Philadelphia Eagles: Andre Dillard is a walking penalty

Andre Dillard has now started two games for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021.

Both have been losses – understandably so, considering their opponents – but for the most part, the former Washington State Cougar hasn’t been the team’s biggest problem.

Between the whistles, Dillard has played well. He hasn’t surrendered a sack, has moved well in space, and has done so while lining up next to three different left guards – Isaac Seumalo, Nate Herbig, and Landon Dickerson.

All in all, the Philadelphia Eagles have to be pretty happy with how Andre Dillard has played through the first two games of the season… except for the penalties; those have been absolute killers.

Andre Dillard already leads all Philadelphia Eagles linemen in penalties.

Versus the Dallas Cowboys, Andre Dillard played 60 offensive snaps.

While the bulk of those snaps were pass blocking downs, as the team only ran about half a dozen designed runs, Dillard was largely able to hold up against a pass rush headlined by on-the-fly converted edge rusher Micah Parsons.

In that game, he was credited with a single penalty, a holding call that was ultimately declined.

Now to be fair, that holding call was on arguably the worst play of the Eagles’ afternoon. It ended with both Parsons and Osa Odighizuwa sacking Jalen Hurts, and one could argue that Dillard’s hold may have prevented an even worse result than a net gain of negative 12, but when you’ve already blown your coverage, getting a hand on the jersey just adds insult to injury.

Week 4, by contrast, was a different story.

Early in the contest, during the first quarter, to be specific, Dillard recorded two straight penalties on the very same drive,  an illegal formation call on 2nd-and-7 and a holding on 1st-and-10 with 3:04 to go.

To make matters worse, almost 14 minutes later, once again down in the goal line, Dillard struck again, recording an illegal man downfield call on a would-be touchdown catch by Dallas Goedert.

That drive ultimately ended in a 25-yard made field goal by “Mr. Reliable” Jake Elliott but left the Birds with a one-point deficit at the end of the drive; a deficit that grew to eight heading into the half.

For those keeping track at home, that’s four penalties in two games, which is tied with Lane Johnson and Isaac Seumalo for the most on the team.

… yikes.

While neither Johnson nor Seumalo had a chance to add to their penalty totals in Week 4, as the former missed the game due to personal reasons and the latter is on IR, it’s hard to imagine a worse outcome for the Eagles than having their backup left tackle turn into a drive killer.

Why? Because Dillard is actually the Eagles’ third most-tenured player on their current makeshift offensive line.

I know, as crazy as it may sound, a lineman drafted in 2019 who missed the entire 2020 season with a torn bicep is suddenly one of the team’s most tenured players, with Herbig having only one more appearance under his belt and Jason Kelce lapping the rest of the field by a sizeable margin.

If Dillard suddenly turns into Ricky Bobby every 20 or so snaps, no drive, pass, rush, or play is safe.

Can Andre Dillard work through his issues and become a more reliable player? Sure. I mean, it certainly hasn’t happened for Derek Barnett, who was also flagged yet again versus the Kansas City Chiefs, but in theory, it’s possible. Hopefully, however, that doesn’t need to happen. No, if the Philadelphia Eagles are lucky, they’ll get back Jordan Mailata before too long, and another team will have to work through Dillard’s issues at the next stop in his NFL journey.