the 2nd and goal in the 2nd quarter. The Texans are in man coverage against the Eagles 11 personnel. The Eagles should have an opportunity for one of their receivers to win a one-on-one match-up:
Unfortunately, it doesn't matter as JJ Watt blows by Lane Johnson off the line of scrimmage and is immediately in the backfield:
Jordan Matthews is about to come open with loads of room in the end zone, but Sanchez gets sandwiched for a sack. The play was there, but the OL did not execute up front:
The next play, the Eagles come back with 11 personnel as Shady motions to the bottom of the screen. The Texans are again in man coverage and it's worth noting the match-ups on the top of the screen. With Swearinger moved up on Ertz it will be 3 one-on-one matchups for Cooper, Matthews and Ertz:
Check out the quick decision and excellent anticipation from Mark Sanchez on this. He's going for a TD to Matthews:
With the ball in the air you can see Matthews is in a position to look back for the ball. The defender is not:
Incredible accuracy and a great hands catch by Jordan Matthews:
That's the kind of accuracy you need in the red zone. A little later, on the games final drive, Sanchez makes another great throw where only his WR can make a play on the ball. Here the Eagles are in 12 personnel and appear to be running split zone with Casey coming across the formation. However Sanchez keeps and rolls right. This is a nice conservative designed play for Maclin. If Maclin is open, you throw it, otherwise you either try and get some yards with your legs or throw the ball out of bounds:
Sanchez fires the ballon the run. Again, the Houston DB has his back to the football.
Sanchez puts the ball low and away where there is no chance for it to be intercepted, and Maclin makes a great play on the ball:
Finally, one of the other points I made in the previous post was how the Eagles were just not running the football in the red zone. They have been pretty one-dimensional in the red zone with Foles although several circumstances have played a role in that. We haven't had a lot of goalline opps, injuries along the OL, penalties, etc.
On our other TD of the day, the Eagles leaned on Chris Polk and the running game. The OL hasn't been getting it done in the red zone in the run game and have been full of inconsistent play. Not on this one, picture perfect execution:
The Eagles are in 12 personnel with 2 TEs. Casey will come across the formation to take on the edge defender. This frees up Peters to come down on the DE and Matt Tobin gets a free release to the second level. Brent Celek stays in on the right side to block which frees up Andrew Gardner to the second level linebacker.
You can see the nice hole opened up by Casey, Peters and Tobin:
The last 2 posts should really highlight how red zone success (and failure) is less about scheme and more about execution. The Eagles showed that clearly with excellent execution by notable back-ups Mark Sanchez, Matt Tobin, Andrew Gardner and Chris Polk.
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