The Chip Wagon

Execution? Yes. But How Much is Scheme to Blame?

For the past two weeks, most of this blog's content has been focused on the poor execution of the offensive personnel. This jives with most of what everyone else is saying. The other popular narrative is that Chip's magical innovations have worn off and the entire NFL has caught up. While there may some truth to that, I think it's mostly lazy reporting from the usual analysts who would rather go for the headline grab instead of hunkering down and trying to dig deep down to see where the real issues lie. 

Let me start by saying that I truly believe the biggest issue of the 2015 offense so far has been execution. And it's not just on the questionable starters Barbre and Gardner. As we've shown, the veterans are making tons of mistakes. We've shown numerous examples of where, if the personnel just did their jobs the way they were assigned, the offense would look a lot better. I wish I could say that that's all it is, but I have major reservations about Sam Bradford and we'll have to wait for a bit of a larger sample size to make radical conclusions there. But is it really that simple? Does it really come down to just execution, or does Chip, for the perhaps the first time in his NFL tenure, have to take a long, hard look in the mirror and see if the problem lies within the schemes and gameplans he, Shurmur and others have drawn up thus far in 2015. I do believe that time has come because some of the decisions Chip has made in regards to personnel and scheme just aren't making much sense to me. I thought I'd share a few thoughts heading into the Jets game. 

The Eagles Passing Game is a Hot Mess

Yesterday I broke down just how bad the Eagles ground game was on Sunday. Problems amongst almost every member of the offensive line. Still, it isn’t the first time an NFL team has had to overcome a poor ground game performance. Unfortunately, the Eagles passing offense might be even worse right now with erratic QB play front and center. When Chip Kelly traded Nick Foles and a 2^nd round pick for Sam Bradford all the concern was surrounding Bradford’s health. People thought it was a terrible move considering he was coming off back to back ACL injuries. That said, the optimists among us said if, just if, Sam could stay healthy he’s the exact QB Chip Kelly is looking for. Great arm, intelligent, quick decision maker with repetitive pinpoint accuracy. Despite Sam’s lackluster QB stats and win-loss record, of which most blamed coaching and supporting cast, people believed that Bradford could still be what everyone thought he would be as the #1 overall pick many years ago. 

The Eagles Run Game is a Hot Mess

Another week, another unexpected disappointment from the Eagles offense. I did not expect that. It was certainly one of the poorest offensive performances I've seen from an Eagles offense in a long, long time. Very little encouragement to take out of this one. 

We all know Chip Kelly's Eagles as a run-first team. That's the way it's been since he's been here. So it shouldn't be surprising that when the Eagles can't get the running game going, it bogs the whole offense down. As I suggested on the weekend, I expected Chip to mix things up in the running game a bit more, but unfortunately, we did not see that on Sunday. Once again, it was a ground game based mostly on inside zone and sweep. He did run a bit more from under center this week presumably to try disguise the direction of the run play. It didn't work against the Cowboys but it was mostly because of poor run blocking up front. Now this doesn't excuse the play of Sam Bradford and the WRs, more on that later, but for now the Eagles have a ton of issues along the offensive line with the run game and they must get it sorted out. I wish I could just lay the blame on the two biggest question marks of the offseason like I did last week, but Andrew Gardner and Allen Barbre were hardly the biggest culprits on Sunday. I'm afraid this game is going to look even uglier when the All-22 comes out, but a number of blocking issues could be seen miles away on the TV feed. 

Replacing Shady: The 60 Million Dollar Backfield (Part 3)

This article is a free sample from the 2015 Eagles Almanac. Eagles Almanac 2015 is the fourth annual preview emagazine self-published by your favorite writers and bloggers, bringing more than 120 pages of ad-free analysis, interviews, essays, scouting, statistics and more. Purchase your copy available as a PDF download or a paperback copy. The Almanac is available for purchase at http://www.eaglesalmanac.com/

Read Part 3 of the article here.

Replacing Shady: The 60 Million Dollar Backfield (Part 2)

This article is a free sample from the 2015 Eagles Almanac. Eagles Almanac 2015 is the fourth annual preview emagazine self-published by your favorite writers and bloggers, bringing more than 120 pages of ad-free analysis, interviews, essays, scouting, statistics and more. Purchase your copy available as a PDF download or a paperback copy. The Almanac is available for purchase at http://www.eaglesalmanac.com/

Read Part 2 of the article here.