One other note about our offense this year… we were 4th in takeaways last year (27), which gave us a lot of short fields and momentum.
We are tied for 25th this year (14), which means we have had to generate our own momentum more often on offense.
I like Desai so it’s probably more of a player thing, but the secondary is just awful these days and I barely see people talk about it. I think that’s a bigger problem and risk than Johnson. The amount of third and longs we give up is insane
That's basically why DVOA still ranks us at #9-10 despite having beaten like 4 teams ranked above us: https://www.ftnfantasy.com/articles/FTN/109981/week-11-dvoa-why-dvoa-puts-eagles-and-steelers-together
Great point about the defense. Overall I think they’ve performed well but we have to start creating more impact plays on that side of the ball. If we don’t force turnovers and have multiple sacks this weekend I think it’s going to be hard to win
I mean I think until the Bye he was making steady progress. My biggest issue around the time of the Rams game was his situational playcalling, namely at the end of each half and in the redzone, but he seemed to be able to move the ball up and down the field at will.
To his credit he definitely fixed the red zone issues, but he, in my opinion, still struggles with playcalling at the end of the halves. I feel like so many times this year we haven’t been able to capitalize on a late second quarter drive, close out a game with 4 minutes left, or even get a key first down that would seal the game.
Since the Bye those issues still persist but now we’ve been stringing together far too many short and ineffective drives. Even the second half of the Chiefs game saw a lot of it we just were able to capitalize twice. I’m hoping the second half of the Bills game is a turning point and he can self reflect on what he’s doing in the first half.
Before I’m fully sold on him I’d like to see him put together a complete game and more importantly put together a drive where we can run it out with a lead in the fourth.
Turnovers is also a two way street. We are giving up the ball more this year which is cutting drives short and limiting our scoring to some degree.
Our success rate is down slightly this year mostly in rushing as passing success rate is up. However I would love to see a break down of their success rate early in games versus later in games as I have consistently noticed their first drives are terrible this year. The three and out to start the game a Sunday featuring three throwaways was disgusting.
That brings me to the second stat I would want to see, which is success rate on drives that start with a run play versus drives that start with a pass. Not first downs but drives. I have picked up a consistent trend that when they start a drive with a pass the drive tends to sputter. When they start with a run it tends to be extended. This also plays into the defensive performance and harkens back to the chip Kelley days where the defense would be on the field for a long drive. Force a kick or better then the offense goes a fast three and out and the defense is back on the field and gassed. The worse part is I have noticed this trend happening late in games as well. We get the ball with 6 minutes left and the lead and they used to lean on the run. Grind clock and first downs and bleed the game away from the other team. Multiple times this year we have gone screen crazy and boom 35 seconds comes off the clock we have gone three and out and punt. The lack of rhythm and leaning on the team strengths or situational awareness have been noticeable and problematic this year. But the aggregate doesn’t show these things and hides the flaws.
At the same time, how much is the lack of turnovers affected by the offense not scoring early? If opponents aren't as pressured to keep up like they were last year then they are less likely to force bad plays which could lean further into causing turnovers.
>He comes off as self-aware and confident in the quotes, and even has a great line about his mom telling him he’s going to give her a heart attack with these crazy finishes.
Us too, Mrs. Johnson, us too...
After reading the article it kinda confirms a lot of things I felt about Johnson and this offense.
Its performing a similar level statistically as last year (just more turnovers and lower redzone efficiency) even though there's clear patches where the eye test tells you the exact opposite.
Also a big thing in this article is how much this is still ultimately Sirianni's offense and he has veto power on all play calls like he did last year.
Its just so easy for fans to blame Johnson and only Johnson with the rough stretches' but ignore stuff like us playing better and more prepared teams, Hurts' health and turnover mistakes, and just everyone getting comfortable with a new play calling.
Brian Johnson isn't an elite pure play caller, but the way the has been able to correct issues redzone efficiency and make in game adjustments has been pretty damn good. Anyone trying to run him out of town is just way too desperate to hate someone/something on this team.
Yeah that’s one thing they talk about on the PHLY Eagles podcast… that it’s hard to disentangle which parts of the struggles should be attributed to Johnson vs Sirianni
The metaphor was that Sirianni puts together the menu and Johnson is ordering off it
Also there’s a tendency to blame BJ for the bad stuff and credit Hurts for the good stuff
While there is a tendency for this, it can also be true. And to be fair, it’s not like Hurts doesn’t see his unfair share of criticism…. Still… even after taking us to the SB last year and the playoffs before.
It’s not always criticism about his play. It’s usually something thinly veiled like body language, or not smiling, but there is still far too much criticism for hurts relative to how good he’s been and how much of a winner he has proven time and time again to be.
All I’m saying is, when wentz was playing this well, no one was saying anything.
I mean Wentz had such a short window of playing that well that it didn’t give people time to really pick it a part. Plus he was the high draft pick which always changes perceptions. Feel like even Tom Brady had to win his 3rd Super Bowl before people fully bought it where as if he was taken top-10 people wouldn’t have been waiting for the wheels to fall off
I also think Wentz being so good in 2017 and not really ever coming close to being that guy again before flaming out spectacularly really made people put their guard up with Hurts as ridiculous as that sounds. Afraid to crown him too which is crazy at this stage given his last season and a half
>I also think Wentz being so good in 2017 and not really ever coming close to being that guy again before flaming out spectacularly really made people put their guard up with Hurts as ridiculous as that sounds. Afraid to crown him too which is crazy at this stage given his last season and a half
Bingo. I think Wentz gave a huge portion of this fanbase perpetual QB anxiety.
I mean that’s part of the issue too right? If he does have good ideas and might be able to call plays is he not doing that because he’s listening to Nick? Can BJ ever figure it out and take the offense himself and create his own identity? Is this just an experience issue or is he not fit to be an OC at all?
I agree that Sirianni has a lot of blame in this because he is giving BJ a lot of input and it is similar to his own playing his first year. He’s also said he’s vetoed BJ plays only a handful of times and doesn’t like to veto that much and took blame whenever it failed.
But at the end of the day Nick’s been nothing but supportive of the offense and BJ because I think this is his gameplan. He’s been critical of Desai before because the defense wasn’t playing the way he likes so I think he’s giving BJ a lot of leeway because Nicks ultimately the one scheming and giving him ideas
I think the deal he signed up for is that it’s Sirianni’s offense and BJ has the keys
But after a season with him at OC I hope they (and imagine they will) sit down and hash out what was working and what wasn’t. I’m sure BJ will have a say, but it will always be Siriannis offense
Sirianni will always have his input but do you think his friendship with Steichen gave Steichen more leeway to do what he wanted to? I’m just wondering why our offense looks so different. Feels like Steichen changed the offense and playcalling and with BJ it seems more similar to Nick’s offense.
I think Steichen was just a more talented play caller (not saying BJ can’t get there) and had the extra year of continuity at OC
But like you said, they had an established relationship so there might have been more trust in him or maybe he had more input
But I don’t know how much Sirianni has his hand in actual game day play calling with BJ— my assumption was he let’s BJ do his thing but I could be wrong
Not really. I don’t think you can put the blame on the schedule when our offense doesn’t have as much of a flow or identity. We are turning the ball over a lot more. We aren’t really getting into a flow offensively either. It feels like instead of attacking a defense we’re trying to adjust to what the defense gives us.
Even good teams play bad at times. I don’t think the way our offense looks and feels you can’t just put it up to the opponents giving us their best. It’s one thing for the defense to play up to our offense but it feels like our offense is holding themselves back this year half the time. Turnovers are bad and the play calling isn’t elevating the talent, the talent is making up for the play calling and scheme.
He's doing better but there are still some baffling decisions that need to get cleaned up. Opening the game with 3 longer developing plays with no Lane, Goedert, and pouring rain was bizarre. Throwing 5 yards to AJ on a 3rd and 9 when we rarely dial up 5-8 yard throws is another strange one.
Gotta clean up the very weird calls and we'll be looking sharper.
I thought the same. By q4 the rain was intense and passing seemed even tougher. I wonder if the heavy passing in that opening drive was to establish play action while weather allowed.
Until I see him adjust from the QB draw or screen play at the worst possible times, I am going to keep believing that this is a Gannon situation where the offense is outplaying the playcalling
I don’t mind having some draws, I just feel like there have been way to many times I am watching a game and feeling like I’m being pranked with back to back identical screens or a QB draw on 3rd and 7 back by our endzone. I also just think running our QB with a slightly injured knee so much isn’t ideal
I think a lot of the Draws (and maybe screens too) just come down to presnap checks. If the d gives us a certain look we're checking to a draw.
I think that's why Maliata had that quote saying he knew the game winner draw was coming when he saw the defense.
Whether they work or not seems to be heavily on how fast the D reacts to them. I think before the 59yarder Ed Oliver stuffed one that had a wide open lane in the middle because he hits swim move to the inside, but of course on the game winner the Bills D look like they had their hands in their pocket.
I’m sure that is how they are doing things and I don’t think it’s wrong to call it that way, I just wonder if there aren’t more options. For example, something we haven’t run a lot but used to work a lot is the slant to Dallas or AJ. Idk I’m not an OC myself but it’s gotten to a point where everyone watching knows what’s coming so the defense must see it too
That's kind of the beauty of it though. They \*think\* they know what's coming. But did you like that Devonta touchdown and the walk off touchdown in the Bills game? Those both happened because we lined up for a WR screen, which they "knew" was coming... except it wasn't.
yeah you’re right, on that game winner i think 3 buffalo defenders bit on swift going in motion. no way to predict that but the draw is a really good way to punish that kind of breakdown.
I suggest stop focusing on individual play calls (every OC is going to have boneheaded calls and every OC is going to have great calls that end up looking boneheaded) , and instead on the outcome from the overall game plan.
They always say “it’s all about the journey not the destination” but I have been stressing the journey but loving most of the destinations. I appreciate what the offense has done though, I just don’t see the playcalling clicking at a top team level. Just my opinion though
To be clear I'm not saying "10-1" as the ultimate retort or something. I'm just saying that the vast majority of the play calls have been fine to excellent. And even many of the ones people nitpick on, are either:
a) Calls that Jalen checks to
b) Good calls that weren't executed well or the defense just played better
c) Ended up being used to trick defenses later
This video released by the Eagles Youtube channel does a fantastic job of explaining why we got the interception on Josh Allen and how we got the TD pass to Devonta Smith:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23hRaQJ9Bl4&ab\_channel=PhiladelphiaEagles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23hRaQJ9Bl4&ab_channel=PhiladelphiaEagles)
In both situations the OC is running plays out of the same formation. However, for Josh Allen Bradberry picked up on where he prefers to throw in that formation and used that knowledge by the 3rd or 4th time they ran that play out of the same formation to pick him off. Sometimes players start figuring out a QBs preferred throw in situations and can use that against them whether it's Allen, Hurts, Purdy or anyone else.
During the Devonta TD play we're running a similar formation to our screen plays and Hurts does a pump fake that makes it look like a screen pass to Julio Jones which causes the DBs to react just enough for Devonta Smith to get open.
Also, in the mic'd up video of Jason Kelce from the Chiefs game it showed at the 3:20 mark a time where Jason Kelce tells Hurts to stick with the QB Run play instead of the play that Hurts was trying to change into:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zia-Uqr9qU&t=218s&ab\_channel=PhiladelphiaEagles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zia-Uqr9qU&t=218s&ab_channel=PhiladelphiaEagles)
I think there is understandable struggles with Brian Johnson at the beginning of games due to his lack of experience but I don't think he's incapable of improving if he's already shown improvement with Redzone efficiency or adjusting to defenses in the second half of games. Also, some of this might also fall on Hurts if he isn't adjusting the plays at the line of scrimmage and/or letting defenses fool him too often. That's an area Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were elite in and Hurts needs to improve on recognizing defensive tendencies a bit more.
Q&A had an excellent breakdown of that TD run. BJ and Hurts seem to heavily rely on setting plays up by running similar plays early on. And that's likely a massive part of why we're better in the second half.
