The biggest luxury the Philadelphia Eagles typically have on what is again the second-ranked offense in the entire NFL is the ability to put offensive tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata on islands.
And when help isn’t needed to block the best pass rushers in the world that opens up avenues the average play caller dare not dream of.
At MetLife Stadium on Sunday, the Eagles lost for the first time this season, a mind-numbing 20-14 setback to the offensively-limited New York Jets.
The biggest issue was an uncharacteristic four turnovers by Philadelphia, including three interceptions from Jalen Hurts, a negative number the star quarterback had not hit since Nov. 28, 2021, also at MetLife in a 13-7 loss to the New York Giants
While Hurts was only responsible for one pick, the crippling late-game pick in which he read Cover-0 before Tomy Adams backed off into Cover-3 and snared the game-defining pick, one of the other turnovers was a direct result of treating backup right tackle Jack Driscoll like he was Johnson.
Putting Driscoll on an island allowed the Jets’ Jermaine Johnson to race around the edge and get his hand on Hurts’ arm, resulting in a Bryce Hall pick.
The Eagles were learning in real time how the other half lives.
“I thought the one with the interception, I'll just say that was 100 percent on me, the interception where Jack's guy got free late, No. 11 got free late. I'm taking that one,” head coach Nick Sirianni told SI.com’s Eagles Today. “I'm not going to get too much into the why. The players know why, and we discussed this at length of why I thought it was on myself on that interception where Jalen got hit.
“I'll take that one with the way the design of the play was on that one. But otherwise, we were giving him some help here and there. Again, you can't always 100 percent guarantee he's going to get that help.”
Despite losing Johnson early, the Eagles used 11 personnel (three receivers and one tight end) on 56 of 69 offensive snaps, 81.1 percent of the time.
Sirianni balked a bit when given that number by SI.com’s Eagles Today.
“Those personnel groupings might not necessarily equal what you're suggesting,” Sirianni said.
To be fair, Sirianni is correct in that personnel groupings often do not add the context of particular plays. For instance, an empty set could be categorized as 11 personnel by the players on the field but 12 (two tight ends) does usually result in an in-line TE which is the simplest way to help a tackle.
“As far as more help, again, we’ve got a lot of faith in Jack and the things he can do, and we've won a lot of big games there with him playing,” said Sirianni. “Of course, you're always going to look at it and say, ‘hey, could we have done more here, done more there?’”
Sirianni noted that Driscoll was given help, however, and certainly more than Johnson would typically get.
“There are different types of help you can give to an offensive line,” the coach explained. “Sometimes that help comes with an immediate thump on the side by the tight end or receiver, which we sprinkled some of those in there [Sunday].
“And sometimes the thump or chip help or whatever you want to call it comes from the back.”
The reality, however, is that Driscoll allowed eight pressures against the Jets, which included six hurries, the QB hit, and a sack, according to Pro Football Focus.
If Johnson can’t go against Miami Sunday night, expect the Eagles to have a better plan for Driscoll but the in-game adjustments simply did not come quickly enough against the Jets.
"There's always protection consideration, particularly you look at what we did, I guess it was two weeks ago in L.A. A lot of the focus was how do we handle [Rams DT] Aaron Donald, and different strategies and different matchups present those types of challenges that happen in-game or leading up to the game," offensive coordinator Brian Johnson said. "We've just got to do a great job of being ready to adjust on the fly."
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