Silver And Black Pride
The Week 15 matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Philadelphia Eagles features a couple of teams who are searching for answers, but in different ways. The Raiders have several problems that won’t be solved until the offseason, while the Eagles are trying to end their offensive woes before a potential playoff run.
To preview the game for Raider Nation, Silver and Black Pride reached out to our friends and Bleeding Green Nation, and Brandon Lee Gowton was kind enough to answer a few questions about the Birds.
Q: What’s going on with the Eagles’ offense this season? Is quarterback Jalen Hurts or offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo more to blame for the unit’s recent struggles?
A: Despite being the most expensive offense in the NFL by a significant margin, the Eagles rank 14th in DVOA, 16th in EPA per play, 21st in offensive points per game, 24th in yards per game, and 26th in success rate. It’s clearly not a very good offense, especially relative to investment.
The Eagles being this bad isn’t just on one person. The quarterback hasn’t been good enough. His surrounding cast hasn’t been good enough. The coaching hasn’t been good enough.
There’s naturally increased attention on Hurts this week since he had five turnovers on Monday night. Make no mistake: he must play better. He’s in a slump right now.
It’s hard to argue that the coaching has done him a lot of favors. I do think the Kevin Patullo hate goes a little overboard because he’s not going into a room and drawing up the entire offense. Nick Sirianni has a lot of say in this offense, as does Hurts. And the play call menu that Patullo is picking from is heavily influenced by them. While Patullo’s sequencing could be better, the play designs aren’t very inspiring.
TL;DR – The offense is a mess and everyone is to blame. There’s a case to be made that the biggest onus is on the quarterback to fix it since he’s being paid over a quarter of a billion dollars to be the rising tide to lift all boats. But the coaching needs to help him more, too.
Q: Based on reports, it seems like wide receiver AJ Brown isn’t happy with his role in the Eagles’ offense. Do you think there is any truth to those rumors? Could Brown be on the trade block this offseason? A: It’s pretty apparent that Brown is disillusioned with his current situation. He literally went on a streamer’s channel and told people to drop him from their fantasy teams. He’s been demoralized and that much is apparent in his play. He’s largely not playing with energy or confidence.
Things can always change, but Brown remaining in Philly doesn’t seem very tenable right now. He seems pretty miserable.
**Q: What is the likelihood that defensive tackle Jalen Carter returns for this game after having shoulder surgery about two weeks ago? If Carter can’t go, which defensive tackles are you expecting...
