Crossing Broad
With the Eagles’ offense not exactly humming at the moment, there’s been a lot of blathering about “concern,” but less talk about how to fix it. For starters, the line needs to play a lot better. The holes that existed for Saquon Barkley aren’t there this year, and Landon Dickerson has been banged up from the beginning. That’s where a lot of this begins and ends.
Like most things at any level, in any profession, when it’s not working, you go back to basics. You revert to your bread and butter and “build back better” from there. You “perfect vanilla,” as Brett Brown once said, which means executing concepts of strength at the highest level.
In the Eagles’ case, here’s what that looks like:
A.J. Brown has caught 62 of 85 targeted slants since coming to the Eagles in 2022. Those receptions have resulted in 756 yards, 41 first downs, and three touchdowns. He goes for 12.2 yards on average and hauls in 72.9% of these targets.
DeVonta Smith, in the same time frame, has caught 25 of 31 slant targets for 308 yards, two touchdowns, and 17 first downs. That is a 12.3 YPC mark and 80.6% catch rate.
Jalen Hurts throwing the slant to either player has been hugely successful for years now, and they should keep throwing it.
Most Eagles wins will feature a sideline shot (or two or three) to Brown, who excels on go balls. It’s one of Hurts’ best weapons in his passing repertoire, exhibited in this route chart from the Week 3 win against the Rams:
Statistically, A.J. has caught 26 of 64 go ball targets as an Eagle, going for 1,011 yards and 10 touchdowns. It’s a catch rate of 40.6%, which is a rate that absolutely justifies taking these shots.
Consider that 15.6% of these go balls have resulted in touchdowns and they’re being hauled in a little better than one-third of the time. If you take three shots per game, on average, you’re converting at least one for an explosive or a first down, and forcing the defensive backs to respect the sidelines if they weren’t already.
Dallas Goedert has only played five games and yet he leads the Eagles in touchdown passes with 5, while catching 24 of his 33 targets for 243 yards.
One of the targets that has been uber successful for years now is anything going to Goedert (or any TE) that stems from the read and pull tree. If you go back to the touchdown he scored against the Broncos, it’s a simple pull that freezes the EDGE, then a little pick play to hit Goedert on a three-yard out:
Not only do these Goedert targets work very well inside the red zone, but they are always good for 3-5 yards anywhere on the...