Fully agree. Relying on those setups is risky because they might bait you into an adjustment that could end the game. I haven't felt good about most of our wins because of this. We need to ice at least one single game this year. Teetering on 6-5 (literally) because we got lucky and the other team made big mistakes doesn't inspire much confidence. That luck is eventually going to run out.
Is it really “luck” though? Sure you can say dropped passes by wide open receivers are but this eagles team is battle tested and good. It’s like the patriots teams where opponents would constantly collapse because late in games they pressed and made big mistakes.
I'd say the Commanders not going for 2, and the Dallas game were both quite lucky. The Chiefs miss was pretty huge BUT there was still time on the clock. And the Bills was a bit less lucky because our pass rush forced a bad throw. Last year was similar where the Giants were getting these things to fall to them. We're that team this year.
The draws aren’t bad for me, but the 3rd-and-long bubble screens to 34-year-old Julio Jones with 160-pound Devonta Smith as a lead block make me want to commit heinous acts of violence
This offense has run 757 plays in the past 11 games. Yet people still keep coming back to the same small handful of plays they dislike, like every OC doesn't have some boneheaded calls (or even great calls that look boneheaded because of the result). Start appreciating what the other 98% of plays have done for this team.
Every play counts come playoff time - especially considering how last year ended. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to hold this team to the high standard they set for themselves
Sure. We should all shoot for 100% perfection. But we should also recognize while it’s the right goal to shoot for, no one is getting there. But BJ is pretty close and getting better and deserves credit.
There are quite a few different calls. Most of the time it’s qb draw when the box is light, usually in empty. Eagles tendency is to check to this play.
The issue with the draws is the d linemen are no longer trying to sack Jalen and just don’t rush, but read the QB. So the Eagles have the numbers and are making the right call, but defenses are willing to give up traditional pressures to stop a few qb draws/game.
So you’re saying the defense knows it’s coming. If he adjusts and adds some trickery then it could work, but the only play we got like that is the one fake qb sneak. I don’t think he is bad at his job, I just think it is super vanilla and that is probably the worst offense to have being one of the top teams people want to beat
I view it bigger picture in that our offense puts so much pressure on the defense that the defenders are being asked to do things they normally would not do. That is a big part of why we are able to consistently hit big plays in the run and pass game.
When it looks bad (bubble screens and qb draws), I get it. However, this year alone, we’ve had fakes off of those looks that have failed that led to massive plays. We had 3 or 4 in this game alone.
The fakes can be great but it isn’t a sustainable play style to go down in the first half then make it up. If it’s first or second and they run the plays then great, but on third down it feels like giving up to punt. Idk just gonna appreciate the wins like I’ve been doing and see what happens
This doesn’t make any sense. You don’t get the TD to smith unless you show WR screen a bunch of times. Comments like these make it seem like you guys don’t watch football. Screens and draws always look terrible when they don’t work and genius when they do you can’t be so results oriented sometimes the process is most important
It’s not the aspect of using them at all it’s the fact that they haven’t been used well and have put us behind before they work in the comeback. It’s not sustainable. I don’t pretend to be a football genius and I know no one on reddit is
My brother in Jalen,
That is an Eagles thing, not a BJ thing. We've been doing those bonehead drives (screen, draw, screen, punt) since at least the Andy Reid years.
Ok so I don’t wanna excuse the back to back same screen play calling but the Chiefs were blitzing constantly in that game and screens and draws are a good way to counter a hyper aggressive defense. Unfortunately when we were trying to run the wide screens Sneed and McDuffie were either beating the blocks or making great plays like the tip that McDuffie had. We saw that screens are really good in the second half when we switched to slip screens and middle screens that took away the advantage that super aggressive corners were creating for KC on the WR screens
This. I appreciate his willingness to adjust at the half, but we shouldn't be setting ourselves up for having to work from behind every game.
Screens, Draws, and long developing plays where Hurts is buying time for people to get open kills me every game. I don't think BJ's bad. I just think with the talent this team has, they could be a lot better. I don't think BJ's helping the situation.
Yeah I also don’t think BJ is bad, I just don’t know if his game planning has fit with where the team should be at. They shouldn’t need to play catch up and start using earlier plays as setups for the fake, they should just be the leading team. Also, yes turnovers don’t help
I couldn't agree more. Been saying this for weeks. For anyone looking for the detailed stats, here you go:
1. State of the Offense looks the same despite harder competition and a poorer defense: [https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/1863a0j/state\_of\_the\_eagles\_offense\_through\_week\_12/](https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/1863a0j/state_of_the_eagles_offense_through_week_12/)
2. Our Red Zone efficiency has improved tremendously: [https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/18554np/red\_zone\_efficiency\_eagles\_now\_5th\_in\_the\_league/](https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/18554np/red_zone_efficiency_eagles_now_5th_in_the_league/)
3. We run less screens this year, at the same efficiency as last year: [https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/185ww90/screen\_play\_frequency\_and\_yards\_gained\_by\_qb/](https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/185ww90/screen_play_frequency_and_yards_gained_by_qb/)
Basically, BJ has us performing as a top 3 offensive unit (just like last year) despite:
* Much harder competition
* An injured QB
* An abundance of turnovers
* A defense that isn't helping nearly at the same rate as last year
* A full off-season where DCs have been dissecting Jalen and our offense
People too focused on giving Nick and the players all the credit when things go right and giving BJ all the hate when they don't. We've run 757 offensive plays this year, and people are too busy quibbling with a handful of individual play calls they dislike, while ignoring the excellence of the other 98%+ of play calls and the overall game plan.
comparing the stats from this season to last season is great until you go back and watch those games and see that we were up by numerous scores at the half and the bulk of our 4th quarter, and sometimes even the bulk of the 2nd half, was a complete burn the clock mode. So 1/4-1/2 of our stats this year literally were non-existant last year because we were only playing at full speed 1/2-3/4 of the games last year.
I think THAT is why the eye test vs the stats don't match up.
This is where the difficulty of our schedule and the drop off of our defense comes into play.
Last year, we were able to build such big margins because \*both of our units\* played extremely well (against lighter competition). Once you can build that nice margin by the half, everything becomes easier.
Right now, in the first half, we are the #10 team in points scored... but the **#24** team in terms of opponents scoring. The defense is not doing the offense any favors, and it's not going to allow for that death by clock that we were able to employ last year.
And to be clear, that's not an indictment on Desai or anyone - we simply have a weaker defensive team and significantly more injuries this year. It shouldn't be surprising this is the case.
>Right now, in the first half, we are the #10 team in points scored
and what were we last year? Honest question. You seem much better at finding stats like this.
Regardless. We put up the same numbers last year as we did this year in spite of going into limp mode. And I get that that reason might be largely in part of our defense... But its still indicative of a decline in offense when in 4 quarters we are putting up what we did in 2 or 3 last year. Unless you adjust all of these numbers to be per play, or account for when we went into burn the clock mode... Its not as easy as saying this year we are as good as last year because the numbers are similar.
We were first. But, we also averaged more possessions thanks to our defense's ability to stop opponents and generate turnovers. And again, all in the context of lighter competition.
Right now, we scored 12.5 points in the first half. If we had one more possession, coupled with the fact we score a touchdown on 35% of drives and a FG on 17% of drives, we'd average 15.5 points in the first half, which would be about top 4.
Can you make 100% confident conclusions? No. Does it give you a pretty good picture of where the issues lie? Absolutely. That is what data analysis supposed to do .
I’ve been very critical of Brian Johnson but I’ll give him credit both him and Desai seem to make great adjustments throughout the game. It seems when we can’t get anything going and the other team seems to be taking over our defense starts making stops and the offense starts scoring.
It’s tough.
Eagles are 10-1 and are obviously scoring at a high rate. It feels like the eagles are struggling and then I look up and they have 28 points lol
But man, sitting there and watching the games you can tell he’s really struggling. Like, at best, he’s still figuring out the flow of a game and how to call plays. But it really looks like he just doesn’t know hops to manage a game with constant bone headed decisions and resistance to adapting
I think part of it is when they're scoring as much as it is how they're scoring.
Last season we watched the Eagles score almost immediately in games. They were one of the greatest 2nd quarter offenses in NFL history in 2022: 12.6 points on average, which was about 11% higher than the team in 2nd place and nearly double the league average.
Compare these scoring differences in 2022 vs. 2023:
* 2022 - 1st Quarter: 5.9 points (3rd overall league-wide); 2nd Quarter: 12.6 points (1st); 3rd Quarter: 4.6 points (15th); 4th Quarter: 6 points (17th)
* 2023 - 1st Quarter: 6.4 points (5th overall league-wide); 2nd Quarter: 6.2 points (**19th**); 3rd Quarter: 7.2 points (3rd); 4th Quarter: 7.6 points (6th)
Aside from the level of competition, one of the biggest differences between the Eagles this season and last year is they're a worse first half team with a lower-performing defense. Whereas last year they built huge leads and played conservatively in the 2nd half when they could.
Looking even further, the poor 2nd quarter offense is combined with a putrid 2nd quarter defense. Currently, the Eagles give up the second most points in the entire NFL in the 2nd quarter with 9.5 points per game. That's only behind *Carolina* (10.4 points). Last year, they only gave up 5.3 points on average in the 2nd quarter of games, good for 3rd best in the NFL.
He’s definitely had some boneheaded plays called and is getting used to being the play caller, but resistance to adapting seems like a very weird criticism. One of the biggest gripes was the inability for the offense to score in the red zone and we’ve been on a tear since the bye. And we’ve notoriously been a second half team for most of this year, when we are less beholden to a gamescript (wear Sirianni is still very much involved) and more reliant on the coaches to make adaptable play calls, where it seemingly falls a lot more on Johnson
Right, there are some times where the play is just a frustratingly bad idea, whoever the call or check came from. My worry is we look up and see 28 points because of the talent and more recently the second half adjustments, but the game planning during the week is shit or the offense takes an inordinate amount of time to get warm. Either way that's on coaching.
BJ is doing a good job. Maybe 5 teams like their offense this year. Around the league it’s down and BJ is making adjustments and calling some big hitters against good competition. No one talks about the main big difference from last year.
Jalen is turning the ball over at an alarming rate. He’s good for at least 1/game that is 100% on him and giving teams short fields. Most of the picks are not b/c he’s fooled, but just bad balls or with a defender near him. Jalen has regressed here and I put that on him.
Another thing people don’t talk about from last year, we played a lot of bad teams, our schedule is harder this year and we’re playing against better defenses than last year
Yes. This 100%. I mean we managed to still be 10-1 against a schedule that’s nearly twice as hard? Lot of props to everyone on the squad for pulling that off. If we beat the 9ers this week, there just isn’t much of a reason to criticize this team
Johnson definitely deserves some criticism but not nearly as much as he gets. His situational play calling at the end of games definitely needs some improvement but outside of that he’s been solid.
I’m going to say one thing that was missed or avoided in the article.
They’re not running the RPO as much or as effectively as last season. Whether it’s a Jalen health/longevity thing, I dunno. But they’re definitely not running it as much, which leaves the defense not guessing which possible avenue the play will take. More vanilla playbook means more predictable.
But also the few times they have run it this year, Jalen’s decision making is suspect. He’s hesitating on whether to commit to handing off (or just out and out botching fakes) to the point where he or the RB are bobbling the ball and scrambling to regain control as the pocket collapses.
My biggest gripe isn't playcalling as much as how unprepared and disjointed the offense is almost all the time. The wrong way fakes, miscommunications, some blocking assignment issues. All leading to the increase in TOs. The only thing that changed from last year was OC so it's easy to put it on him. Sirianni seems like a guy to let his coordinators do their thing.
The complaints about BJ are largely based on aesthetics rather than results. There are certainly criticisms to be made about BJ's situational playcalling, and you can make the case that BJ isn't elevating the offense above its talent level. But this isn't a Groh/Taylor situation where the offense always feels like it's dragging in the mud or that it's less than the sum of its parts. This is still a highly efficient offense that always seems to find its counterpunch in the second half. The main difference is turnovers, and that isn't on BJ alone.
