Eagles will ‘keep leaning into’ Sean Mannion’s plans after offense stalls in consecutive games
"We believe in the things that we’ve installed," Mannion said Tuesday.
Nick Sirianni used the word “conviction” multiple times when he spoke with reporters more than seven months ago, for the first time since he hired offensive coordinator Sean Mannion.
Sirianni was looking for a coordinator who had “conviction on what they believed and why they believed in it, and the vision and conviction of that,” and “conviction for how you would call” plays.
The Eagles wanted to evolve as an offense, and with Mannion, they found a candidate with conviction who would overhaul the offense and bring with him a new scheme that changed the way Jalen Hurts and the Eagles play the game. The head coach and coordinator talked for months about implementing a wide-zone run scheme and, perhaps most importantly, marrying the run and pass games utilizing under-center play action.
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But through four games, the Eagles are running play action at the league’s lowest rate. And when they do, they aren’t finding any success. They have the lowest success rate in the NFL when operating from under center. They are 2-2 because their offense has stalled in second halves. They just went an entire game without converting a third down. And now they’re dealing with key injuries and the retirement of Lane Johnson at a time when the offense is in an identity crisis.
Two years ago, when the Eagles were 2-2 after four games, they used their bye week to revamp the offensive style. This year, there are at least no public plans to go away from what has been installed since the offseason program. But the road to improvement became a lot more difficult on Tuesday, when Johnson announced he was stepping away from football.
“We’re here and we’re implementing something that we absolutely believe in,” Mannion said on Tuesday, two days after a 24-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams and about four hours before Johnson’s retirement became public. “You’re always looking, like we’ve said throughout this process, to make it as good as it can be and add tweaks and add wrinkles here and there. We believe in the things that we’ve installed and that we’ve implemented from a fundamental perspective in terms of the structure of our offense.
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“We’re going to keep leaning into that and make it as good as it can be and, like always, you enter each week saying, ‘Is there something new we can add? Is there a different way of doing this that helps us and puts our guys in the best position to succeed?’ So really nothing has changed in terms of our outlook on our offense and our identity and what we want to be offensively.”
But the Eagles don’t look on offense like the team they intended to be. They haven’t been able to consistently find running room in the outside zone game. They are averaging just over four under-center play-action plays per game.
Mannion was asked Tuesday if the lack of under-center play action was an indictment on Hurts’ ability to run that style of offense.
“No, he absolutely can do it,” Mannion responded. “Each week you’re attacking a different opponent. Sometimes that calls on a different strategy in terms of how you’re going to align your formations, the layering of plays that you have up in the plan. He absolutely can do it. We believe in it.
“I think some of the things that maybe you’re referring to are maybe week to week and how you attack a specific opponent...”
All four opponents?
“Each team is different,” Mannion said. “The down and distance changes your philosophy. The field position changes your philosophy. There’s a multitude of factors that lead to each play call.”
In that regard, the Eagles haven’t found themselves in the best scenarios. They have often gotten behind the sticks due to negative runs, failed blocking assignments, or penalties. Their third-down issues over the last two games — the Eagles were 2-for-21 combined in Weeks 3 and 4 — don’t have identical issues.
Take two third-down plays from Sunday’s loss as a sample. On the first third down of the game, Hurts, on a third-and-6 out of the shotgun, failed to recognize two open receivers before throwing the ball away. On another, the fateful third-and-2 in the fourth quarter near the goal line, Cam Jurgens knocked into Hurts and impacted the planned handoff to Tank Bigsby.
The Eagles also continue to struggle in third quarters. They entered Sunday having punted on eight three-and-outs through 11 third-quarter drives. Their three third-quarter possessions on Sunday ended in two punts and a turnover on downs without getting a first down. They were held scoreless in the second half for the second consecutive game.
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“It’s never any one thing,” Mannion said. “I think it’s just cleaner execution in general. It’s something we’re studying relentlessly.”
The studying this week comes under even more dire circumstances. The Eagles could be without their two best skill players in DeVonta Smith and Saquon Barkley, who are both dealing with hamstring injuries. Backup running back Bigsby is heading to injured reserve with a core muscle injury. Dallas Goedert’s status is unknown after the tight end missed the last two games with a knee injury. Jurgens is in the concussion protocol while Landon Dickerson remains on injured reserve. Johnson’s retirement means Markel Bell, a third-round rookie, is in line to be the starting right tackle in the near- and possibly long-term future.
That’s a lot of injuries for an already sputtering offense to deal with as it tries to make improvements, and it’s fair to wonder if the makeup of the offensive line will make it possible for this offense to reach its full potential.
As for the style of play, Mannion said he’s preaching the same things he has been, even if they haven’t yet put on the field the version of the offense they set out to run.
What gives him the same conviction now that he had when he interviewed in January?
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“Because it is what I believe in,” Mannion said. “It’s unwavering in that regard. I have the same conviction when I interviewed here and when Nick hired me. I have total faith in what we’re doing schematically and in our ability to coach it and teach it and our players’ ability to execute it.
“That doesn’t mean that you don’t look at things every week and say, ‘How can I make this better? ‘Is there something the defense is doing that we can tweak or do a little bit differently?’ But the core tenets of all that, I’m still steadfast on all that stuff.”
The Eagles will try to keep at it Sunday in London, the birthplace of the writer William Edward Hickson, who once coined a phrase that became a popular proverb: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Different year, different offensive coordinator, yet still, it feels like Déjà vu all over again. The Eagles had little margin for error Sunday vs. the Rams because of injuries. They played hard despite being shorthanded, but in the end, couldn’t put the Rams away, mainly because of poor execution on offense. Why hasn’t Sean Mannion's scheme clicked? How culpable are head coach Nick Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts in the offensive rut the Eagles find themselves in? The Inquirer's Jeff McLane and David Murphy analyze the fallout from the 24-20 loss to L.A. Listen here.
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