The Eagles' season is only two games old, but an increasingly fatal flaw that has been haunting this team for over a year could end up ending the 2019 campaign before it even gets going.
Slow starts.
In 2017, when the Eagles were one of the best teams in the league and would go on to win the Super Bowl, a large reason for their success was how quickly they jumped all over opposing teams. That year the Eagles were second in the NFL in points in the first quarter, scoring an average of 6.4 points. Only the Los Angeles Rams averaged more.
The result was a team that not only got the lead early, but got the confidence that came with it. A small lead quickly turned into a big one, and the celebrations that come with blowout wins shortly followed.
That season, however, is starting to look like more of a fluke than what head coach Doug Pederson and quarterback Carson Wentz are actually capable of doing at the start of games.
Since the 2017 season came to an end, Wentz and Pederson have done a terrible job getting their team off to quick starts. Last season the Eagles averaged only 3.2 points in the first quarter, good for 31st in the NFL. The team got out to a 4-6 start in their 10 games and were going to miss the playoffs before quarterback Nick Foles came in and saved the season.
This season, through two games, they have yet to score a single point in the first quarter. As great as Wentz was in the fourth quarter of the team's loss to the Atlanta Falcons, his quarterback rating of 6.2 in the first half is a big reason they were in need of a comeback.
The difference in how the team has started games is staggering. In 2017 the Eagles scored points on 53% of opening drives and punted on only 30% of those drives. Since then, in 11 games in 2018 with Wentz and the first two games of this season, they have scored points on only 15% of opening drives. They have punted on 70% of their drives.
That is obviously not an encouraging trend. What is more worrisome is the job this team has done coming back from behind.
Since 2016, the Eagles have been behind at halftime in 17 games and ahead in 22 games. Their record when they are winning at half? 19-3. They are just 3-14 when trailing at halftime. Last season the Eagles were trailing at halftime in five games with Wentz at quarterback and they won only one of them.
In fact, the Eagles have been trailing in six of the last seven games Wentz has started at quarterback. They have lost six of them.
Earlier this week Pederson mentioned that the first drive is key to getting off to a quick start, as opposed to looking at the entire quarter. There is some truth to that. Since 2018, the Eagles are 3-0 when Wentz takes the offense down the field for a touchdown to start the game. They are 2-7 when they punt on the opening drive.
Add everything up, and the key to getting out of the 6-7 funk Wentz and Pederson are in over the last 13 game is painfully obvious — get off to a quick start, and 2019 will start to look a lot more like 2017.
The issue? The duo hasn't shown much recently to think they are going to fix the problem.
You can follow Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
