For the first time since 2016, the Eagles will not be going to the playoffs.
That is the reality after a crushing loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, an outcome that put an unofficial end to their 2020 season. Now, they have just one meaningless game left next Sunday against Washington until the start of a very important, very interesting offseason.
Before we move on to the very tough decisions this team needs to make, however, let’s take a look back at how things went so poorly this season:
The offensive line was devastated by injury: The Eagles offensive line was not a disaster this season, and considering everything they went through, it is a credit to offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland that they weren’t.
Still, teams are normally only as good as their offensive line, and this season the Eagles went from having a line filled with All-Pro/Pro-Bowl players to a carousel of backups week-after-week.
The Eagles played the majority of the season without four-of-their-five projected starters along the offensive line, with Jason Kelce the only one who survived. Andre Dillard and Brandon Brooks missed the entire season. Jason Peters played eight games before going on season-ending injured reserve. Lane Johnson played only seven.
In the preseason the biggest concern surrounding this team was the offensive line. They didn’t end up being the disaster many expected, but the injuries proved to be simply too much to overcome.
Bad Decisions at Wide Receiver: Howie Roseman made two clear decisions this offseason at receiver. The first was counting on DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery as the team’s veteran receivers. The second was banking on the NFL Draft to provide an instant impact receiver. Both of those decisions backfired disastrously.
The Eagles got only 12 combined games from Jeffery and Jackson, with only a handful — at best — of meaningful plays from the duo. Roseman counted on Jackson to stay healthy. He didn’t. Roseman counted on Jeffery to be back before Week 7 and then make an impact when he did return. He didn’t do either. It isn’t Jackson or Jeffery’s fault — it is Roseman’s fault for counting on them as much as he did.
The other mistake Roseman made at receiver was drafting Jalen Reagor. While other rookie receivers around the league were making plays each week, including plenty taken after the Eagles’ selected Reagor, Reagor’s rookie season will be remembered as a complete disappointment. It isn’t Reagor’s fault — it is Roseman’s for putting so much pressure on the rookie to contribute right away.
Defense couldn’t force turnovers: The defense certainly had some clunkers — Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Arizona come to mind. They also, however, won some games for this team — they likely loose against Dallas (the first time), San Francisco and New Orleans if the defense doesn’t dominate.
One issue the defense definitely had all year, however, was forcing turnovers.
The Eagles are 25th in the NFL in turnovers forced after Sunday’s slate of games. They have forced just 17 total turnovers, 11 of which were fumbles. After putting a focus on creating turnovers in the secondary this season by bringing in Darius Slay, the Eagles have just six interceptions this season, with only one coming from their No. 1 cornerback.
In fact, after Roseman spoke this offseason about the importance of creating more turnovers in 2020, they will likely end the season forcing fewer than they did in 2019 (20).
It looks like another offseason of major overhauls in the secondary is coming.
Offensive Coaches: Owner Jeffrey Lurie was clearly not happy with his offense in 2019, and with good reason. His plan in 2020 was to keep Doug Pederson, but surround him with a coaching staff he believed would bring some new ideas to the offense. The team hired Rich Scangarello, Marty Morhinweg, and Andrew Breiner, while promoting Press Taylor. Those four, plus Pederson, were supposed to fix the offense.
Instead, the offense looked just as broken and boring as it did in 2019.
There is no question that the poor play of Carson Wentz played a huge role in how the offense looked. The improvement under Jalen Hurts is noticeable. Still, the innovation and improvement Lurie hoped the coaches would bring to the staff did not seem to be there. Instead, the smorgasbord of coaches might have just complicated things for Wentz.
The Eagles might have to give the offensive coaching staff another overhaul this offseason.
Carson Wentz was terrible: There really is no sugar coating it — the Eagles are not in the playoffs because of how poorly Wentz played. Sure, other things factored in, but if they get even average play from Wentz this season they are likely in the postseason.
If Wentz is average, they probably don’t blow a 17-0 lead in Week 1.
If Wentz is average, they probably don’t tie Cincinnati in Week 3.
If Wentz is anywhere near as good as they expected him to be, they don’t lose to the Giants at MetLife, and they might have beaten Cleveland as well.
In the easiest division to win in the NFL, Wentz had chance-after-chance to win it — and he couldn’t do it.
There is little question that Wentz was arguably the worst quarterback in the entire NFL this season, and certainly the worse among all the quarterbacks that teams have hitched their franchise too. The interceptions, the inaccurate throws, the bad sacks, the poor decisions — they all added up to this offense being terrible with him under center.
The Eagles paid Wentz to help them overcome issues on the roster. In 2019, almost nobody would dispute he was the reasons they made the playoffs.
This season, there is no question he is the reason they didn’t.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