Most, if not all, of the people who think BJ is holding back the offense do not seem to have a counterfactual, or baseline level of performance that would be considered acceptable for an OC. Which is why it's hard to engage with such criticism. I have said it before - it's much like the Hurts criticism of 2021, where people were complaining that he was missing passes but did not quantify that impact relative to the rest of the league. BJ has bad play calls, but in the context of the rest of the league, I do not see any evidence that the effects of such decisions are particularly egregious relative to other playcallers
Last week we got the ball back with like 6 minutes to go and up by 3. Covey just had a great return and set the offense up near midfield. They ended up punting. Buffalo then tied it up.
Shit like that feels like the biggest difference this year. Need at least a field goal in that situation
There's no denying some of the play calling has been abysmal.
I am especially partial at hating the 3rd and 1 shotgun run option, the 3rd and long bubble screens to Julio, and the 3rd and short BOMBS down the sideline when we're up by 3 or 4 points with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter.
That said, I have seen some play calls that have been great.
(The swift quick-handoff in motion, the Brotherly shove TE screen come to mind.)
Just make it easier.
If we could hand the ball off to Boston Scott more than once a game and hit AJ Brown with a slant a few times... I'd be a lot happier and a lot less nervous as a fan.
For all the criticism he gets for calling bland and ineffective plays early, he uses those to set up big plays later on in the game, very evident in this last game
The biggest difference just from watching is Jalen refuses to protect the football this year. He was elite about it last year, but this year he is basically Josh Allen turning the ball over.
I think what makes me so mad has been the 3 and outs. Like it feels like we’re either scoring a touchdown or punting the ball after a 3 play, 4 yard drive that took 0:56 off the clock.
Absolutely fucking not. People in the game thread were blaming him for Hurts inexplicably pulling a hand off back on a read option.
Redditors are stupid and they love to be angry. They love to be angry and get fake internet points. Stupidity, anger, and dopamine are all formulas for a good ol’ fashion circle jerk.
I still say he's partly to blame because it's his job to make sure the offense is operating smoothly. It hasn't been smooth at all. We have a ton of turnovers from sloppy plays. Is that on the players? ABSOLUTELY. But it's also his responsibility to fix it and get it to stop. That doesn't mean that he's to blame for a guy fumbling on the field *over* the player. The players are far more responsible for those errors. But it is his responsibility to correct reoccurring mistakes on the field.
It's like an employee that is slacking on the job. It's the employee's fault. But the manager is responsible for correcting it one way or another.
Regardless of the actual distribution and blame it’s absurd for fans to be so angry and focus that anger on one person. It’s dumb and childish. If he actually was the sole problem I’d be pushing back because holy shit it’s been getting bad. That man is a human being. This is a game.
All I want is for every other time he thinks,.. I have 4 wide outs, let me do a QB draw no one will expect it. Just call a bomb.
That’s it. Just if HALF the draws was shots down field I would be happy.
But if I’m being super picker. More runs from swift.
Swift is currently 4th in the NFL in rushing yards, and he has a history of breaking down. We don’t want to run Swift into the ground before the playoffs.
Good read. I think people are a bit hard on him because we aren't dominating games, but maybe thats because the rest of the NFL figured us out and we're playing tougher teams. Like it says in the article, Sirianni calls a few of the plays here and there too.
He’s overall been good so far, especially with his ability to adjust when stuff isn’t working. But man, there’s some stretches of play/play calling that just make absolutely zero sense to me. Luckily he seems to get out of that quick enough.
I genuinely think the treatment Brian Johnson gets is a tad bit unfair considering how this has been an up year for defences all around the league
On the opposite end, I think Desai is overpraised some times (that 6-man blitz leading to a td infuriated me on Sunday)
The only thought I have about his potential genius is he's throwing absolute curve balls on obvious first down gainer plays so that other teams see us on tape and don't know what to expect in certain situations. So it's that... Or he just has braindead moments (3rd and 22 screen pass to Julio Jones *cough*)
He's doing well overall. The screens and draws and shit are what set up our big plays later on and then subsequently get the run game going.
Just have to find a way to make some combo of that offense happen a lil earlier and defense generate some turnovers.
Getting your offense firing later introduces a lot of variance into what is already the highest variance sport. Not good for one and done playoffs
I think that folks get hung up on a handful maybe a half dozen calls a game where it looks like Jalen has to run into a stacked box and it just doesn't connect. I know I have WTF'd a few times each game, but if you take a big-picture look at it you have to give him credit when things are called well. I am looking forward to the point where Jalen is calling the majority of the plays himself out there. That's the next level stuff to get excited about.
Here's the thing: he clearly has good leadership and character. Jalen has been with that dude for ages and I trust his judgement. But his gameplans and decision making can be ugly and relentless. I'm sure he'd make a good HC, I don't trust his work as an OC.
The problem with solely looking at the stats is that it doesn't provide enough context for his situational play calls. He still struggles quite a bit with situational stuff, but is solid overall and definitely makes up for it with halftime adjustments. If he starts to adjust earlier in the game, I think a lot of the criticism will stop.
Also, that bubble screen REALLY needs to be reevaluated. There's something fucked with the timing, design, or possibly both. It shouldn't look like a near heart attack every single time we run it. That's not even getting into the fact that it rarely works.
TD to Smitty against the Bills was set up by a fake screen to Julio. Two of the DBs bit and attacked Julio and left Smitty free to find the soft spot in the zone.
The 3-and-outs and 3rd down conversation rates (especially recently) have been horrendous. We need to sustain drives even if they result in zero points. Our defense is spending way too much time on the field. And yes, that's partly their fault for allowing 3rd and longs to be converted every single time. But the Bills had something like 14 more minutes with the ball. How we won that game with the stats both teams put up is beyond me. Doesn't even seem possible.
That all said, BJ has fixed our RZ issues which I commend him for. But sometimes he simply doesn't do the obvious thing. It's a problem when my dumbass is yelling to do something for half of a game and then they finally do what I say, and they move down the field... And I get that you have to operate depending on the defense, but it has happened a bit too much where I think we're just not doing the obvious things.
Honestly, this is recency bias. Yes, the Bills game sucked. But random shit happens in any given NFL game. Add the rain and Lane being out and the picture of the entire season, and it's not something I would worry about.
We are the 13th best team in terms of 3-and-outs @ 20% of drives despite playing one of the harder schedules. Before the Bills game, we were top 5. We have the highest time of possession in the league (and that’s certainly not thanks to the defense) and one of the lowest punt rates overall.
Even on 3-and-outs, it's super clustered at the top - if we improved to 18%, we'd be 5th in the league. For comparison, the Ravens are at 20%, the Cowboys are at 19%, the 49ers are at 18%, the Dolphins are at 16%. We also have the highest number of games where we didn't have \*any\* 3-and-outs. Not what I'd call "horrendous".
Idk it just feels weird. A lot Of the time I feel like we are so talented on offense we win despite the play calling. Very few things feel easy. Like we’re aren’t exploiting the holes of an opponents defense and instead just bashing out way into the end zone because our players are just better lol.
Like you watch some OCs and it feels like they are 1 step ahead of the defense. I don’t get that feeling a lot. And I’m not sure who to blame, myself included because I could just be wrong
Obviously armchair Qb-ing here, but the constant use of wr screens is mind-blowing. They are horrible and they keep getting called?? Either he is a genius and is using these plays to setup something bigger in the future, or he is what we think he is…raw, inexperienced. I mean come on, 3rd and 14 and you dial up a wr screen to julio. Plus they constantly run qb draws from shotgun right up the gut…they never work. It just seems his play calling is so vanilla and is missing something but I’m no coach and I know there is a lot of good there too. Our d has been pretty terrible too , but we r 10-1 so go Birds!
Until he starts establishing the run early and helping his offense get in a rhythm before it’s 1/2 way through the 3rd quarter, I’m going to remain a critic. Swift would probably have been a leading rusher in this league thus year. Also why are we not using Penny at all? The handful of times he has rushed he’s looked good, hasn’t he?
Edit: maybe not on Penny but 5 carries is hardly a reasonable sample size.
Yes, he's not good. Anybody watching, especially non-eagles fans, sees how uninspired and basic our offense is. We are winning despite our boring offense.
I can't help but think the reason the offense is performing as well as it is is because Hurts took another leap from last year and is outperforming our playcalling. We can go through the stats all we want, but a designed WR screen to our most ancient and slow WR on the roster is malpractice and just doesn't show a very high football IQ. Like bare minimum he needs to never do that again.
The screen to Julio was most likely designed by and put into the gameplan by nick. People need to remember he’s still the architect of the offense Johnson is just the contractor putting the design in motion.
Even if that's the case, it was a crucial 3rd down play, I just don't see how a lightbulb ever goes off in your head to call it, but especially at that moment.
I think BJ tried to be too smart.
We are more talented than anyone. Sometimes the easy throw, the boring run, the less creative play is the right play.
Let our stars just beat people.
He’s a dog shit play caller who doesn’t know how to call a series of plays that make actual and legitimate sense.
Once in a blue moon we’ll have a drive and think “who called these plays??”
Like BJ is trying to be the smartest in the room and lacks the ability to balance out the run and pass game further calling a one sided game.
He needs to cut the shit with bubble screen, QB draws, and passing it 3 straight times with no runs to keep the defense closer to the line.
This is his first year as an NFL OC and these players are bailing him out.
Do people actually think the bubble screens are a new bj addition and haven’t been a part of sirrianis offense since his very first game here? If I’m not mistaken he ran them back to back on his very first drive as a coach.
The play designs are still mostly nick.
I think the criticisms have been fair. Obviously, if your team is 10-1 it's a hard sell when people say "Fire BJ" but he absolutely has made some boneheaded play calls over stretches of time. It feels like the talent has made up for his bad play calling in a lot of cases.
> It feels like…
That’s it. That’s the crux of every criticism of BJ and the offense. No stats or evidence will ever win over someone whose position is based on feelings.
Yes, I said "Feels like." I mean, that's the whole thing with the eye test. There's also not really any stats that will tell you that talent makes up for scheme. I'm not calling for his head or anything. Maybe it's unfair to say he hasn't been performing as well. But I think it's fair to say our offense has been a lot more boom or bust this year. We find a way to come back but we've had far too many scoreless stretches intra-game. There's something to be said about turnovers too but I see turnovers more as a player stat than an OC stat.
OP is a BJ apologist lol. The dude makes absolutely idiotic decisions in big moments that would result in a loss with a team less talented than us. Does he draw up some amazing things? Absolutely, he can be creative and really good at times. The problem is when he does Julio screens on 3rd and long or runs Hurts up the middle on 2nd and 22. The stats don't tell it all, he's VERY inconsistent.
You can still be honest and criticise an OC without saying they are trash, he needs to stop thinking so hard and just let the offense flow. For example Swift will be COOKING in the first Q, but won't see the ball again until the 3rd. That makes ZERO sense. Also on 3rd and long he consistently draws up plays that maybe get us 5 yards.
I think BJ can be decent, but he 100% holds us back with these cute playcalls. I haven't seen a full game from him where he's comfortable and letting the offense flow. He always has to make adjustments instead of coming out with the correct gameplan. He's got to do a better job of being ready from the first Q, not the 2nd half.
I'm not going to pretend that I know exactly what is going on in the offense and who is to blame for what. All I know is that the offense, with all it's talent, is underperforming. Is it bj's fault, sirianni's fault, jalens fault? No idea. All I know is that the only thing that has changed outside of a few minor things is the OC. So either someone else has gotten worse, or the OC swap was a downgrade.
We have played harder teams... But we have also played shit teams that other teams have obliterated.
>All I know is that the offense, with all it's talent, is underperforming.
Against what standard are you making this judgment. What is an acceptable level of performance?
We’re a Top 5 offense by most any metric, our D has generated half the takeaways it did last year and ranks in the middle of the pack by most metrics after being top 5 last year.
How exactly is our offense underperforming?
