The Philadelphia Eagles' offense is like waiting at the DMV. Eventually, you get what you came for, but you’re not going to enjoy it along the way. Their style of play has the excitement of a season of The Great British Bake-Off with the inevitability of Paul Hollywood telling a British mother of three that her tea cakes are too dry.
Since that fateful bye in week 5 of 2024, when Nick Sirianni and the offense decided to embrace a turnover-free rushing-centered attack, the Eagles have done nothing but win. They are an insane 18-1 in their last 19 games.
Their fighting style of choice is “death by a thousand cuts.” Every time they take the field, they remind me of that scene in Kill Bill Vol. 2, when Uma Thurman is buried in a coffin and slowly breaks out by hitting the same spot in the lid of the coffin over and over again.
In 2025, this offense feasts on passes under 10 yards, with a healthy diet of Saquon Barkley ripping off the best 4-yard runs you’ve ever seen in your life, and an amuse-bouche of tush pushes. They always find themselves in a position to score, but the overall offensive design feels a little out of whack.
If you tune into Philly Sports radio right now, I guarantee you’ll hear a debate about the Eagles’ offense. “Long-time listener, first-time caller. The Birds offense needs an exorcism, and I have a buddy in South Philly who can do it.”
Our boys keep winning, but for some reason, they’re making it so hard on themselves. And we’ve come to expect winning in Philadelphia. It feels nice, like getting a new pair of shoes every Sunday. So in true Philly fashion, we’re going to complain when the team is winning in unconvincing fashion just as much as if they were 0-2.
So what’s the fuggin’ deal? Are we freaking out over nothing, or is the Eagles’ offense broken?
What Do the First Two Weeks Tell Us?
It is incredibly early in the season. Anything could happen. The Browns could win the rest of their games and go on to win the Super Bowl (fat chance, am I right?). There’s plenty of time for the Eagles offense to get up to speed.
And for all of us running through the city with our woes, the Eagles' offense still ranks 15th, so right in the middle of the pack.
Now, you wouldn’t expect a Super Saiyan offense that has AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, and the best offensive line in football to be completely average, but hey, at least they’re not terrible (which is something I imagine my high school chemistry teacher said to my mom at a parent-teacher conference).
So what do the first two weeks of the season tell us about an offense? In 2024, after two weeks, the top 5 offenses by EPA/Play were the following:
New Orleans (gross!)
Buffalo
Arizona
Washington
Tampa Bay
Yes, the Saints and Derek Carr were the number 1 offense in the league, stop getting distracted! Anyway, by the end of the season, New Orleans fell to #25 (Derek Carr injury with a side of turning into a pumpkin). Arizona moved from 3rd to 10th. But everyone else stayed relatively consistent.
In 2024, the Baltimore Ravens went from the 15th-ranked offense by EPA/Play in the first two weeks of the season to the #1 offense by the end of the season. So there’s hope!
That being said, the first two weeks of the season are a pretty strong indication of which offenses will be on top at the end of the year (barring any injuries or midseason firings).
Since 2022, 67% of the teams that had a top 5 offense in the first two weeks of the season finished in the top 5 at the end of the season.
Since 2020, just 16% of teams that started the season outside of the top 10 offenses in the first 2 weeks finished in the top 10 offenses at the end of the season.
That’s all to say that upward mobility is possible, especially when you have the talent the Eagles have. But for the most part, the first two weeks of the season are a strong indicator of what your offense is shaping up to be.
For instance, during last year’s Super Bowl run, the Eagles ranked as the #6 offense after two weeks and finished the season ranked…*drumroll please*...#6.
The AJ Brown Conundrum
AJ Brown oozes Inner Excellence. This man has exercised a level of patience typically reserved for LA traffic jams.
The hot topic is AJ’s lack of production these first two weeks despite juicy matchups. The Cowboys' Defense just got rocked by the New York Giants (yes, you read that correctly) to the tune of 422 passing yards by Russell Wilson (what universe do we suddenly find ourselves in?).
In Week 1, the Chiefs got cooked by the internet’s favorite QB, Justin Herbert, to the tune of 304 yards and 3 TDs.
Against both teams, AJ came away with a total of 35 yards and zero touchdowns.
So, umm, is this a big deal? Well, last year at this time in the season, AJ Brown boasted 5 catches for 119 yards and a touchdown, AND he didn’t even play in Week 2 against the Falcons due to a hamstring injury.
