Analysis
11/16/22
4 min read
Despite Loss, Eagles' Pass-First Offense in No Need of Change
The Philadelphia Eagles lost for the first time this season on Monday night to the Washington Commanders, and the main culprit for the loss was the team's defense, not offense.
It's true the offense gained the fewest number of yards that it has in a game all season, but the Eagles also ran the least amount of plays and possessed the ball for the shortest time they have all year. In those limited plays, they stuck to the offensive philosophy they have implemented all season and were fairly efficient, gaining 5.62 yards per play — above their average mark for 2022.
Still, there seems to be a misconception about this Eagles' offense and how it operates. Many people continue to call them a "run-first team," but that's actually not true. Not in the slightest.
In "neutral situations," which I define as plays on first and second downs in one-possession games excluding the two-minute drill, Nick Sirianni's 2022 play-calling is heavily tilted toward passing. This season, the Eagles have dropped back on 54.5% of those plays — top 10 in the league in that metric.
To further illustrate the point, the Eagles have dropped back on 59.4% of those neutral plays in the first half alone, fifth most in the league, when they are still working to build a lead rather than letting the scoreboard and time remaining dictate their play-calling. Against Washington, they dropped back 71.4% of such plays in the first half — up 12 percentage points from their average this season.
Last year, that was not necessarily the case. Over the first seven weeks of the 2021 season, the Eagles were dropping back on 64.7% of their plays in the first half in neutral situations. After the Eagles' loss in Las Vegas in late October, Sirianni realized that Jalen Hurts still had some deficiencies as a passer in just his second NFL season.
From Week 8 onward, the Eagles dropped back to pass in neutral situations in the first half just 41.9% of the time — a 22.8% swing. This is where the notion that the Eagles were a "run-first team" started.
Credit to Sirianni for recognizing the talent he had on the roster and being open-minded enough to pivot his game plans midseason. This year, however, Hurts' progression as a passer, in conjunction with the addition of a true No. 1 receiver in A.J. Brown, has allowed the team to run the kind of offense that GM Howie Roseman originally envisioned when he hired Sirianni.
Philadelphia is reaping the rewards of this change in offensive philosophy. Of the 240 points the Eagles offense has scored through nine games, 169 have come in the first half. Since 2000, the team leading at halftime has won 77.5% of the games; since 2015, that number increases to 78.7%. Jumping to an early lead is as good of an indicator for who will ultimately win the game as any in professional football. This is a big reason for the Eagles' hot start and will be what carries them the rest of the season and into the playoffs.
| Week | Opponent | First Half Points | Result |
| 1 | at Lions | 24 | Win |
| 2 | vs. Vikings | 24 | Win |
| 3 | at Commanders | 24 | Win |
| 4 | vs. Jaguars | 20 | Win |
| 5 | at Cardinals | 14 | Win |
| 6 | vs. Cowboys | 20 | Win |
| 7 | BYE | ||
| 8 | vs. Steelers | 21 | Win |
| 9 | at Texans | 14 | Win |
| 10 | vs. Commanders | 14 | *Loss |
It is also what helped the Commanders end the Eagles' unbeaten run after an 8-0 start. Washington was ahead 20-14 at halftime.
Sirianni and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen have also created game plans to reduce Hurts' average time to throw and average depth of target from 2021 in neutral situations in the first half. This is a result of simplifying Hurts' reads and utilizing RPOs — which are naturally supposed to be quick-hitters -- at the highest rates in the league. Sirianni also started using Hurts in designed QB runs more often. The Eagles didn't do this often at the beginning of 2021, but integrated more and more as the season progressed. He's rolled it over into the 2022 game plan as well.
If Philadelphia is to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, it will need Hurts to continue to play at a high level both in the run and passing games, and for the receivers around him to continue to shine.
The Eagles' play-calling should not change in the slightest following their first loss; they just need more opportunities to possess the ball than they had on Monday night.