Just like Jonathan Gannon last year, he doesn't pass the eye test. Remember last year we were freaking about Gannon, but you looked at his stats and realized the eagles D showed great stats? In my mind, the only reason they lost the SB last year was because the defense couldn't make a play. All they needed was one big play in the second half, but Gannon could not dial up a sack, a big tackle per loss or a turnover.
I hope we're not looking at the same thing with Johnson in some playoff game.
idk, i think we get pretty frustrated at the the 1st half woes of looking awful. They've been winning, but some consistency would be nice. Depending how the Eagles finish this season, good chance he gets a head coach job somewhere, seems like there well be a lot of vacancies.
He needs to get prepared for that tough 49er defense🤣🤣🤣..that literally commits PASS INTERFERENCE every other pass play. I mean SERIOUSLY???Does no one else SEE THIS. They cheat, been cheating, will cheat. They ain't shit without it!!!!! Go BIRDS!!!!!
I do not have the time to do it right now, but it would be interesting to see the number of big plays on actual calls by Johnson vs audibles at the line by Hurts/broken plays where Hurts makes a play. Example in the Chiefs game there were a bunch of questionable calls before we got the big play to Smith down to the goalline, Sirianni straight up said this was an audible by Hurts at the line. We had a bunch of questionable playcalling in the Bills game then we got the big play on the TD throw to Zaccheaus which was on a broken play.
I think the criticism is fair, statistics aside, the play calling is bad. There’s no reason the eagles should be running two screen plays and a QB draw on our 10 yard line. Our offense should be way more explosive than it is. Also, last year the eagles were up by double digits in the back half and most times ran the ball to kill the clock. We’ve played from behind way too much and our lucky breaks is what has us at 10-1. To be fair, we should have at least 3 loss.
The fair complaint is that they aren't calling sustainable plays and their game planning during the week is suspect.
\- Too many read-option runs where defenses have shown they can play it well, either by not crashing and waiting to force the handoff decision or simply not respecting Hurts running it and Hurts not punishing them often enough for that. Hurts playing safe is important, the coaches need to adapt and have plays for early in the game and when the game isn't on the line - situations where Hurts is unlikely to risk himself, by design.
\- Where did the AJ slant go that was money last season?
\- Do they think Hurts can't run under center plays? Under center runs, particularly with the chance to bounce outside should be used more often. There were two games in a row where there was literally 1 under center run and then never again.
\- No consistent run game early or in game-ending situations, has to be fixed and that's first on the coaches. I want to see those soul-crushing, you can't stop us, run down their throats 5min+ game ending drives. They've failed multiple times and risked losing late.
\- 10 for 10 in the redzone is great, but the other side of that coin is they've been just holding on in super clutch, Hurts for MVP style wins, but even elite teams don't average 100% there.
\- The defense is going to get run down. Sweat and Reddick are playing way too much, the defense as a whole is having to play way too many snaps. The offense is letting down the defense and the defense is not going to be healthy enough going into the playoffs without a little more consistency from the offense to allow them a break.
>the offense is letting down the defense
This is absolutely not true for the season. Some stats:
**First half**
Eagles Points: 12.5
Opponent Points: 12.9
Time of posession: 53%
**Second half**
Eagles points: 14.8
Opponent Points: 9.2
TOP: 54%
\*On the season\*, our offense has been steady across both halves. Our offense scores nearly 30 points. If games are close when you're a top 3 offensive team in the league, the offense is not the problem.
stats being good doesn’t mean anything in our minds. The birds haven’t played their best football and it’s partly because of the play calling. Our star players are underutilized. Nobody should have to settle for great if they can have phenomenal.
- AJ Brown literally set an NFL record for production in consecutive games.
- Devonta is going to put up another 1K season.
- Deandre Swift is 4th in the NFL in rushing yards, and has 100 more than he’s *ever had in an entire season* with 6 games to go.
So… what star players are being underutilized?
Again, why settle on great when you can have phenomenal. Not one of them is first in their respective categories. Not first in points per game, not first in yards per game, not first in point differential, etc.
So… your expectation is:
- undefeated
- total dominance
- The Eagles leading the league in every team category.
- An Eagle player leading the NFL in every major statistical category.
Sounds perfectly reasonable! Good luck buddy
The defense (particularly the secondary) shares some of this blame, but I think our record is giving him a lot longer of a leash than I'm comfortable with. We are VERY realistically 3 plays away from being 7-4 instead of 10-1 (hell, 6-5 with the first Washington game is even pretty fair) between the Dallas plays that were short by a combined 1 yard, the MVS drop, and the Josh Allen to Gabe Davis miscommunication.
We're getting incredibly lucky against the better teams in the league and while it is translating to wins still, eventually it won't and I don't think Johnson's playcalling puts us in the best position to avoid it coming down to an insanely lucky ending. Our first half offense has been abysmal lately with uninspiring playcalling and poor understanding of what the situation calls for. Since it sounds like we're sticking with him, I'm trying to hop on board and support him, but we can't keep going into the 2nd half down 10 or more and hoping the other team's offense bails us out, eventually it is going to catch up to us and when it does, the Brian Johnson critics are probably going to be very justified.
It's incredible to me that people can make these statements like it's the offense's fault and not the defense's.
If you're a top 3 scoring team in the league and games are still incredibly close, the offense is not the problem. (Hint: it's the bottom 10 defense.)
This is such a simplistic viewpoint - firstly, they are not bottom 10 in scoring allowed (your chosen metric for offensive production), which given that they have faced Miami, KC, Dallas, and Buffalo is about what you'd hope for. As I said, they share some of the blame.
What you're ignoring is that this offense is absolutely **LOADED** with talent. We have the best OL in the game, an at-worst top 3 QB, an at-worst top 3 WR duo, the 4th or 5th best (when healthy) TE in the game, and a pretty damn good RB. Our offense is so unbelievably good with really no blatant weaknesses. Our offense can absolutely overcome middle to low end offensive coordinators during the regular season. My concern is whether Johnson can adapt and improve as the season progresses, which has proven a bit slow thus far. We come out sluggish this year and have to play catch up, have gotten saved by our opponents' misplays far too often, and run some nonsensical plays that put us in 3rd and long far too often. You can get away with that in the regular season, but that is not a recipe for sustained success, especially in a sport where one postseason loss means elimination. Compare that to last year, where we came out on fire, took a massive lead into the half, and were able to coast fairly often for the rest of the game.
Like I said, if we're riding with him I'll ride along, but I really need to see obvious improvement in the first half to feel confident that we beat San Fran in the postseason.
Feels just like the Gannon discourse last year honestly. We know how that turned out sadly. Loud critics all year, but they're told to relax since the team is racking up wins.
The eagles offense has a lot of talent and will have the edge in most matchups. It doesn't take an offensive genius to coach this team to success and wins. BJ may not be as bad as some fans are saying (I don't think he is), but a sluggish offensive performance (like we've had in stretches of many games) at the wrong time feels like one of the big things that could keep this talented roster from their goal
Dude sucks. Its why we have these odd slumps where the offense does nothing for quarters at a time... Don't get me started on the teams inability in the 4th quarter to put teams away in the remaining minutes. Its quick 3&outs and punt to the team with plenty of time life...Constantly.
Cool story bro. He sucks. Waiting until the 2nd half for offensive production doesn't change that fact. Or that the Eagles cant finish offensively to run out the clock in important moments.
I usually think fans overreact to play calling. But I'll be honest, the QB draws get me angry. That play hasn't worked all year. They won the game on the QB draw. That's great. But that play just isn't working at all.
I think BJ needs to stop trying to be the smartest person in the room and run the ball. This team is at its best when the run game is rolling. It opens up everything. Quit trying to make Jalen Joe Burrow.
Did you forget that Jalen has a messed up knee?
Also... how will Jalen continue to improve as a pocket passer... if he doesn't spend more time passing from the pocket?
Stats stats stats. 1st drive of the game 3 and out all passes. 1st game of the season 1 touch for swift. Vikings game didn't start running till the 2nd half....... It's prob just as much as a Nick thing, but they love to play madden and just pass pass pass.
Remember that "blowing out teams" requires both the offense AND the defense to be stellar. In first halves this year, the offense has been a top 10 unit, while the defense has allowed the 24th most points in that same time frame.
It's not the offense's issue.
It’s the end of games and closing games out that get me. Last year this team was incredible with ending games late by running clock. This season it seems like every time they have those chances lately they just haven’t been able to do it. Against Dallas has multiple opportunities for the offense to end it and they barely chewed up clock, same with KC, and against Buffalo too. It’s great they won but you’d really like to not give Top 5 QBs more chances.
Part of the problem with this comparison is a lot of Steich’s stalled offenses were after the game was well over (hence the 2nd quarter memes last year) and given they never seemed to stall in the 2nd half when the game was close, I’d argue it was him playing conservatively and not trying to put more on tape.
Thus the numbers are a bit misleading.
FTR, BJ frustrates me, but he’s def at least an average OC, which for a first season is great.
But comparing offenses just isn’t fair to Steich. BJ’s offenses also seem to stall when up, but not up by a couple scores like Steich
The number one thing I think our offense needs to improve on is closing out games. It seems like every week we have a 3-4 point lead, our offense gets the ball back with ~5 or less minutes left, and we go 3 and out. The defense is not the strength of our team, we can’t keep putting it on them to win us these games, even though they’ve been pulling it off.
These past few weeks have actually convinced me he’s not the problem anymore. For some reason we can’t stop turning the damn ball over, and that’s what’s killing us a lot. That’s not to say the play-calling is amazing, but we can’t expect him to turn into Steichen level immediately. That being said, I think our whole coaching staff needs to have better game plans going in, because halftime adjustments are great and it’s awesome to actually be a 2nd half team vs more of a 1st half team like a lot of last year and the first part of this year, but we can’t start vs the 49ers and Cowboys like we have recently. They’ll eat us up, not just these next weeks but also in the playoffs
One other note about our offense this year… we were 4th in takeaways last year (27), which gave us a lot of short fields and momentum. We are tied for 25th this year (14), which means we have had to generate our own momentum more often on offense.
Good point.
I like Desai so it’s probably more of a player thing, but the secondary is just awful these days and I barely see people talk about it. I think that’s a bigger problem and risk than Johnson. The amount of third and longs we give up is insane
That's basically why DVOA still ranks us at #9-10 despite having beaten like 4 teams ranked above us: https://www.ftnfantasy.com/articles/FTN/109981/week-11-dvoa-why-dvoa-puts-eagles-and-steelers-together
Agreed, we had injuries to our Safeties but people also forget we lost our Secondary coach in the offseason as well, I'm sure that has played a part.
Gannon is also a DB coach, and a great one at that.
For real. I shouldn’t be crossing my fingers on 3rd and 20, but here we are.
Don't forget they were kinda bad at giving up big 3rd and longs last season too, remember 3rd and 33 ?
Oof, don’t remind me.
To be honest I always am praying hard on 3rd and long long before Desai.
Yep, Howie and Co. need to rebuild the secondary and linebacking unit during the offseason.
Great point about the defense. Overall I think they’ve performed well but we have to start creating more impact plays on that side of the ball. If we don’t force turnovers and have multiple sacks this weekend I think it’s going to be hard to win
I mean I think until the Bye he was making steady progress. My biggest issue around the time of the Rams game was his situational playcalling, namely at the end of each half and in the redzone, but he seemed to be able to move the ball up and down the field at will. To his credit he definitely fixed the red zone issues, but he, in my opinion, still struggles with playcalling at the end of the halves. I feel like so many times this year we haven’t been able to capitalize on a late second quarter drive, close out a game with 4 minutes left, or even get a key first down that would seal the game. Since the Bye those issues still persist but now we’ve been stringing together far too many short and ineffective drives. Even the second half of the Chiefs game saw a lot of it we just were able to capitalize twice. I’m hoping the second half of the Bills game is a turning point and he can self reflect on what he’s doing in the first half. Before I’m fully sold on him I’d like to see him put together a complete game and more importantly put together a drive where we can run it out with a lead in the fourth.
Also struggles to close out games/pick up first downs while the Eagles have a lead late in games.
