Whatever happened to Doug Pederson’s offensive creativity?

The Philadelphia Eagles need to get their groove back.

For the first time since 1992, the Philadelphia Eagles do not have a traditional offensive coordinator.

Granted, that doesn’t mean the Eagles are totally bereft of offensive minds, far from it in fact, but unlike in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, Doug Pederson doesn’t have a traditional first mate to confide to in-game.

That, my friends, is a problem, but far from the team’s biggest problem.

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Since firing Carson Walch and Mike Groh back in March, the Eagles have elevated Press Taylor to passing game coordinator, hired Rich Scangarello as a senior offensive assistant, and also Marty Mornhinweg hired as a senior offensive assistant. Factor in incumbent run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland, and long-time running backs coach-turned-assistant head coach Duce Staley, and theoretically, Pederson should have every asset at his disposal to craft a bulletproof offensive game plan for any potential defensive challenger.

And yet, when watching the team’s Week 1 back-and-forth bout against Washington, you’d be hard-pressed to see this offensive brain trust in action, as the Eagles’ game plan looked downright pedestrian against a deceptively good defensive front.

That, my friends, is the problem.

With both star running back Miles Sanders and franchise right tackle Lane Johnson unable to go, the Eagles’ offensive identity was always going to be compromised against Washington’s nameless football club. Even the best quarterbacks in the league aren’t going to be able to pick apart a defensive secondary with edge rushers in his face, and deep ball opportunities become fewer and further between when you can barely execute a five-step drop. Heck, the Eagles even had to use Boston Scott and Corey Clement as knee chipping pass blockers out of the backfield, a scary sight versus a certified sack artist like Chase Young.

With that in mind, it’s almost as if the Eagle sad ‘eh, next man up’ and just went about their business as usual, trotting out a gameplan even a casual can could easily identify.

Despite prioritizing fielding an improved offense, with a decent chunk of the team’s skill position players being swapped out for faster, younger alternatives, the Eagles’ scheme looked vanilla. Regardless of the score, the Eagles remained committed to the down-the-field, hybrid-West Coast concepts Pederson has been desperate to run since his hiring in 2016 and all but avoided changing course to quicker passing concepts to neutralize Washington’s rush. The Eagles couldn’t get much traction on the ground early in the game and all but abandoned running the ball altogether in the second half, even as their 17 point lead rapidly shrunk to zero.

Who knows, maybe Jack Driscoll is just that much better than Jordan Mailata and when he left the game everything fell apart, but my goodness, the Eagles’ second-half efforts were as confusing as they were frustrating.

But why? Why didn’t the Eagles try to change things up and run a player like Jalen Reagor on a jet sweep to get something moving on the ground? Or why not speed things up and run the RPO with Scott or even waiver wire claimee Jason Huntley? And what about Jalen Hurts? Weren’t the Eagles going to utilize the Oklahoma/Alabama quarterback for a half dozen or so snaps a game as a change of pace QB?

Oh yeah, that’s right, Hurts wasn’t even active for Week 1, how could I forget?

Look, I get it. With no preseason and a slew of injuries already bogging down the team, it’s challenging to really assess the Eagles’ offensive identity through 30ish minutes of action. Still,  when you watch a team like the Saints pull off jaw-dropping plays like this up 34-23 in the fourth quarter, it’s hard not to look at the Eagles’ fourth-and-four call in with the game on the line and simply just ask why. I knew that ball was going to Zach Ertz, you knew that ball was going to Zach Ertz, and most importantly of all, Washington knew that ball was going to Zach Ertz, and defensed it accordingly.

While a lot of this is on Pederson, as he’s remained steadfast in holding offensive playcalling duties regardless of who fills out his system, calling the Super Bowl champion uncreative is rather unfair. I mean, Pederson is the same guy who completely recomposed his offensive scheme when Carson Wentz went down against the Los Angeles Rams in 2017 and built a formidable RPO offense around Nick Foles‘ strengths as a distributor – a look that has since gone on to be adopted by everyone from the Ravens to the Titans and even Cam Newton‘s Patriots.

Whether you call it pride or stubbornness, it would probably be in Pederson’s interest to look his scheme in the mirror and do the same thing this fall to account for arguably the worst Eagles offensive line in a decade.

For better or worse, the 2020 iteration of the Philadelphia Eagles are not an elite team. They aren’t the NFL equivalent of the Alabama Crimson Tide, who can roll over half their opponents in any given season with backups in the fourth quarter. If the Eagles are going to turn the season around, win the NFC East again, and make yet another playoff run, they’re going to have to run an offense that keeps opposing defenses guessing, as opposed to the reactionary scheme that was fully exposed in Week 1 against Washington.