The Philadelphia Eagles have trailed in each of their first four games of the season, including Week 4’s 24-0 deficit in Tampa Bay. Philly has yet to score in the first quarter of a game, the first time an Eagles team was blanked over the first 15 minutes of its first four games since 1971.
Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore plans to take the bye week to hopefully sort through that issue.
“Yeah, we haven’t started games the way we’ve wanted to,” he said Tuesday, via the team’s official transcript. “This week being a bye week, we are just doing such a deep dive on so many things. This is a really fun for us to task to navigate and find a way to get going sooner, get going quicker because there are moments coming out of second halves we’ve had successful drives. But we’ve got to start faster, so that’s a big focus for us just to continue to evaluate that and find our way.”
Without A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Lane Johnson, the Eagles generated zero points and zero offensive yards in the first quarter Sunday in Tampa.
The injuries certainly have played a role in the offensive issues, but so have bad turnovers and inconsistent play — from quarterback Jalen Hurts on down.
“We’re all not where we want to be. That’s part of it. So, we are excited about where we can take this thing,” Moore said. “Ultimately, I think from a rhythm and a timing standpoint, I think for us, we’ve just got to continue to grow and evolve with that. It starts with me as far as play calling, sequencing, building better rhythm as an offense. I think we’ve moved it fine for the most part. The stats will tell you we’re moving it okay. We’ve just got to finish in the red zone. We’ve got to put ourselves in more manageable and cleaner third-down situations. That goes back to first and second down.
“I think we’ve got some great opportunities to grow because there is some production there, and we’re excited where we can take this thing.”
With a decimated receiver corps, the Eagles have leaned on Saquon Barkley, who generated his fourth straight game with 100-plus scrimmage yards (tied for the longest active streak with Alvin Kamara). However, the slow starts have hindered some of their ability to sustain the ground game early. Barkley has just 10 first-quarter carries.
“Yeah, want to get the ball to Saquon as much as possible, just like a lot of these guys,” Moore said. “A poor job just finding the rhythm in that game to go three and out, three and out, and three and out, and then putting yourself in a challenging position where you’re going to have to play catchup ball for the rest of the game, and you still don’t want to lose the run game. You still want to try to keep it alive.
“We’ve got to get him more touches.”
As disappointing as the Eagles’ start to the season has been, they’re still 2-2 through the first month. There is plenty of time to right the ship. The Week 5 bye might be coming at the right time for Philly to get healthy and tweak some of their plans to jumpstart the offense.
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