The new look Eagles offense hasn’t been much fun. There are multiple reasons, but one of them is that on 1st down, they’re terrible.
The offense is 28th in EPA/play and 31st in both yards per play and success rate; and have gained a 1st down on 1st down just twice, the fewest in the league. Oddly, neither were on 1st and 10, Darius Cooper’s 23 yard reception in the 4th quarter against the Titans was on 1st and 17 , and then his TD on 1st and goal was from the 3.
On 1st down, the Eagles have as many
negative plays as they do plays that gained 7+ yards, 9 each. On their 48 1st downs, they have failed to gain yardage on 18 of them. Their average 2nd down needs 8.7 yards to gain a first down, 26th so far this season.
They’re bad at everything.
Though the Eagles run 65% of the time on 1st down. They stink there.
- 24th in EPA/play
- 27th in success rate
- 28th in yards per carry
When the Eagles do throw on 1st down, they’re woefully short.
- CPOE: 19th
- EPA per play: 26th
- Success rate: 31st
- Air yards per attempt: 31st
- Yards per attempt: 32nd
This is not a Jalen Hurts issue. He had the 5th highest air yards per attempt on 1st down in 2025, and 14th in 2024.
Nor is this a lack of AJ Brown issue, he was 48th in air yards per target last season, nor is this a Dontayvion Wicks as his replacement issue, he was 56th.
And though it has only been two games, this isn’t a situation where one bad game, the team’s failure to gain a single 1st down on 1st down against the Commanders, is bogging down the numbers. The Eagles converted a 1st down on just 2 of 28 1st downs against the Titans, 7.1%. Given the same rate against the Commanders, the Eagles would still be dead last in 1st conversion rate on 1st down. The next worst team, the Steelers, have converted at 7.4%.
This is an offensive line and coaching issue. The Eagles are 19th in sack rate per play, and 28th in pressures per play. Short throws to beat the pressure is a tried and true way of masking offensive line problems, but the Eagles entire first down offense is throwing short passes. They’re not trying to take a shot down the field. Even Darius Cooper’s 23 yard reception on 1st and 17 was caught 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, though he wasn’t the first read, that was a good progression by Jalen Hurts.
Two games is a small sample size, but the NFL is built out of small sample sizes. Two games is a playoff run. Two games into the season and the Bucs, Chargers, Colts, and Texans are in trouble.
Two games into the season and the Eagles offense is in trouble too. Moving Cam Jurgens, who co-leads the league in holding penalties, to guard didn’t improve things. Perhaps more time will result in improved offensive line play, but there’s not a rich history of teams making significant changes to their line in-season and getting great results.
