The Eagles are winning, but they need to figure out this offense

Now, typically, I write my five takeaways the day after an Eagles game. I have done it consistently over the last few seasons.

However, I did not watch Week 4’s win over the Buccaneers in its entirety. I was able to look back at it, and boy, that second-half offense sure raises some red flags. It was even worse than the first half against the Rams.

This offense’s highs are so high. But the lows are lower than the Dead Sea.

After leading 24-7 at halftime Sunday in Tampa, the Eagles’ offense completely vanished. Removing Braden Mann‘s 34-yard rushing loss for an intentional safety on the final play of the game, the Eagles netted 33 scrimmage yards, averaged 1.1 yards per play, had six three-and-outs, did not complete a pass, and recorded -18 passing yards in the second half.

How is that even possible?

Even more melodramatic, the Eagles still won the game, thanks to some big defensive stops and turnovers, 31-25 to improve to 4-0.

“We’ll enjoy this tonight, we’ll enjoy this in the locker room, we’ll enjoy it on the plane,” Nick Sirianni said. “And then [Monday] is going to be tough for all of us.”

Jalen Hurts’ last completion came with 1:25 left in the first half. A.J. Brown had just two receptions for seven yards, and DeVonta Smith also had only two catches for 29 yards. Saquon Barkley averaged a measly 2.3 yards per carry.

And now Brown is taking to Twitter about it:

Todd Bowles only sent more than four rushers once in the second half. Hurts had clean pockets but was just putting up bad balls. He even put the ball in harm’s way a few times, which is so rare for him. Kevin Patullo made interesting play calls again. The Bucs made second-half adjustments, but Hurts and the Eagles could not pick up on them.

This is the second week in a row where the offense has been elite one half and awful in the other. A week ago, against the Rams, the Eagles had 33 yards in the first half and 255 in the second. On Sunday in steaming hot Tampa, they had 201 in the first half and -1 in the second half, but really 33 disregarding Mann’s intentional safety.

The Eagles are averaging only 252 yards per game, averaging 4.2 yards per play. For a team with this much talent, those numbers are horrid. They have yet to play a complete game. But they are still winning.

Hurts on why the passing game struggled in the second half: “Execution.”

“You look at each drive we had in that second half, and it’s the right play call, but execution is wrong,” Jordan Mailata said. “We just have to do a better job executing, and the only way we do that is practice.”

This type of play will not cut it as the season goes along. Remember 2023? The Eagles were winning games like this, too. We all know how that went.

This Eagles team is too talented and too well coached to stumble like that. Their next four games heading into the bye are home against the Broncos, at the Giants on Thursday Night Football, in Minnesota, and back home against the Giants. Those are some good opportunities to get back on track before it is too late.

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