NFL
By: Mark T. Wilson
The Philadelphia Eagles need Kevin Patullo to watch film, lots of film, and not just of the Eagles. One take he needs to throw into the machine is recordings of the Cincinnati Bengals. He needs to see how Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase can get the ball when defenders know they’re getting the ball.
Watching the Eagles offense as a fan or hell, even as a member of the team, can cause cardiac arrest. As much praise as AJ Brown got for his first touchdown reception against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, one can look at the tape and question why Brown wasn’t going hard enough. Maybe the play wasn’t designed for him, and he just figured, what the hell. But Hurts told him to go, and Brown took off. The early stages of that play will show that Brown ran right into the defender and locked arms, as if there was no break on the ball or anything. Brown wasn’t tuned in until he was.
That will never happen with Chase or even Justin Jefferson. They are big play guys, and their QB will look for them. Take the Bengals game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night. Chase was targeted 23 times and finished the game with 16 receptions. Why can’t the Philadelphia Eagles do this? Analysts and fans will argue that it will take away from the ground game, but at this point, they don’t have a ground game, so they may as well hustle chuck it every chance they can.
Patullo has to put his players in the best position to produce. As we’ve seen lately, the passing game of the Eagles has come to life. Brown is making plays, but what DeVonta Smith has been doing on the opposite side is just creating whispers. Smith burned the Vikings for 9 catches for 183 yards and 1 TD. He was Chase and Jefferson-like on a day when the Eagles needed him to be.
But who says that can’t be every game? And truth be told, other teams will now watch the Eagles’ last two games and come up with ways to stop the aerial attack, which should open running lanes for Saquon Barkley and Hurts if he chooses to tuck and run. This should put the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense back to where it was last season.
Kevin Patullo was gifted one of the best offenses in the league as his first OC job, and so far, he has failed. Maybe it’s him dialing up the plays, or maybe it’s the players calling their own shots. Either way, something is not working. But there are still flashes of what this offense could be.
While the whispers of a Patullo firing are still in the air, he could put a stop to all that with a strong offensive showing. What happened against the Vikings was an indication of what can happen when all parties are locked in. But still, if the NFL is a copycat league, why hasn’t Patullo taken something from a ton of OCs and put his spin on it?
Is Sam Darnold a better QB than Jalen Hurts? What about Daniel Jones? And yet, these QBs are putting up better numbers than Hurts. Patullo has to study how and why. He has the receivers, running backs, and TE’s who can get the job done when they are focused on. The issue has been finding a way for everyone to eat. All he has to do is look at the Detroit Lions and how, even after the departure of Ben Johnson, the Lions are still finding ways to get everyone involved.
The Philadelphia Eagles have talent on the offensive side of the ball, but talent alone will not notch any victories. Timing, execution, schemes, and intelligence will get you to another championship. No matter what happened in Kansas City or Tampa Bay with players being out, look at Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes; they keep putting up numbers, and rarely is the state of their offenses ever in question.
Kevin Patullo has to find a way to make all this work. The Eagles are loaded, but their talent is being wasted by a coordinator who has yet to realize his potential with this group, and by the time he does, it could be too late.