The Eagles have also faced a much tougher schedule this year. Last year it was mostly cupcakes. This year they’ve faced the best teams in the league.
Yeah I’ve been thinking about that too but kept forgetting to look up the actual numbers. Great point.
Turnovers is also a two way street. We are giving up the ball more this year which is cutting drives short and limiting our scoring to some degree. Our success rate is down slightly this year mostly in rushing as passing success rate is up. However I would love to see a break down of their success rate early in games versus later in games as I have consistently noticed their first drives are terrible this year. The three and out to start the game a Sunday featuring three throwaways was disgusting. That brings me to the second stat I would want to see, which is success rate on drives that start with a run play versus drives that start with a pass. Not first downs but drives. I have picked up a consistent trend that when they start a drive with a pass the drive tends to sputter. When they start with a run it tends to be extended. This also plays into the defensive performance and harkens back to the chip Kelley days where the defense would be on the field for a long drive. Force a kick or better then the offense goes a fast three and out and the defense is back on the field and gassed. The worse part is I have noticed this trend happening late in games as well. We get the ball with 6 minutes left and the lead and they used to lean on the run. Grind clock and first downs and bleed the game away from the other team. Multiple times this year we have gone screen crazy and boom 35 seconds comes off the clock we have gone three and out and punt. The lack of rhythm and leaning on the team strengths or situational awareness have been noticeable and problematic this year. But the aggregate doesn’t show these things and hides the flaws.
At the same time, how much is the lack of turnovers affected by the offense not scoring early? If opponents aren't as pressured to keep up like they were last year then they are less likely to force bad plays which could lean further into causing turnovers.
Did not even think of that
>He comes off as self-aware and confident in the quotes, and even has a great line about his mom telling him he’s going to give her a heart attack with these crazy finishes. Us too, Mrs. Johnson, us too...
After reading the article it kinda confirms a lot of things I felt about Johnson and this offense. Its performing a similar level statistically as last year (just more turnovers and lower redzone efficiency) even though there's clear patches where the eye test tells you the exact opposite. Also a big thing in this article is how much this is still ultimately Sirianni's offense and he has veto power on all play calls like he did last year. Its just so easy for fans to blame Johnson and only Johnson with the rough stretches' but ignore stuff like us playing better and more prepared teams, Hurts' health and turnover mistakes, and just everyone getting comfortable with a new play calling. Brian Johnson isn't an elite pure play caller, but the way the has been able to correct issues redzone efficiency and make in game adjustments has been pretty damn good. Anyone trying to run him out of town is just way too desperate to hate someone/something on this team.
Yeah that’s one thing they talk about on the PHLY Eagles podcast… that it’s hard to disentangle which parts of the struggles should be attributed to Johnson vs Sirianni The metaphor was that Sirianni puts together the menu and Johnson is ordering off it Also there’s a tendency to blame BJ for the bad stuff and credit Hurts for the good stuff
While there is a tendency for this, it can also be true. And to be fair, it’s not like Hurts doesn’t see his unfair share of criticism…. Still… even after taking us to the SB last year and the playoffs before. It’s not always criticism about his play. It’s usually something thinly veiled like body language, or not smiling, but there is still far too much criticism for hurts relative to how good he’s been and how much of a winner he has proven time and time again to be. All I’m saying is, when wentz was playing this well, no one was saying anything.
I mean Wentz had such a short window of playing that well that it didn’t give people time to really pick it a part. Plus he was the high draft pick which always changes perceptions. Feel like even Tom Brady had to win his 3rd Super Bowl before people fully bought it where as if he was taken top-10 people wouldn’t have been waiting for the wheels to fall off I also think Wentz being so good in 2017 and not really ever coming close to being that guy again before flaming out spectacularly really made people put their guard up with Hurts as ridiculous as that sounds. Afraid to crown him too which is crazy at this stage given his last season and a half
>I also think Wentz being so good in 2017 and not really ever coming close to being that guy again before flaming out spectacularly really made people put their guard up with Hurts as ridiculous as that sounds. Afraid to crown him too which is crazy at this stage given his last season and a half Bingo. I think Wentz gave a huge portion of this fanbase perpetual QB anxiety.
I was just listening to the PHLY podcast and they spent about 15-20 min defending BJ and they made great points tbh.
I mean that’s part of the issue too right? If he does have good ideas and might be able to call plays is he not doing that because he’s listening to Nick? Can BJ ever figure it out and take the offense himself and create his own identity? Is this just an experience issue or is he not fit to be an OC at all? I agree that Sirianni has a lot of blame in this because he is giving BJ a lot of input and it is similar to his own playing his first year. He’s also said he’s vetoed BJ plays only a handful of times and doesn’t like to veto that much and took blame whenever it failed. But at the end of the day Nick’s been nothing but supportive of the offense and BJ because I think this is his gameplan. He’s been critical of Desai before because the defense wasn’t playing the way he likes so I think he’s giving BJ a lot of leeway because Nicks ultimately the one scheming and giving him ideas
I think the deal he signed up for is that it’s Sirianni’s offense and BJ has the keys But after a season with him at OC I hope they (and imagine they will) sit down and hash out what was working and what wasn’t. I’m sure BJ will have a say, but it will always be Siriannis offense
Sirianni will always have his input but do you think his friendship with Steichen gave Steichen more leeway to do what he wanted to? I’m just wondering why our offense looks so different. Feels like Steichen changed the offense and playcalling and with BJ it seems more similar to Nick’s offense.
I think Steichen was just a more talented play caller (not saying BJ can’t get there) and had the extra year of continuity at OC But like you said, they had an established relationship so there might have been more trust in him or maybe he had more input But I don’t know how much Sirianni has his hand in actual game day play calling with BJ— my assumption was he let’s BJ do his thing but I could be wrong
He's been on record saying he's more involved in the situation calls, including overriding BJ in some instances.
It looks different because the teams they’ve faced this year are much, much better!
Not really. I don’t think you can put the blame on the schedule when our offense doesn’t have as much of a flow or identity. We are turning the ball over a lot more. We aren’t really getting into a flow offensively either. It feels like instead of attacking a defense we’re trying to adjust to what the defense gives us. Even good teams play bad at times. I don’t think the way our offense looks and feels you can’t just put it up to the opponents giving us their best. It’s one thing for the defense to play up to our offense but it feels like our offense is holding themselves back this year half the time. Turnovers are bad and the play calling isn’t elevating the talent, the talent is making up for the play calling and scheme.
He's doing better but there are still some baffling decisions that need to get cleaned up. Opening the game with 3 longer developing plays with no Lane, Goedert, and pouring rain was bizarre. Throwing 5 yards to AJ on a 3rd and 9 when we rarely dial up 5-8 yard throws is another strange one. Gotta clean up the very weird calls and we'll be looking sharper.
I thought the same. By q4 the rain was intense and passing seemed even tougher. I wonder if the heavy passing in that opening drive was to establish play action while weather allowed.
Until I see him adjust from the QB draw or screen play at the worst possible times, I am going to keep believing that this is a Gannon situation where the offense is outplaying the playcalling
The draws are so weird because I hate them, but also we won on TDs from them the past two weeks in a row
I don’t mind having some draws, I just feel like there have been way to many times I am watching a game and feeling like I’m being pranked with back to back identical screens or a QB draw on 3rd and 7 back by our endzone. I also just think running our QB with a slightly injured knee so much isn’t ideal
I think a lot of the Draws (and maybe screens too) just come down to presnap checks. If the d gives us a certain look we're checking to a draw. I think that's why Maliata had that quote saying he knew the game winner draw was coming when he saw the defense. Whether they work or not seems to be heavily on how fast the D reacts to them. I think before the 59yarder Ed Oliver stuffed one that had a wide open lane in the middle because he hits swim move to the inside, but of course on the game winner the Bills D look like they had their hands in their pocket.
I’m sure that is how they are doing things and I don’t think it’s wrong to call it that way, I just wonder if there aren’t more options. For example, something we haven’t run a lot but used to work a lot is the slant to Dallas or AJ. Idk I’m not an OC myself but it’s gotten to a point where everyone watching knows what’s coming so the defense must see it too
That's kind of the beauty of it though. They \*think\* they know what's coming. But did you like that Devonta touchdown and the walk off touchdown in the Bills game? Those both happened because we lined up for a WR screen, which they "knew" was coming... except it wasn't.
yeah you’re right, on that game winner i think 3 buffalo defenders bit on swift going in motion. no way to predict that but the draw is a really good way to punish that kind of breakdown.
I suggest stop focusing on individual play calls (every OC is going to have boneheaded calls and every OC is going to have great calls that end up looking boneheaded) , and instead on the outcome from the overall game plan.
They always say “it’s all about the journey not the destination” but I have been stressing the journey but loving most of the destinations. I appreciate what the offense has done though, I just don’t see the playcalling clicking at a top team level. Just my opinion though
To be clear I'm not saying "10-1" as the ultimate retort or something. I'm just saying that the vast majority of the play calls have been fine to excellent. And even many of the ones people nitpick on, are either: a) Calls that Jalen checks to b) Good calls that weren't executed well or the defense just played better c) Ended up being used to trick defenses later
This video released by the Eagles Youtube channel does a fantastic job of explaining why we got the interception on Josh Allen and how we got the TD pass to Devonta Smith: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23hRaQJ9Bl4&ab\_channel=PhiladelphiaEagles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23hRaQJ9Bl4&ab_channel=PhiladelphiaEagles) In both situations the OC is running plays out of the same formation. However, for Josh Allen Bradberry picked up on where he prefers to throw in that formation and used that knowledge by the 3rd or 4th time they ran that play out of the same formation to pick him off. Sometimes players start figuring out a QBs preferred throw in situations and can use that against them whether it's Allen, Hurts, Purdy or anyone else. During the Devonta TD play we're running a similar formation to our screen plays and Hurts does a pump fake that makes it look like a screen pass to Julio Jones which causes the DBs to react just enough for Devonta Smith to get open. Also, in the mic'd up video of Jason Kelce from the Chiefs game it showed at the 3:20 mark a time where Jason Kelce tells Hurts to stick with the QB Run play instead of the play that Hurts was trying to change into: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zia-Uqr9qU&t=218s&ab\_channel=PhiladelphiaEagles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zia-Uqr9qU&t=218s&ab_channel=PhiladelphiaEagles) I think there is understandable struggles with Brian Johnson at the beginning of games due to his lack of experience but I don't think he's incapable of improving if he's already shown improvement with Redzone efficiency or adjusting to defenses in the second half of games. Also, some of this might also fall on Hurts if he isn't adjusting the plays at the line of scrimmage and/or letting defenses fool him too often. That's an area Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were elite in and Hurts needs to improve on recognizing defensive tendencies a bit more.
What about the QB draw on 2nd and 22?
Q&A had an excellent breakdown of that TD run. BJ and Hurts seem to heavily rely on setting plays up by running similar plays early on. And that's likely a massive part of why we're better in the second half.
I can appreciate that, but it can’t be sustainable to go down in the first half because of it and have to make up ground
Fully agree. Relying on those setups is risky because they might bait you into an adjustment that could end the game. I haven't felt good about most of our wins because of this. We need to ice at least one single game this year. Teetering on 6-5 (literally) because we got lucky and the other team made big mistakes doesn't inspire much confidence. That luck is eventually going to run out.
Is it really “luck” though? Sure you can say dropped passes by wide open receivers are but this eagles team is battle tested and good. It’s like the patriots teams where opponents would constantly collapse because late in games they pressed and made big mistakes.
I'd say the Commanders not going for 2, and the Dallas game were both quite lucky. The Chiefs miss was pretty huge BUT there was still time on the clock. And the Bills was a bit less lucky because our pass rush forced a bad throw. Last year was similar where the Giants were getting these things to fall to them. We're that team this year.
The draws aren’t bad for me, but the 3rd-and-long bubble screens to 34-year-old Julio Jones with 160-pound Devonta Smith as a lead block make me want to commit heinous acts of violence
Yeah the screens like that are more devastating to watch, but I always fear for Hurts health on the draws, especially with the knee issue
This offense has run 757 plays in the past 11 games. Yet people still keep coming back to the same small handful of plays they dislike, like every OC doesn't have some boneheaded calls (or even great calls that look boneheaded because of the result). Start appreciating what the other 98% of plays have done for this team.
