The Chip Wagon

Screens, Screens and More Screens

There are a number of reasons why the 2014 Eagles offensive attack is yet to be as explosive or prolific as the 2013 unit. In no particular order the most common themes are:

1) Teams have a full season of film

2) Nick Foles' regression

3) Issues in the running game

4) The loss of Desean Jackson (to be debated)

I have tackled Points 1 and 3 at the recently. The other thing to note is that the Eagles just haven't been ripping off the explosive plays like they did last year. Missing Desean Jackson could be one factor, but we found several other ways to break explosive plays last year.

For example, last season the Eagles finished with 80 pass plays of 20+ yards and 18 plays of 40+ yards. So far this season, they have 18 pass plays of 20+ yards (on pace for 58) and 4 plays of 40+ yards (on pace for 12).

Read more here. 

Inside the Helmet - The Inside Zone Part 6

Combination Blocking:

Almost all IZ plays begin with a combination block, where two linemen block one defender. Two on one, as Chip says, this is a power play, not a finesse play.

Going back to our base formation:

And we saw:

Here, the doubled defender is the NT. Kelce gets to the playside of the defender and blocks him - seals him - and Herremans, who was uncovered, comes free to block to his playside (his left) and the two drive the NT. Meanwhile, each of the other linemen go for their numbered targets, all of them going to their playside. Note that Todd ignores the guy coming to the spot he is vacating. Not his problem. It's Lane's problem. Todd, uncovered at the snap, blocks playside. That comes with coaching and trust.

Extra! Extra! 'READ' All About It: 2014 Preseason Game #1

Last season we tried to maintain a weekly feature where we highlighted the use of the read-option after every game to illustrate how much we use it, and it's impact on different defenses. If preseason game #1 showed us anything, it showed us that the read-option will continue to remain a key staple of the 2014 offense as all 4 quarterbacks used it in some fashion on Friday night. 

Quick refresher for new readers who haven't been regular readers of the blog. The term "read-option" does not solely refer to the simple play where the offensive line leaves an unblocked defender on the line, reads him, and chooses to keep the ball and run, or hand off to the running back in the other direction. Looking at our stable of QBs this year, and other than GJ Kinne, that's not a play that should regularly be featured in this offense. Instead, we refer to the read-option as a play that has several options built-in and the QB will read a key defender (or two) to make a decision on where the football should go. 

So let's have a look at some familiar looking concepts:

The Emory and Henry Philly Phlashback

Credit goes out to commenter MIT who reminded me in the comments section the other day that this wasn't the first time the Eagles have run the Emory and Henry formation. Turns out Andy Reid rolled it out back in 2009 when Kevin Kolb made his first career start in place of an injured Donovan McNabb. 

For those of you who have access to NFL Game Pass or Rewind, this game is still in the archives and I recommend checking out at least the first half for entertainment purposes. Heading into that game as a big underdog, we saw one of the more creative game plans from Andy Reid utilizing the wildcat formation several times and yes, even the Emory and Henry Formation. Recognize this?

There is it is. The same  3 x 3 x 3 formation we spoke about when highlighting play #8 on the ChipWagon Top 25. 

Tricks in the Red Zone

Had we lost the game on Sunday, I am sure a ton of fans would have looked back on the Brad Smith red zone play and absolutely crucified Chip Kelly for it.