Why didn't Eagles' excellent pass protection lead to success vs. 49ers?
Why didn't Eagles' excellent pass protection lead to success vs. 49ers? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles faced a really good 49ers defensive line on Sunday and their offensive line was up to the task.
It just didn’t lead to a lot of offensive success.
“I would assess that the offensive line did a fantastic job in pass protection all evening against an excellent front,” offensive coordinator Brian Johnson said. I can't give Lane Johnson enough credit to how he performed in that game on Sunday night blocking one of the best players in the league in Nick Bosa.
“It was really a sight to see when you go back and watch that film in terms of how those guys protected all night long. They did an excellent job.”
While Hurts ended up getting sacked three times, it’s certainly hard to pin that on the offensive line. In fact, Hurts’ average time to throw in this game was 3.85 seconds, according to ProFootballFocus. That’s an eternity in the NFL.
In fact, that’s Hurts’ longest time to throw over the last two seasons.
Some of that was just good protection from the offensive line but it was also clear that some indecision from Hurts also led to that inflated number. It wasn’t the finest game for the Eagles’ MVP candidate.
But still, you’d expect that receivers would be able to get open as the 49ers were forced to cover for nearly 4 seconds on average.
So why weren’t the Eagles able to capitalize? Johnson offered a bit of a theory.
“I think when we talk about being able to activate our scramble rules and being able to make some plays down the field,” Johnson said. “So, I think, a couple of those times, there were some opportunities for us, and we didn't connect for a couple of different reasons. But that's something that we have to continue to improve upon.”
Off-schedule plays have become a really important part of the Eagles’ offense with Hurts at quarterback because of his ability to extend plays. Heck, that Olamide Zaccheaus touchdown against the Bills is a perfect example of how important these scramble drill plays can be.
The Eagles failed to hit them against the 49ers. The one glaring example came just before Hurts slipped to take a huge sack in the first quarter. He began motioning to A.J. Brown to find some grass on the left side of the end zone but before that happened, Hurts slipped and took a costly sack. One of the problems relying on scramble drills is that in the red zone, when everything gets condensed, there’s just not as much grass to find.
But Johnson thought this was an element the Eagles lacked on Sunday in a huge game the Eagles ended up losing 42-19.
Hurts completed 26 of 45 passes for 298 yards and a touchdown for a passer rating of 85.2. He wasn’t much of a factor in the rushing game, finishing with seven attempts for 20 yards.
While it may seem like scramble drills are purely backyard football, they’re not. There are rules and teaching points and the Eagles put a lot of thought into what to do when a play breaks down. And they should because with Hurts and a couple of excellent receivers, there are opportunities to make off-schedule plays.
“That's something that we talk about a lot,” Johnson said. “If you watch football on Sunday, you see just so many plays that get created off of extension and secondary action. That stuff has to be detailed out.
“I think the biggest thing you don't want is really just duplication. You want to try to create as much space for the quarterback and not have guys on the same spot on the field. Just being able to read and react and play off of each other and finding the necessary space to give the quarterback the most opportunity to make a play.”
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