How Good Have They Been? OC/DC

 Do you know who the Eagles offensive and defensive coordinators are? I had an idea of who they were. But never really thought much about them. All I cared about as an Eagles fan was can, they improve this team from last year. How much better would the play calling look this year compared to last year. And going into week 8 I have some thoughts. 

Brian Johnson Eagles Offensive Coordinator:

If you didn't know the name of the Eagles offensive coordinator now you do. Brian Johnson has been around for three years and was the quarterbacks coach before getting promoted after Shane Steichen left to Indiana for the Colts. I can go deeper and give you more information about him but what fun is that? Right? Well, what I mainly wanted to talk about was how good these coordinators have been this year, or how bad. So, here's my thoughts so far on Johnson. 

The Eagles go to the Commanders with a 6-1 record, which is really good and tied for the best in the league right now. In an earlier post I spoke about the offense a bit but didn't mention Johnson much. After 7 weeks I think I have a better idea of what I think and reasons for it. So, let's start with number one. The redzone game has to be much better! Sitting at converting only 50 percent ranking 19th in the league isn't the worse. But far from the best. A lot of the Eagles offense stats rank around the top 10. This is one that's possibly the furthest. 

Now I know, to most that probably isn't bad. But for a team that has so much talent. The Eagles should be converting at a higher rate. In the last post when I spoke about the offense. I explained how converting at least 75 percent of redzone scoring would leapfrog the Eagles to possibly the number one offense. I still stand by what I said. The Eagles talented offensive roster has weapons everywhere, in the running game and passing game. So, to have a simple 50 percent redzone conversion is upsetting. 

Another thing I mainly wanting to talk about was the run to passing ratio/percentage. Last year the Eagles were well known for their running attack and truth be told not many teams could stop it. This year though, the running attack has been dismissed on occasions. Personally, this falls on Brian Johnsons hands. When looking at the stats it may not look that much of a difference. But the running game is only 47.38 percent of the plays called, yes that ranks the Eagles number 3 in rushing. But let's be real here for a moment. I know we have studs at wide receiver. But the bread and butter of this team is the run. Off the run the Eagles are known to run other options. Example, RPO's and play action passes. 

The issue with running less than passing is that most teams are going to expect you to pass. Another thing is pass it to the person you've been throwing to the most in this case AJ Brown. My main issue with Brian Johnson is the inconsistent play calling. Don't get me wrong though, when he calls a good game, you can see it without a doubt. But not calling more run plays to actually take advantage of the RPO's and play action passes is sad. Having D'Andre Swift and not using is consistently should be a crime. But much worse is the development of Keneth Gainwell. From his rookie year to now he has bulked up. He has talent, but hasn't been used much this season, nor any other running backs. The Eagles got to get back to the ground game and using all their running backs. This falls on Johnson's hand. Hopefully this week and the rest of the season we see a more pronounced running game from the Eagles.

Sean Desai Eagles Defensive Coordinator:

Now, for Sean Desai there's really not much negative to speak about. He was with the Seattle Seahawks in 2022 as an assistant head coach and DC. He helped the Seahawks defense by having a defense rank 4th in forced fumbles, seventh in sacks, 8th in takeaways, and lastly 10th in completion percentage. Now we can all see why the Eagles wanted him. Defensively the defense is really good, and a lot of the stats will confirm this. But the main stats that the Eagles are terrible in comes from passing defense. Isn't that a shocker? 

Well, the truth here isn't that Desai calls a bad game. Unless we're talking about the first, I would dare to say 3 weeks. Where his play calling at times were questionable. Outside of that his play calling has been good. He definitely has good timing when dialing up the blitz and even playing zone. Even though last week's game against the Dolphins when he called a man play allowed Tyreek to score on that streak was a bad call. All in all, he has been doing much better than Brian Johnson, and keep in mind that is my personal opinion. 

The issue here for the Eagles defense all year has been the DB's. This really doesn't fall on Desai; his job is to call the plays and make sure that his players are in the right position to win their match. It's the players job to win it though, and this year the Eagles DB's have been having trouble winning matches defensively periodically. Howie Roseman getting Kevin Byard is big! And personally, I think it will help Desai when calling plays. Having a veteran safety that's a Pro-Bowler and is still can fly is big for the defenses back-end. Hopefully the Eagles can get Desai more help. Because clearly, he's doing well with little help on the back end of the defense.

Let's Go Birds! E-A-G-L-E-S! EAGLES!