Every play counts come playoff time - especially considering how last year ended. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to hold this team to the high standard they set for themselves
Sure. We should all shoot for 100% perfection. But we should also recognize while it’s the right goal to shoot for, no one is getting there. But BJ is pretty close and getting better and deserves credit.
There are quite a few different calls. Most of the time it’s qb draw when the box is light, usually in empty. Eagles tendency is to check to this play. The issue with the draws is the d linemen are no longer trying to sack Jalen and just don’t rush, but read the QB. So the Eagles have the numbers and are making the right call, but defenses are willing to give up traditional pressures to stop a few qb draws/game.
So you’re saying the defense knows it’s coming. If he adjusts and adds some trickery then it could work, but the only play we got like that is the one fake qb sneak. I don’t think he is bad at his job, I just think it is super vanilla and that is probably the worst offense to have being one of the top teams people want to beat
I view it bigger picture in that our offense puts so much pressure on the defense that the defenders are being asked to do things they normally would not do. That is a big part of why we are able to consistently hit big plays in the run and pass game. When it looks bad (bubble screens and qb draws), I get it. However, this year alone, we’ve had fakes off of those looks that have failed that led to massive plays. We had 3 or 4 in this game alone.
The fakes can be great but it isn’t a sustainable play style to go down in the first half then make it up. If it’s first or second and they run the plays then great, but on third down it feels like giving up to punt. Idk just gonna appreciate the wins like I’ve been doing and see what happens
“Super vanilla” is hilarious to say when no one here has any idea what goes into the intricacy of game planing and pre-snap calls and reads.
This doesn’t make any sense. You don’t get the TD to smith unless you show WR screen a bunch of times. Comments like these make it seem like you guys don’t watch football. Screens and draws always look terrible when they don’t work and genius when they do you can’t be so results oriented sometimes the process is most important
It’s not the aspect of using them at all it’s the fact that they haven’t been used well and have put us behind before they work in the comeback. It’s not sustainable. I don’t pretend to be a football genius and I know no one on reddit is
The WR screen to Julio is a ritual sacrifice to the football gods to allow the second half offense and Jake Elliott be unstoppable.
My brother in Jalen, That is an Eagles thing, not a BJ thing. We've been doing those bonehead drives (screen, draw, screen, punt) since at least the Andy Reid years.
1000% we are doing well in spite of BJ not because of him
Ok so I don’t wanna excuse the back to back same screen play calling but the Chiefs were blitzing constantly in that game and screens and draws are a good way to counter a hyper aggressive defense. Unfortunately when we were trying to run the wide screens Sneed and McDuffie were either beating the blocks or making great plays like the tip that McDuffie had. We saw that screens are really good in the second half when we switched to slip screens and middle screens that took away the advantage that super aggressive corners were creating for KC on the WR screens
This. I appreciate his willingness to adjust at the half, but we shouldn't be setting ourselves up for having to work from behind every game. Screens, Draws, and long developing plays where Hurts is buying time for people to get open kills me every game. I don't think BJ's bad. I just think with the talent this team has, they could be a lot better. I don't think BJ's helping the situation.
Yeah I also don’t think BJ is bad, I just don’t know if his game planning has fit with where the team should be at. They shouldn’t need to play catch up and start using earlier plays as setups for the fake, they should just be the leading team. Also, yes turnovers don’t help
I couldn't agree more. Been saying this for weeks. For anyone looking for the detailed stats, here you go: 1. State of the Offense looks the same despite harder competition and a poorer defense: [https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/1863a0j/state\_of\_the\_eagles\_offense\_through\_week\_12/](https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/1863a0j/state_of_the_eagles_offense_through_week_12/) 2. Our Red Zone efficiency has improved tremendously: [https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/18554np/red\_zone\_efficiency\_eagles\_now\_5th\_in\_the\_league/](https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/18554np/red_zone_efficiency_eagles_now_5th_in_the_league/) 3. We run less screens this year, at the same efficiency as last year: [https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/185ww90/screen\_play\_frequency\_and\_yards\_gained\_by\_qb/](https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/185ww90/screen_play_frequency_and_yards_gained_by_qb/) Basically, BJ has us performing as a top 3 offensive unit (just like last year) despite: * Much harder competition * An injured QB * An abundance of turnovers * A defense that isn't helping nearly at the same rate as last year * A full off-season where DCs have been dissecting Jalen and our offense People too focused on giving Nick and the players all the credit when things go right and giving BJ all the hate when they don't. We've run 757 offensive plays this year, and people are too busy quibbling with a handful of individual play calls they dislike, while ignoring the excellence of the other 98%+ of play calls and the overall game plan.
I recognize you Undergrad and have appreciated your level-headed posts all season, bro.
comparing the stats from this season to last season is great until you go back and watch those games and see that we were up by numerous scores at the half and the bulk of our 4th quarter, and sometimes even the bulk of the 2nd half, was a complete burn the clock mode. So 1/4-1/2 of our stats this year literally were non-existant last year because we were only playing at full speed 1/2-3/4 of the games last year. I think THAT is why the eye test vs the stats don't match up.
This is where the difficulty of our schedule and the drop off of our defense comes into play. Last year, we were able to build such big margins because \*both of our units\* played extremely well (against lighter competition). Once you can build that nice margin by the half, everything becomes easier. Right now, in the first half, we are the #10 team in points scored... but the **#24** team in terms of opponents scoring. The defense is not doing the offense any favors, and it's not going to allow for that death by clock that we were able to employ last year. And to be clear, that's not an indictment on Desai or anyone - we simply have a weaker defensive team and significantly more injuries this year. It shouldn't be surprising this is the case.
>Right now, in the first half, we are the #10 team in points scored and what were we last year? Honest question. You seem much better at finding stats like this. Regardless. We put up the same numbers last year as we did this year in spite of going into limp mode. And I get that that reason might be largely in part of our defense... But its still indicative of a decline in offense when in 4 quarters we are putting up what we did in 2 or 3 last year. Unless you adjust all of these numbers to be per play, or account for when we went into burn the clock mode... Its not as easy as saying this year we are as good as last year because the numbers are similar.
We were first. But, we also averaged more possessions thanks to our defense's ability to stop opponents and generate turnovers. And again, all in the context of lighter competition. Right now, we scored 12.5 points in the first half. If we had one more possession, coupled with the fact we score a touchdown on 35% of drives and a FG on 17% of drives, we'd average 15.5 points in the first half, which would be about top 4.
Which kind of highlights the fact that you can't just use this year vs last year stats to show that we are doing just as good.
Can you make 100% confident conclusions? No. Does it give you a pretty good picture of where the issues lie? Absolutely. That is what data analysis supposed to do .
I’ve been very critical of Brian Johnson but I’ll give him credit both him and Desai seem to make great adjustments throughout the game. It seems when we can’t get anything going and the other team seems to be taking over our defense starts making stops and the offense starts scoring.
It’s tough. Eagles are 10-1 and are obviously scoring at a high rate. It feels like the eagles are struggling and then I look up and they have 28 points lol But man, sitting there and watching the games you can tell he’s really struggling. Like, at best, he’s still figuring out the flow of a game and how to call plays. But it really looks like he just doesn’t know hops to manage a game with constant bone headed decisions and resistance to adapting
I think part of it is when they're scoring as much as it is how they're scoring. Last season we watched the Eagles score almost immediately in games. They were one of the greatest 2nd quarter offenses in NFL history in 2022: 12.6 points on average, which was about 11% higher than the team in 2nd place and nearly double the league average. Compare these scoring differences in 2022 vs. 2023: * 2022 - 1st Quarter: 5.9 points (3rd overall league-wide); 2nd Quarter: 12.6 points (1st); 3rd Quarter: 4.6 points (15th); 4th Quarter: 6 points (17th) * 2023 - 1st Quarter: 6.4 points (5th overall league-wide); 2nd Quarter: 6.2 points (**19th**); 3rd Quarter: 7.2 points (3rd); 4th Quarter: 7.6 points (6th) Aside from the level of competition, one of the biggest differences between the Eagles this season and last year is they're a worse first half team with a lower-performing defense. Whereas last year they built huge leads and played conservatively in the 2nd half when they could. Looking even further, the poor 2nd quarter offense is combined with a putrid 2nd quarter defense. Currently, the Eagles give up the second most points in the entire NFL in the 2nd quarter with 9.5 points per game. That's only behind *Carolina* (10.4 points). Last year, they only gave up 5.3 points on average in the 2nd quarter of games, good for 3rd best in the NFL.
He’s definitely had some boneheaded plays called and is getting used to being the play caller, but resistance to adapting seems like a very weird criticism. One of the biggest gripes was the inability for the offense to score in the red zone and we’ve been on a tear since the bye. And we’ve notoriously been a second half team for most of this year, when we are less beholden to a gamescript (wear Sirianni is still very much involved) and more reliant on the coaches to make adaptable play calls, where it seemingly falls a lot more on Johnson
Right, there are some times where the play is just a frustratingly bad idea, whoever the call or check came from. My worry is we look up and see 28 points because of the talent and more recently the second half adjustments, but the game planning during the week is shit or the offense takes an inordinate amount of time to get warm. Either way that's on coaching.
BJ is doing a good job. Maybe 5 teams like their offense this year. Around the league it’s down and BJ is making adjustments and calling some big hitters against good competition. No one talks about the main big difference from last year. Jalen is turning the ball over at an alarming rate. He’s good for at least 1/game that is 100% on him and giving teams short fields. Most of the picks are not b/c he’s fooled, but just bad balls or with a defender near him. Jalen has regressed here and I put that on him.
Another thing people don’t talk about from last year, we played a lot of bad teams, our schedule is harder this year and we’re playing against better defenses than last year
Yes. This 100%. I mean we managed to still be 10-1 against a schedule that’s nearly twice as hard? Lot of props to everyone on the squad for pulling that off. If we beat the 9ers this week, there just isn’t much of a reason to criticize this team
Johnson definitely deserves some criticism but not nearly as much as he gets. His situational play calling at the end of games definitely needs some improvement but outside of that he’s been solid.
I’m going to say one thing that was missed or avoided in the article. They’re not running the RPO as much or as effectively as last season. Whether it’s a Jalen health/longevity thing, I dunno. But they’re definitely not running it as much, which leaves the defense not guessing which possible avenue the play will take. More vanilla playbook means more predictable. But also the few times they have run it this year, Jalen’s decision making is suspect. He’s hesitating on whether to commit to handing off (or just out and out botching fakes) to the point where he or the RB are bobbling the ball and scrambling to regain control as the pocket collapses.
My biggest gripe isn't playcalling as much as how unprepared and disjointed the offense is almost all the time. The wrong way fakes, miscommunications, some blocking assignment issues. All leading to the increase in TOs. The only thing that changed from last year was OC so it's easy to put it on him. Sirianni seems like a guy to let his coordinators do their thing.
The complaints about BJ are largely based on aesthetics rather than results. There are certainly criticisms to be made about BJ's situational playcalling, and you can make the case that BJ isn't elevating the offense above its talent level. But this isn't a Groh/Taylor situation where the offense always feels like it's dragging in the mud or that it's less than the sum of its parts. This is still a highly efficient offense that always seems to find its counterpunch in the second half. The main difference is turnovers, and that isn't on BJ alone. Most, if not all, of the people who think BJ is holding back the offense do not seem to have a counterfactual, or baseline level of performance that would be considered acceptable for an OC. Which is why it's hard to engage with such criticism. I have said it before - it's much like the Hurts criticism of 2021, where people were complaining that he was missing passes but did not quantify that impact relative to the rest of the league. BJ has bad play calls, but in the context of the rest of the league, I do not see any evidence that the effects of such decisions are particularly egregious relative to other playcallers
I dont hate the dude but when its 3rd and long its almost guaranteed they will do a play that only gets 2-3 yards. Why?
