4-Down Territory: Unstoppable Eagles, coordinators-to-coaches, tricks and treats!
Every week in “4-Down Territory,” Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire and Draft Wire go over the things you need to know about, and the things you need to watch, in the NFL right now. With Week 8 of the 2022 NFL season in the books, there was a lot to cover!
This week, Doug and Luke discuss:
Now that the Eagles have unleashed Jalen Hurts as a deep passer, does the NFL’s lone undefeated team have a single obvious weakness?
Which current coordinators are most deserving of head-coaching interviews once the 2022 season is done?
Which team has been the most disappointing in 2022; and…
Which team has been the most pleasant surprise?
You can watch this week’s “4-Down Territory” right here:
Are the Eagles unstoppable now that Jalen Hurts is throwing deep?
(Eric Hartline-USA TODAY)
Before the Eagles’ 35-13 thrashing of the Steelers on Sunday, Philly quarterback Jalen Hurts had completed just six passes of 20 or more air yards on 13 attempts for 256 yards and a touchdown. Against the Steelers, Hurts had three completions of 20 or more air yards, and all of them were touchdowns to A.J. Brown. Before this, the undefeated Eagles had a body-blow offense – they could sustain with their run game and short-to-intermediate passes. Now, with this new deep passing element to their offense, two questions: Do the Eagles have a weakness, and are they the best team in the NFL?
Doug: I was shocked to see it, but those deep passes were happening over and over, and I do indeed believe that this makes the Eagles the NFL’s most dangerous team. I have opined before that Philly’s “death by a thousand paper cuts” offense was interesting, but that more would be required when the postseason came around. Now, I have no doubts. When you add the total integration of a receiver like A.J. Brown, who’s open even when he’s double-covered, you have a consistent escape hatch you didn’t before when it’s necessary to come back from a deficit. If they keep this up – and Hurts’ touchdown pass to Zach Pascal also went 19 yards in the air – they become even more impossible to deal with.
Luke: If there’s a flaw on this team, I’m not sure what it is. You are what your record says you are, and right now, the Eagles are perfect. Adding that deep passing element to their offense only makes them more dangerous, and will allow them to beat any opponent in whatever way they want/need to. That’s obviously been a recipe for success in the regular season so far, but that’s also how you win games in January and February. And don’t forget, there’s still a few hours left for another trade.
Which coordinators deserve head coaching positions?
(Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
Speaking of the Eagles, it’s a pretty good bet that offensive coordinator Shane Steichen is going to get more than his share of head coach interviews after this season. Steichen seems more than qualified for that interest, but of all the assistant coaches in the NFL today, which one do you think most deserves a shot at the head job?
Doug: I’d love to see Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn get another shot. Quinn parlayed his role as Pete Carroll’s best DC in the Legion of Boom era into his tenure as the Falcons’ head coach from 2015 through 2020. It’s tough to overcome what happened to Quinn’s team against the Patriots in Super Bowl LI at the end of the 2016 season – that 28-3 lead and all – but Quinn held in to keep his team relatively competitive for a while.
Quinn turned the Cowboys’ defense around right away in 2021, and perhaps the most impressive thing about the job he’s done in 2022 is that he changed his defensive philosophies to roll with the modern passing game, even though he didn’t have to. Not that Quinn was a bad head coach the first time around; I just think that, like Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll, he could be even better in his net opportunity.
Luke: Give me either Raheem Morris or DeMeco Ryans out of the NFC West. Morris may have been in over his head when the Bucs threw him from position coach into the big chair a decade ago, but he still managed to lead an unspectacular Tampa Bay roster to a 10-win season in 2010. I’d love to see him get another shot after what he’s done as a coordinator. Ryans has proven himself as one of the most brilliant young defensive minds in the league, and he’s got the leadership skills to succeed as a head coach. Morris has earned another shot, and Ryans has earned his first one. I hope they both get them this offseason.
Halloween tricks Which NFL team has been the most disappointing in 2022?
(Syndication: Democrat and Chronicle)
Since we’re taping this on Halloween day, it’s time for some trick-or-treat. First, the trick. Which NFL team that has disappointed to date proved you the most wrong in your assumptions that they would be far more competitive?
Doug: Packers. It’s not that I expected Green Bay’s offense to thrive after the Davante Adams trade, as general manager Brian Gutekunst had not done enough to replace him and give Aaron Rodgers at least one above-average receiver. But the extent to which head coach Matt LaFleur is now hiding his passing game is alarming. In the second half of their loss to the Bills, when Green Bay was down three scores, LaFleur was calling run after run – and the weird thing was, you couldn’t really argue with it, because the passing game is so broken. They can’t even run a two-minute offense without things falling apart. If slant/flat actually works, we all throw confetti. The soft bias of low expectations has come to Titletown.
And on defense? No cohesion whatever. Joe Barry really isn’t doing a lot to advance a defense that has all kinds of talent. Maybe the idea is to keep teams constricted from making big plays because the offense can’t make any, but this is as disappointing a team as I can remember in recent years.
Luke: Tampa Bay. Even after Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen went down on the second day of training camp, the Bucs were still the NFC favorite. More injuries have piled up, but it’s the healthy players that are most worrisome. The offense either can’t or won’t run the ball, the play-calling is boring and predictable, the defense is missing assignments and struggling to make big plays, and the kicker is the MVP at the halfway point. The NFC South is still bad enough for them to get a home playoff game if they turn things around even a little bit, but man, 3-5 after going 13-4 last season? Yikes.
Time for treats! Which team has been the most pleasant surprise in 2022?
(Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images)
And then, there’s the treat. Who has been your most surprising NFL team in the 2022 season?
Doug: Since I live about 10 miles from their practice facility, I guess I have to say that it’s the Seattle Seahawks. With Russell Wilson traded away for a ton of picks and a handful of decent players, this looked like a total from-the-studs rebuild, as head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider worked to exorcize years of questionable-to-horrible draft classes, trades, and free agent decisions.
But this team has a new franchise quarterback in Geno Smith that nobody outside of the Smith family could have expected (remember, it was a question as to whether Smith would beat out Drew Lock for the starting job in the preseason), Seattle has hit on multiple first-year impact starters in the draft, and after Seattle’s 27-13 Sunday win over the formerly 6-1 Giants, who’s still not taking them seriously? The Seahawks currently stand at 5-3, and I thought they might top out at five wins for the entire season.
Luke: I love what the Seahawks are doing right now, but for the sake of debate, I’ll take both of the New York teams. I love the culture that both head coaches have created in such a short time, and the players are responding. Robert Saleh’s Jets will have to overcome some crushing injuries to keep up the pace the rest of the way, but if Zach Wilson can just avoid the back-breaking turnovers we saw Sunday, they can still be a playoff team.
What Brian Daboll is going with the Giants has been incredible, especially given the barren wasteland that is his wide receiver group. Saquon Barkley is healthy and rolling, Daniel Jones looks like he might be able to be “the guy” with Daboll’s system, and the defense is making big plays. Both of these teams should be fun to watch for a while.
