Eagles’ new offense has players ‘second-guessing’ themselves: ‘It’s really frustrating’

PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles' new offensive scheme has not produced big results yet. That was especially true last week.

In the team's 27-7 loss to the Chicago Bears on Monday night , Philadelphia's offense was shut down, particularly in the second half. The Eagles gained 62 yards in the second half, with five of their drives ending in a punt, an interception or a failed fourth-down attempt.

Eagles running back Saquon Barkley gained 72 rushing yards in the first half, but he had only four carries for nine yards in the second half. Quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for only 153 yards and tossed an interception during the third quarter.

The Eagles brought in new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion this offseason with the goals of making the offense more efficient and dangerous by running a scheme that resembles the systems run by. Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers), Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams and Matt LaFleur (Green Bay Packers).

Through the first three weeks of the season, Mannion has not delivered on either front. Are players still adapting, or is this situation more dire than that?

"It's just growing pains as far as we understand our system, but then we go out there and maybe they present a look that we weren't prepared for," Eagles' backup tight end Johnny Mundt told NJ.com. "And so it's like you got to trust your rules. You got to know your rules, which we do. It's just that you can't second-guess yourself and that second-guessing could lead to a false step or miss target on your hat, so to speak. So we'll get there."

The Eagles have scored zero points in the first quarter this season, and overall, Philadelphia's offense ranks 24th in passing, 23rd in points scored, and 24th in yards per game.

The Eagles rank 20th overall in offensive EPA/play (-0.052) and their production drops to 28th in offensive EPA/play (-0.218) during the second half of games.

Among the 32 NFL teams, the Eagles have the second-worst offensive success rate (29.5%) during the second half, only ahead of the Miami Dolphins in that category, according to RBSDM Stats.

"Run game, we line up with an unscouted look and it's like, 'Oh my gosh, there's a safety in between the backers,'" Mundt said as he further explained the Eagles' offensive struggles. "Just trust your rules. You hear the point. The next combination goes corresponding to that point. So again, trust your rules and just execute."

Philadelphia ranks 13th in rushing offense with 332 yards, but that figure is skewed by Hurts' 87 rushing yards.

Barkley was held to fewer than 100 rushing yards against both the Bears and the Commanders and only finished with nine yards against the Titans after suffering a stinger on the opening play.

"It's really frustrating knowing we put together a really good first half of football and maybe the scoreboard didn't show that for various different reasons, but we did a good job getting in and out of the huddle, doing all the basic stuff," Eagles center Drew Kendall told NJ.com about their struggles against the Bears. "And it led to big plays. So, yeah, it's frustrating when we can't keep that going. So, we need to figure out how we can do that."

Kendall said it's hard to tell whether the struggles stem from inexperience with the scheme or sloppy technique and poor fundamentals.

"Everyone in the offensive line room is their own biggest critic," Kendall said. "So everyone has stuff to get better on. We're also growing as a team. We're growing as an offense. We're trying to fully get to where we want to be. So it's a little bit of both."

Kendall does not want to blame the unscouted looks for their struggles.

"Every team's going to give you un-scouted looks, so it's our jobs to kind of identify that," Kendall said. "Sometimes that will mess up a play. You can't let that mess up a second play."

Most of the Eagles' offensive players have no prior experience playing in this type of scheme, but two of them are well-versed in it.

Wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks spent two years in Green Bay with Mannion, who was previously the Packers' quarterbacks coach.

"We getting there," Wicks said on Thursday. "Some stuff we got to clean up. There's a lot of stuff we got to clean up. You'll never be perfect, but everybody still getting adjusted to the new system, new scheme. That takes experience. When the bullets fly, it's full speed going against another team. That takes experience. And I think we working towards perfecting that. Even though I feel like nothing is perfect, but controlling our details and just like little things, little details and staying ahead of the sticks. That's in our control."

Mundt, a former teammate of Mannion on the Rams, has played in similar schemes during his entire 10-year career. From what he's seen, he believes the Eagles' offense will eventually gel.

"We're taking a lot of what they've done, had success here in the past, and morphing that into what Sean sees as the vision," Mundt said. "So, it's just making that concrete in our brains and just instilling those plays so we can run them in our sleep, so to speak."

The Eagles' offense will face more adversity moving forward. Starting tight end Dallas Goedert remains out with an MCL sprain, and wide receiver DeVonta Smith is unlikely to play against the Rams on Sunday due to a hamstring injury.

"It's tough to be rolling into game four and not [be] there yet just because we just want to get there now," Mundt said. "Now is always the best time."

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