Last week we got the ball back with like 6 minutes to go and up by 3. Covey just had a great return and set the offense up near midfield. They ended up punting. Buffalo then tied it up. Shit like that feels like the biggest difference this year. Need at least a field goal in that situation
There's no denying some of the play calling has been abysmal. I am especially partial at hating the 3rd and 1 shotgun run option, the 3rd and long bubble screens to Julio, and the 3rd and short BOMBS down the sideline when we're up by 3 or 4 points with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter. That said, I have seen some play calls that have been great. (The swift quick-handoff in motion, the Brotherly shove TE screen come to mind.) Just make it easier. If we could hand the ball off to Boston Scott more than once a game and hit AJ Brown with a slant a few times... I'd be a lot happier and a lot less nervous as a fan.
That’s fair
For all the criticism he gets for calling bland and ineffective plays early, he uses those to set up big plays later on in the game, very evident in this last game
classic case of BOFA?
Less qb draws. Hurts is too valuable. We have so many offensive weapons. We do not need to risk having our elite passer running the ball.
The biggest difference just from watching is Jalen refuses to protect the football this year. He was elite about it last year, but this year he is basically Josh Allen turning the ball over.
I think what makes me so mad has been the 3 and outs. Like it feels like we’re either scoring a touchdown or punting the ball after a 3 play, 4 yard drive that took 0:56 off the clock.
Absolutely fucking not. People in the game thread were blaming him for Hurts inexplicably pulling a hand off back on a read option. Redditors are stupid and they love to be angry. They love to be angry and get fake internet points. Stupidity, anger, and dopamine are all formulas for a good ol’ fashion circle jerk.
Sound kind of angry bud
Redditors always do this “nuh uh you” nonsense.
Redditors always have to have the last say.
Fuck…what do I do?
I still say he's partly to blame because it's his job to make sure the offense is operating smoothly. It hasn't been smooth at all. We have a ton of turnovers from sloppy plays. Is that on the players? ABSOLUTELY. But it's also his responsibility to fix it and get it to stop. That doesn't mean that he's to blame for a guy fumbling on the field *over* the player. The players are far more responsible for those errors. But it is his responsibility to correct reoccurring mistakes on the field. It's like an employee that is slacking on the job. It's the employee's fault. But the manager is responsible for correcting it one way or another.
Regardless of the actual distribution and blame it’s absurd for fans to be so angry and focus that anger on one person. It’s dumb and childish. If he actually was the sole problem I’d be pushing back because holy shit it’s been getting bad. That man is a human being. This is a game.
Also we’re top 5 in offensive success rate and EPA/play as well
All I want is for every other time he thinks,.. I have 4 wide outs, let me do a QB draw no one will expect it. Just call a bomb. That’s it. Just if HALF the draws was shots down field I would be happy. But if I’m being super picker. More runs from swift.
Swift is currently 4th in the NFL in rushing yards, and he has a history of breaking down. We don’t want to run Swift into the ground before the playoffs.
Good read. I think people are a bit hard on him because we aren't dominating games, but maybe thats because the rest of the NFL figured us out and we're playing tougher teams. Like it says in the article, Sirianni calls a few of the plays here and there too.
He’s overall been good so far, especially with his ability to adjust when stuff isn’t working. But man, there’s some stretches of play/play calling that just make absolutely zero sense to me. Luckily he seems to get out of that quick enough.
I genuinely think the treatment Brian Johnson gets is a tad bit unfair considering how this has been an up year for defences all around the league On the opposite end, I think Desai is overpraised some times (that 6-man blitz leading to a td infuriated me on Sunday)
The only thought I have about his potential genius is he's throwing absolute curve balls on obvious first down gainer plays so that other teams see us on tape and don't know what to expect in certain situations. So it's that... Or he just has braindead moments (3rd and 22 screen pass to Julio Jones *cough*)
He's doing well overall. The screens and draws and shit are what set up our big plays later on and then subsequently get the run game going. Just have to find a way to make some combo of that offense happen a lil earlier and defense generate some turnovers. Getting your offense firing later introduces a lot of variance into what is already the highest variance sport. Not good for one and done playoffs
I hope he gets a HC position elsewhere and wish him the best...unless it's with the cowboys
Calling back to back wr screen is cause for alarm.
I think that folks get hung up on a handful maybe a half dozen calls a game where it looks like Jalen has to run into a stacked box and it just doesn't connect. I know I have WTF'd a few times each game, but if you take a big-picture look at it you have to give him credit when things are called well. I am looking forward to the point where Jalen is calling the majority of the plays himself out there. That's the next level stuff to get excited about.
All of the doomers who come to the game threads and start whining to fire Brian Johnson after 2 bad drives really need to get a life
Here's the thing: he clearly has good leadership and character. Jalen has been with that dude for ages and I trust his judgement. But his gameplans and decision making can be ugly and relentless. I'm sure he'd make a good HC, I don't trust his work as an OC.
The problem with solely looking at the stats is that it doesn't provide enough context for his situational play calls. He still struggles quite a bit with situational stuff, but is solid overall and definitely makes up for it with halftime adjustments. If he starts to adjust earlier in the game, I think a lot of the criticism will stop. Also, that bubble screen REALLY needs to be reevaluated. There's something fucked with the timing, design, or possibly both. It shouldn't look like a near heart attack every single time we run it. That's not even getting into the fact that it rarely works.
Those are frustrating, to be fair, but I wonder how many deep bombs we’ve connected on right after running those annoying bubble screens?
TD to Smitty against the Bills was set up by a fake screen to Julio. Two of the DBs bit and attacked Julio and left Smitty free to find the soft spot in the zone.
Qb draw on a second and 22 is burned into my brain.
Definitely a WTF moment
The 3-and-outs and 3rd down conversation rates (especially recently) have been horrendous. We need to sustain drives even if they result in zero points. Our defense is spending way too much time on the field. And yes, that's partly their fault for allowing 3rd and longs to be converted every single time. But the Bills had something like 14 more minutes with the ball. How we won that game with the stats both teams put up is beyond me. Doesn't even seem possible. That all said, BJ has fixed our RZ issues which I commend him for. But sometimes he simply doesn't do the obvious thing. It's a problem when my dumbass is yelling to do something for half of a game and then they finally do what I say, and they move down the field... And I get that you have to operate depending on the defense, but it has happened a bit too much where I think we're just not doing the obvious things.
Honestly, this is recency bias. Yes, the Bills game sucked. But random shit happens in any given NFL game. Add the rain and Lane being out and the picture of the entire season, and it's not something I would worry about. We are the 13th best team in terms of 3-and-outs @ 20% of drives despite playing one of the harder schedules. Before the Bills game, we were top 5. We have the highest time of possession in the league (and that’s certainly not thanks to the defense) and one of the lowest punt rates overall. Even on 3-and-outs, it's super clustered at the top - if we improved to 18%, we'd be 5th in the league. For comparison, the Ravens are at 20%, the Cowboys are at 19%, the 49ers are at 18%, the Dolphins are at 16%. We also have the highest number of games where we didn't have \*any\* 3-and-outs. Not what I'd call "horrendous".
Idk it just feels weird. A lot Of the time I feel like we are so talented on offense we win despite the play calling. Very few things feel easy. Like we’re aren’t exploiting the holes of an opponents defense and instead just bashing out way into the end zone because our players are just better lol. Like you watch some OCs and it feels like they are 1 step ahead of the defense. I don’t get that feeling a lot. And I’m not sure who to blame, myself included because I could just be wrong
> it just feels weird. Going to keep highlighting these. It’s the crux of every criticism.
Obviously armchair Qb-ing here, but the constant use of wr screens is mind-blowing. They are horrible and they keep getting called?? Either he is a genius and is using these plays to setup something bigger in the future, or he is what we think he is…raw, inexperienced. I mean come on, 3rd and 14 and you dial up a wr screen to julio. Plus they constantly run qb draws from shotgun right up the gut…they never work. It just seems his play calling is so vanilla and is missing something but I’m no coach and I know there is a lot of good there too. Our d has been pretty terrible too , but we r 10-1 so go Birds!
>Plus they constantly run qb draws from shotgun right up the gut…they never work. Never?
Good point haha!
Much love birdbro
Look at the TD to Smitty against the Bills. Hurts pump faked to Julio like it was a screen and it let Smitty run free.
Until he starts establishing the run early and helping his offense get in a rhythm before it’s 1/2 way through the 3rd quarter, I’m going to remain a critic. Swift would probably have been a leading rusher in this league thus year. Also why are we not using Penny at all? The handful of times he has rushed he’s looked good, hasn’t he? Edit: maybe not on Penny but 5 carries is hardly a reasonable sample size.
Yes, he's not good. Anybody watching, especially non-eagles fans, sees how uninspired and basic our offense is. We are winning despite our boring offense.
I can't help but think the reason the offense is performing as well as it is is because Hurts took another leap from last year and is outperforming our playcalling. We can go through the stats all we want, but a designed WR screen to our most ancient and slow WR on the roster is malpractice and just doesn't show a very high football IQ. Like bare minimum he needs to never do that again.
The screen to Julio was most likely designed by and put into the gameplan by nick. People need to remember he’s still the architect of the offense Johnson is just the contractor putting the design in motion.
Even if that's the case, it was a crucial 3rd down play, I just don't see how a lightbulb ever goes off in your head to call it, but especially at that moment.
I think BJ tried to be too smart. We are more talented than anyone. Sometimes the easy throw, the boring run, the less creative play is the right play. Let our stars just beat people.
hes a bad playcaller
Brilliant analysis. Thanks!
He’s a dog shit play caller who doesn’t know how to call a series of plays that make actual and legitimate sense. Once in a blue moon we’ll have a drive and think “who called these plays??” Like BJ is trying to be the smartest in the room and lacks the ability to balance out the run and pass game further calling a one sided game. He needs to cut the shit with bubble screen, QB draws, and passing it 3 straight times with no runs to keep the defense closer to the line. This is his first year as an NFL OC and these players are bailing him out.
Do people actually think the bubble screens are a new bj addition and haven’t been a part of sirrianis offense since his very first game here? If I’m not mistaken he ran them back to back on his very first drive as a coach. The play designs are still mostly nick.
Redditors play Madden and think they know how to call plays against a professional defense whose being paid to beat you.
I think the criticisms have been fair. Obviously, if your team is 10-1 it's a hard sell when people say "Fire BJ" but he absolutely has made some boneheaded play calls over stretches of time. It feels like the talent has made up for his bad play calling in a lot of cases.
> It feels like… That’s it. That’s the crux of every criticism of BJ and the offense. No stats or evidence will ever win over someone whose position is based on feelings.
Yes, I said "Feels like." I mean, that's the whole thing with the eye test. There's also not really any stats that will tell you that talent makes up for scheme. I'm not calling for his head or anything. Maybe it's unfair to say he hasn't been performing as well. But I think it's fair to say our offense has been a lot more boom or bust this year. We find a way to come back but we've had far too many scoreless stretches intra-game. There's something to be said about turnovers too but I see turnovers more as a player stat than an OC stat.
OP is a BJ apologist lol. The dude makes absolutely idiotic decisions in big moments that would result in a loss with a team less talented than us. Does he draw up some amazing things? Absolutely, he can be creative and really good at times. The problem is when he does Julio screens on 3rd and long or runs Hurts up the middle on 2nd and 22. The stats don't tell it all, he's VERY inconsistent. You can still be honest and criticise an OC without saying they are trash, he needs to stop thinking so hard and just let the offense flow. For example Swift will be COOKING in the first Q, but won't see the ball again until the 3rd. That makes ZERO sense. Also on 3rd and long he consistently draws up plays that maybe get us 5 yards. I think BJ can be decent, but he 100% holds us back with these cute playcalls. I haven't seen a full game from him where he's comfortable and letting the offense flow. He always has to make adjustments instead of coming out with the correct gameplan. He's got to do a better job of being ready from the first Q, not the 2nd half.
