On paper, the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles should unquestionably have one of the NFL's best offenses. It doesn't get much better than running back Saquon Barkley, receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, tight end Dallas Goedert, and one of the league's strongest offensive lines, led by perennial Pro Bowler Lane Johnson. This should be a dominant unit imposing its will week in and week out.
Instead, at the time of this writing, the Eagles' offense is a dreadful, rhythmless pushover.
Entering Thursday night's primetime matchup with the New York Giants, the Eagles are:
- 30th in total offense
- 31st in passing offense
- 25th in rushing offense
- 23rd in third-down conversion rate
- Third in punts per game
Quite frankly, when I see this ledger of bottom-tier statistics, it's kind of a miracle that the Eagles are tied for the NFL's best record at 4-1. That's the sort of miserable, all-around offensive performance that usually takes a team to a top-five draft pick, not championship contention.
This begs the question: What exactly is wrong with the Eagles' offense so far?
For one, it doesn't seem like new offensive coordinator (OC) Kevin Patullo knows how to utilize his weapons and keep defenses on their toes. That's a stark contrast to former OC Kellen Moore, who understood how to properly deploy his players on a weekly basis. There isn't much rhythm to the Eagles' offensive game plan, even on a play-to-play basis. This sort of disorganization makes it look like they haven't played together before every week.
That's on Patullo.
For the other, Saquon Barkley isn't having nearly as much of an impact as he did during last year's legendary 2,000-yard rushing campaign. Through five games, the Eagles' tailback has just 267 rushing yards and is averaging only 3.2 yards per carry. That's not superstar production. That's replacement level, which becomes a bigger problem when you realize the extent to which Barkley carried Philadelphia in 2024. Factor in Jalen Hurts' struggles throwing the ball downfield to this point, especially to A.J. Brown, and you've got the perfect mix for the Eagles to waste all their offensive talent for the time being.
How do the Eagles fix their bad, broken offense?
As laid out above, there's no one-size-fits-all answer to the Eagles' offensive woes.
Patullo has to start calling better games and understanding his players. Barkley needs to start maximizing the open rushing lanes he does get. And whatever's off between Hurts and Brown cannot last if opposing defenses are going to respect the Eagles' passing attack. All of these issues compound on one another, too. In a team sport like football, the Eagles' leading offensive figures are essentially making each other worse across the board.
Fortunately for the Eagles, they have the pedigree, the time, and the elite defense to let them iron out their offense before January. Still, it'd be nice to see them start stacking progress on this front in the early portions of this season rather than during the stretch run.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: What's wrong with the Eagles' offense?
Reporting by Robert Zeglinski, For The Win / For The Win
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect