Philadelphia Eagles: Breaking down the passing game

The Philadelphia Eagles are four weeks into the season and it feels like the offense is starting to click. How much more room do they have to grow and just how much better can this offense be?

The Philadelphia Eagles head home this weekend winners of three of their first four. After two weeks of the running game being absent, and lots of ridicule for Doug Pederson, the Eagles have committed to the run and it has really taken off. Add that to the fact that Carson Wentz is doing what he needs to do to win games and the Eagles have the look of a team that could be competing for a playoff spot.

At the quarter pole of the season, I decided to take a deeper look at the Philadelphia Eagles passing game. What has been successful so far? And in what areas do the Eagles still need to improve upon to grow offensively?

This offseason the Philadelphia Eagles brought in two big free agents at wide receiver. Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith were brought in to upgrade the Eagles dreadful receiving corps from 2016. While Smith and Jeffery haven`t exactly blown us away, their presences have been enough to open up the field for the rest of the Philadelphia Eagles pass catchers.

Through four games, Zach Ertz is on pace for the best season of his career. Some can be credited to a continued growing chemistry with Carson Wentz, but a lot must be credited to the additions of Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery. Having those two on the outside has pulled the defenses focus to the outside, thus opening up the middle of the field.

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Carson Wentz and Zach Ertz have obviously taken advantage of the increased opportunities. As Wentz has targeted Ertz 36 times through four games, completing 26 of them. All in all, Carson Wentz is completing 71% of his passes to tight ends this season, showing that just the presence of threats on the outside has really opened up the field for the tight ends.

Another player who has taken advantage of more room over the middle has been slot receiver Nelson Agholor. Agholor has not been called on a ton this year, but when Carson Wentz goes his way, Agholor is making catches. Wentz has looked to his slot receiver 18 times this season, completing 12 of them. And of those six incompletions, there are no bad drops that can be recalled.

Just like the tight ends, Carson Wentz is having tremendous success passing to his slot receivers this season. Wentz has also completed 71% of his passes to his slot receivers thus far.

The tremendous success of the pass catchers who predominately work over the middle is just more evidence that the additions of Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith have opened up more in the passing game. Even though Smith and Jeffery have not fully blossomed in this offense quite yet.

Looking more closely at Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith, these are two of the players on offense who have yet to really thrive so far, Smith most certainly than Jeffery. Carson Wentz has only completed 50% of his passes to outside receivers this season. A number that the Philadelphia Eagles would like to see improve, and it should as the year goes on.

There are many factors that can be attributed to the slow start for the outside receivers. The thing that stands above all else is just the plain fact that Carson Wentz has not had the opportunity to work with these guys for a long period of time and they are still adjusting. With the talent that Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery have, once those connections come, the numbers should start to show.

When Doug Pederson was asked on Monday about Carson Wentz forcing throws, Doug responded with; “Carson has most certainly learned to understand the situation, to run or find a check down if needed.”

This shows that Carson Wentz is not worrying too much about finding specific receivers, he is just taking what is there.

A huge topic of conversation amongst Philadelphia Eagles fans has been Torrey Smith`s struggles so far. It goes without saying that his struggles have been very evident. Smith already has four drops out of nine incompletions on passes thrown his way.

“With a veteran player (like Torrey) it is different, just keep firing the ball at him and keep him in the mix.” Doug Pederson said this regarding Torrey Smith`s struggles thus far.

Pederson says Eagles approach with Torrey Smith is different than a struggling rookie. Plan is to keep getting him involved.
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) October 2, 2017

With someone like Torrey Smith who brings that speed aspect to the Philadelphia Eagles offense, it should only be a matter of time until it begins to click for him. If Smith can continue to stretch the field and Carson Wentz can hone in and hit those deep balls, then it should only be a matter of time until the Eagles can add that next wrinkle to their increasingly dynamic offense.

Alshon Jeffery`s situation has definitely been different than Torrey Smith so far. Jeffery has not put up huge numbers but has definitely proved to be an upgrade. One area where I would like to see Jeffery improve is in winning those 50/50 balls, something he excelled at in Chicago. But aside from that, there is not too much to knock on Jeffery. He has shown to be a great red zone presence so far, with both of his touchdowns catches coming in that area.

Carson Wentz has thrown the ball to Alshon Jeffery plenty so far. Jeffery has the second most targets with 34 to Zach Ertz`s 36. So lack of targets cannot be pointed to for Jeffery`s “slowish” start. The lack of chemistry from not playing together prior to this year is most likely the reason for this, and once those two begin to click, this offense will really become dangerous.

As the Eagles get set to begin the second quarter of the season, there are not a lot of negative things that could be said about the offense. They are running well, dominating time of possession and taking what is there in the passing game.

Next: Week 5 NFL Fantasy Football rankings & Philadelphia Eagles implications

As the season progresses along though, if the outside receivers can begin to make a larger impact, then this Philadelphia Eagles offense can become a top unit in the league. Continuing to work the middle at a high rate and hitting big plays outside will put opposing defenses into flux on where to put extra coverage. Add all of that to a resurrected running game and the Philadelphia Eagles could possess one of the league`s elite offenses.

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