Have you heard?
The Eagles have a brand new offense!
Yeah, I know, I know, it’s been a well-kept secret, but it’s true. It sure sounds pretty complicated! Lots of new plays and stuff!
After last season’s disappointing offensive showing under former offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, his replacement, Sean Mannion, is here with a brand new scheme that everyone hopes will usher in more efficiency and better production.
The goal is for the Eagles to have, you know, a functional, modern NFL offense that
will allow them to both run and pass the ball effectively.
No one knows exactly what this thing is going to look like just yet, but we do know that there will be an adjustment period as Jalen Hurts and Co. get used to the new normal. There will be new formations, new plays, and with the departure of A.J. Brown to New England, new players to incorporate.
On Saturday, the Eagles will be in Baltimore to take on the Ravens, the first of three preseason games the team will play this month. Under Nick Sirianni, the Eagles have very rarely, if ever, played their starters during the preseason and no one is expecting anything different on Saturday night.
Defensively, Vic Fangio’s stars shouldn’t need much, if any, time in games this summer, although Fangio certainly wishes they would play a little more than they will. But given all the changes and new personnel, should Sirianni ask his offense to suit up for some preseason action over the next few weeks?
If the goal is to come out of the gate with some momentum and familiarity, the answer should be “yes.”
We all know why the offensive starters, particularly the veteran-laden and oft-injured offensive line, Saquon Barkley, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert, won’t play. Protecting them from injury is of paramount importance, and the coaching staff has clearly determined the benefits of playing offensive starters in preseason games do not outweigh those injury concerns.
And normally, I’d agree. There is an inherent danger in something precisely like this happening to Jalen Hurts, to be sure.
Joint practices held by the Eagles against other teams are usually when Sirianni gets his starters the most game-like action, albeit under controlled circumstances. No doubt, that will happen in the next few weeks, too.
But there’s something to be said for game-action. Wouldn’t it make sense for Jalen Hurts to play even just one quarter in two of the team’s three preseason games?
By all accounts, the changes being implemented by Mannion are voluminous. But not only that, Hurts also has an entirely new, and unproven, receiver corps to throw to. Sure, Smith will slide in nicely as the top dog, Barkley and Tank Bigsby are known commodities, and Hurts has developed a very nice rapport with Goedert. But with first round wideout Makai Lemon still out of practice with a hamstring injury, giving Hurts some time in the preseason to gain some trust in Darius Cooper, Dontayvion Wicks, Elijah Moore and, to a lesser extent, Hollywood Brown, is a risk worth taking.
Historically, starters played at least two quarters in at least one preseason game every summer. In recent years, however, that standard has changed league-wide, although some teams still put their starting QB out there for a few series in a game or two. But most, including the Eagles, do not.
And I get it. Every team’s nightmare scenario is their franchise QB lying on the ground clutching his knee in the 2nd quarter of a fake game played in August.
But given how much newness there is in the Eagles’ offensive operation, every opportunity to get players on the same page against opposing defenses at game speed before those games count in the standings is beneficial. One can imagine this passing offense stumbling around in the first few weeks of the regular season as the receiving corps tries to develop chemistry with their quarterback, and Mannion gets the rhythm of playcalling.
Of course, even in the preseason, Mannion’s playbook would be extremely limited. It would be the most generic and vanilla version of what he will do. But even if it’s just to shake off the rust, I think it would benefit for this year only for them to get some action in the preseason.
No one wants to see Hurts and the offense start the season stuck in the mud. It’s not going to take long for the fanbase to turn on the new OC and the QB if things start off rocky.
I know the Eagles won’t heed this advice, and I understand their reasoning. Injuries are a sure way to destroy a season before it ever begins.
But in this case, I’d roll the dice.