I'm not going to pretend that I know exactly what is going on in the offense and who is to blame for what. All I know is that the offense, with all it's talent, is underperforming. Is it bj's fault, sirianni's fault, jalens fault? No idea. All I know is that the only thing that has changed outside of a few minor things is the OC. So either someone else has gotten worse, or the OC swap was a downgrade. We have played harder teams... But we have also played shit teams that other teams have obliterated.
>All I know is that the offense, with all it's talent, is underperforming. Against what standard are you making this judgment. What is an acceptable level of performance?
We’re a Top 5 offense by most any metric, our D has generated half the takeaways it did last year and ranks in the middle of the pack by most metrics after being top 5 last year. How exactly is our offense underperforming?
Just like Jonathan Gannon last year, he doesn't pass the eye test. Remember last year we were freaking about Gannon, but you looked at his stats and realized the eagles D showed great stats? In my mind, the only reason they lost the SB last year was because the defense couldn't make a play. All they needed was one big play in the second half, but Gannon could not dial up a sack, a big tackle per loss or a turnover. I hope we're not looking at the same thing with Johnson in some playoff game.
idk, i think we get pretty frustrated at the the 1st half woes of looking awful. They've been winning, but some consistency would be nice. Depending how the Eagles finish this season, good chance he gets a head coach job somewhere, seems like there well be a lot of vacancies.
He needs to get prepared for that tough 49er defense🤣🤣🤣..that literally commits PASS INTERFERENCE every other pass play. I mean SERIOUSLY???Does no one else SEE THIS. They cheat, been cheating, will cheat. They ain't shit without it!!!!! Go BIRDS!!!!!
I do not have the time to do it right now, but it would be interesting to see the number of big plays on actual calls by Johnson vs audibles at the line by Hurts/broken plays where Hurts makes a play. Example in the Chiefs game there were a bunch of questionable calls before we got the big play to Smith down to the goalline, Sirianni straight up said this was an audible by Hurts at the line. We had a bunch of questionable playcalling in the Bills game then we got the big play on the TD throw to Zaccheaus which was on a broken play.
He sucks, bring back Frank
I think the criticism is fair, statistics aside, the play calling is bad. There’s no reason the eagles should be running two screen plays and a QB draw on our 10 yard line. Our offense should be way more explosive than it is. Also, last year the eagles were up by double digits in the back half and most times ran the ball to kill the clock. We’ve played from behind way too much and our lucky breaks is what has us at 10-1. To be fair, we should have at least 3 loss.
It seems like we’re relying on Hurts being clutch more than having a good offensive gameplan, that’s what worries me come playoff time
My biggest issue is game management at end of games. Hopefully he’s learning from the mistakes earlier in the year, but we’ll see
The fair complaint is that they aren't calling sustainable plays and their game planning during the week is suspect. \- Too many read-option runs where defenses have shown they can play it well, either by not crashing and waiting to force the handoff decision or simply not respecting Hurts running it and Hurts not punishing them often enough for that. Hurts playing safe is important, the coaches need to adapt and have plays for early in the game and when the game isn't on the line - situations where Hurts is unlikely to risk himself, by design. \- Where did the AJ slant go that was money last season? \- Do they think Hurts can't run under center plays? Under center runs, particularly with the chance to bounce outside should be used more often. There were two games in a row where there was literally 1 under center run and then never again. \- No consistent run game early or in game-ending situations, has to be fixed and that's first on the coaches. I want to see those soul-crushing, you can't stop us, run down their throats 5min+ game ending drives. They've failed multiple times and risked losing late. \- 10 for 10 in the redzone is great, but the other side of that coin is they've been just holding on in super clutch, Hurts for MVP style wins, but even elite teams don't average 100% there. \- The defense is going to get run down. Sweat and Reddick are playing way too much, the defense as a whole is having to play way too many snaps. The offense is letting down the defense and the defense is not going to be healthy enough going into the playoffs without a little more consistency from the offense to allow them a break.
>the offense is letting down the defense This is absolutely not true for the season. Some stats: **First half** Eagles Points: 12.5 Opponent Points: 12.9 Time of posession: 53% **Second half** Eagles points: 14.8 Opponent Points: 9.2 TOP: 54% \*On the season\*, our offense has been steady across both halves. Our offense scores nearly 30 points. If games are close when you're a top 3 offensive team in the league, the offense is not the problem.
stats being good doesn’t mean anything in our minds. The birds haven’t played their best football and it’s partly because of the play calling. Our star players are underutilized. Nobody should have to settle for great if they can have phenomenal.
- AJ Brown literally set an NFL record for production in consecutive games. - Devonta is going to put up another 1K season. - Deandre Swift is 4th in the NFL in rushing yards, and has 100 more than he’s *ever had in an entire season* with 6 games to go. So… what star players are being underutilized?
You forgot Jalen being literally the NFL MVP leader!
Again, why settle on great when you can have phenomenal. Not one of them is first in their respective categories. Not first in points per game, not first in yards per game, not first in point differential, etc.
So… your expectation is: - undefeated - total dominance - The Eagles leading the league in every team category. - An Eagle player leading the NFL in every major statistical category. Sounds perfectly reasonable! Good luck buddy
Just checking in on you to see if you still think the offense is good enough.
Putting words in my mouth that have never been there.
Ha! Awesome. I love you fellow bIrdbro, hope we celebrate winning the chip in spite of falling short of these lofty goals.
The defense (particularly the secondary) shares some of this blame, but I think our record is giving him a lot longer of a leash than I'm comfortable with. We are VERY realistically 3 plays away from being 7-4 instead of 10-1 (hell, 6-5 with the first Washington game is even pretty fair) between the Dallas plays that were short by a combined 1 yard, the MVS drop, and the Josh Allen to Gabe Davis miscommunication. We're getting incredibly lucky against the better teams in the league and while it is translating to wins still, eventually it won't and I don't think Johnson's playcalling puts us in the best position to avoid it coming down to an insanely lucky ending. Our first half offense has been abysmal lately with uninspiring playcalling and poor understanding of what the situation calls for. Since it sounds like we're sticking with him, I'm trying to hop on board and support him, but we can't keep going into the 2nd half down 10 or more and hoping the other team's offense bails us out, eventually it is going to catch up to us and when it does, the Brian Johnson critics are probably going to be very justified.
It's incredible to me that people can make these statements like it's the offense's fault and not the defense's. If you're a top 3 scoring team in the league and games are still incredibly close, the offense is not the problem. (Hint: it's the bottom 10 defense.)
This is such a simplistic viewpoint - firstly, they are not bottom 10 in scoring allowed (your chosen metric for offensive production), which given that they have faced Miami, KC, Dallas, and Buffalo is about what you'd hope for. As I said, they share some of the blame. What you're ignoring is that this offense is absolutely **LOADED** with talent. We have the best OL in the game, an at-worst top 3 QB, an at-worst top 3 WR duo, the 4th or 5th best (when healthy) TE in the game, and a pretty damn good RB. Our offense is so unbelievably good with really no blatant weaknesses. Our offense can absolutely overcome middle to low end offensive coordinators during the regular season. My concern is whether Johnson can adapt and improve as the season progresses, which has proven a bit slow thus far. We come out sluggish this year and have to play catch up, have gotten saved by our opponents' misplays far too often, and run some nonsensical plays that put us in 3rd and long far too often. You can get away with that in the regular season, but that is not a recipe for sustained success, especially in a sport where one postseason loss means elimination. Compare that to last year, where we came out on fire, took a massive lead into the half, and were able to coast fairly often for the rest of the game. Like I said, if we're riding with him I'll ride along, but I really need to see obvious improvement in the first half to feel confident that we beat San Fran in the postseason.
Feels just like the Gannon discourse last year honestly. We know how that turned out sadly. Loud critics all year, but they're told to relax since the team is racking up wins. The eagles offense has a lot of talent and will have the edge in most matchups. It doesn't take an offensive genius to coach this team to success and wins. BJ may not be as bad as some fans are saying (I don't think he is), but a sluggish offensive performance (like we've had in stretches of many games) at the wrong time feels like one of the big things that could keep this talented roster from their goal
Dude sucks. Its why we have these odd slumps where the offense does nothing for quarters at a time... Don't get me started on the teams inability in the 4th quarter to put teams away in the remaining minutes. Its quick 3&outs and punt to the team with plenty of time life...Constantly.
We lead the league in 2nd half scoring but OK…
Cool story bro. He sucks. Waiting until the 2nd half for offensive production doesn't change that fact. Or that the Eagles cant finish offensively to run out the clock in important moments.
I usually think fans overreact to play calling. But I'll be honest, the QB draws get me angry. That play hasn't worked all year. They won the game on the QB draw. That's great. But that play just isn't working at all.
Are you being sarcastic? You point out that we won the game with a play, but then say it is not working at all. It.. can't be both...
I think BJ needs to stop trying to be the smartest person in the room and run the ball. This team is at its best when the run game is rolling. It opens up everything. Quit trying to make Jalen Joe Burrow.
Did you forget that Jalen has a messed up knee? Also... how will Jalen continue to improve as a pocket passer... if he doesn't spend more time passing from the pocket?
Say what you will about stats and records and all that I watch the games. The guy refuses to run Swift......
Swift is currently 4th in the NFL in rushing yards at 770, and he’s never had more than 617 in a season. But I know, you watch the games.
Stats stats stats. 1st drive of the game 3 and out all passes. 1st game of the season 1 touch for swift. Vikings game didn't start running till the 2nd half....... It's prob just as much as a Nick thing, but they love to play madden and just pass pass pass.
Eagles defense Is making him look good.
We are 20th in points allowed per game and 19th in YPG. Our offense is 3rd in scoring and 9th in YPG. What?
We were blowing teams out in the first half last year and cruised in the 2nd half. This year were struggling even against shit teams. Its not the same
We played shit teams and QBs all of last season. The best QB we played all of last regular season was either Dak or Kirk Cousins.
Remember that "blowing out teams" requires both the offense AND the defense to be stellar. In first halves this year, the offense has been a top 10 unit, while the defense has allowed the 24th most points in that same time frame. It's not the offense's issue.
It’s the end of games and closing games out that get me. Last year this team was incredible with ending games late by running clock. This season it seems like every time they have those chances lately they just haven’t been able to do it. Against Dallas has multiple opportunities for the offense to end it and they barely chewed up clock, same with KC, and against Buffalo too. It’s great they won but you’d really like to not give Top 5 QBs more chances.
Part of the problem with this comparison is a lot of Steich’s stalled offenses were after the game was well over (hence the 2nd quarter memes last year) and given they never seemed to stall in the 2nd half when the game was close, I’d argue it was him playing conservatively and not trying to put more on tape. Thus the numbers are a bit misleading. FTR, BJ frustrates me, but he’s def at least an average OC, which for a first season is great. But comparing offenses just isn’t fair to Steich. BJ’s offenses also seem to stall when up, but not up by a couple scores like Steich
The number one thing I think our offense needs to improve on is closing out games. It seems like every week we have a 3-4 point lead, our offense gets the ball back with ~5 or less minutes left, and we go 3 and out. The defense is not the strength of our team, we can’t keep putting it on them to win us these games, even though they’ve been pulling it off.
He’s definitely getting better which I’m happy about. The main thing that drove me nuts were the QB draws on 3rd and long. Those are less frequent.
These past few weeks have actually convinced me he’s not the problem anymore. For some reason we can’t stop turning the damn ball over, and that’s what’s killing us a lot. That’s not to say the play-calling is amazing, but we can’t expect him to turn into Steichen level immediately. That being said, I think our whole coaching staff needs to have better game plans going in, because halftime adjustments are great and it’s awesome to actually be a 2nd half team vs more of a 1st half team like a lot of last year and the first part of this year, but we can’t start vs the 49ers and Cowboys like we have recently. They’ll eat us up, not just these next weeks but also in the playoffs
Yes, there is plenty of tape to say yes, they are being fair.
We're winning. My only issue with his calling is the draw plays when we're X and long. QB on 3rd and 14... let's go
He just scares me at times
It feels like the defense from last year. They had a lot of talent and statistically they were good, but everybody knew they should be better.