After two weeks, AJ has a career low in yardage through the first two weeks of the season, including in 2020 when he played for the Titans, was inactive in Week 2, and had only 39 receiving yards.
We’re seeing a historic low in production for AJ despite match-ups that necessitate his involvement and should hypothetically breed opportunities.
Hurts, Does It?
We’ve seen a comfortable, decisive Jalen Hurts through the first two weeks of the season. His scrambling ability has been a backbreaker for defenses, keeping drives moving and acting as a checkdown when downfield coverage is tight.
Against the Chiefs, he looked calm and decisive against the blitz (which was an old flaw of his).
Through the first two weeks of the season, Hurts has the highest completion percentage of his career (75.6%) and the highest EPA per play of his career (0.160). He’s been a very efficient passer.
That being said, we’ve also seen an extremely conservative Jalen. Through the first two weeks of the season, Hurts is throwing for the least amount of yards in his career through the first two weeks of a season at 253 yards. He has a career low in air yards at 6.0.
And this is the first time Hurts has ever thrown for 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions through the first two weeks of a season.
We have seen chunk plays, including the 51-yard pass to Jahan Dotson against the Cowboys in Week 1 and the 28-yard completion to Devonta Smith with the game on the line in Week 2.
Outside of those plays, Hurts has prioritized keeping the ball out of harm's way (memo to self: Harm’s Way is an excellent name for an NBC drama about a midwestern family with the last name Harm).
According to Robert Mays of The Athletic, through two games, the Eagles have attempted only 5 passes of 10+ air yards while every other team has at least 14.
Final Thoughts (Wow, You Read This Far!)
While the passing game has the imagination of a PBS WWII documentary, the running game continues to be effective. Sirianni has mentioned multiple times that the coaching staff views explosives in the run game as being just as valuable as explosive passes. Thus far, the Eagles have their 2nd-highest rushing EPA of the last 5 years.
Still, yards feel harder to come by than they should. Last year, Sirianni and team realized that the key to winning games is to own the turnover ratio. Limit mistakes, win the game. And they have followed that religiously, riding that philosophy to the city’s second-ever Super Bowl. But in a season where the target is on their back and big plays are ripe for the taking, are the Eagles overprioritizing playing it safe?
As Eagles fans, we look at other teams like a kid whose neighbor has a really sick jungle gym. We find ourselves saying, “Why can’t we have that?” So many teams manage to scheme players open by creating mismatches through the use of motion or running multiple actions out of similar looks. The Eagles haven’t done much of that so far.
Ball security and pushing the ball down the field are not mutually exclusive if you’re drawing up the right opportunities. Especially when you have one of the league’s best deep ball throwers on your roster.
On top of playing it safe, the offense has been somewhat easy for defenses to diagnose. As Shane Haff noted, excluding the tush push, the Eagles have called a pass play on 79.2% of shotgun snaps and a run play on 88.9% of non-shotgun snaps. That’s just a high-level view, but it speaks volumes. Maybe deception isn’t necessary when you have the best roster in football, but I guarantee it helps!
Success is a double-edged sword. Winning can beget complacency. Ignoring the outside noise can prevent you from accepting the criticism necessary to change. But I don’t know if either applies to this team.
Thus far, Nick Sirianni and the Eagles have bucked trends and become champions. They deserve the benefit of the doubt for all that they’ve done. Not to mention, it’s a young season with a first-time playcaller who’s still getting his sea legs. We read similar headlines about Kellen Moore’s offense at the beginning of last season, and they ended up ripping through the playoffs with explosive plays and winning the whole thing. This upcoming Rams game could be a huge bounce-back opportunity for a stagnant passing offense, with top cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon out on IR with a broken clavicle.
But the offensive trends are troubling. Getting through the difficult schedule they have this year on the road to repeating as champions won’t be easy.
Another strong defensive group from Vic Fangio has kept the Eagles in games and generated scoring opportunities. But relying solely on big plays and turnovers from your defense gives you little room for error.
An offense with this level of talent should have the capacity to do more. With anything less, you’re playing with fire. I believe Patullo will evolve as a playcaller, but time will tell if they can turn it on when they need to. At what point does being safe make things harder for you? At what point does reward outweigh risk?
For now, this team continues to do the only thing I’ve wanted from them since I put on my first Ricky Watters jersey as a kid: they just keep winning, baby.