IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: It's preseason!
We are back! Sort of. The Eagles' preseason opener was hardly an inspiring return to watching the Eagles. I am not interested in using a preseason game featuring almost no established starters to make sweeping declarations about Sean Mannion. The Eagles have repeatedly demonstrated that they are happy to sacrifice preseason entertainment to protect important players and conceal the more meaningful parts of the playbook. Whether you agree with that approach or not, this organization does not treat these games as rehearsals for its actual offense.
There were still some early indications of Mannion's influence, particularly in the running game. As part of the run-game data we are tracking for our Patreon this season, I charted six Outside Zone runs and three Duo runs. That is not a large enough sample to declare that the Eagles have transformed their offensive identity, but the emphasis was noticeable. The structure of the running game was more interesting than the results, especially when you add in more under center runs.
The other important piece of context is that Baltimore's defense was not nearly as vanilla as the Eagles' offense. Jesse Minter called several creative pressures and tested the communication and protection rules of an inexperienced offensive line. By comparison, the Eagles kept everything extremely basic.
The opening clip summarizes much of the first-team offense. The Eagles used Grant Calcaterra and Eli Stowers together, but neither currently looks capable of giving them the blocking they would need from a legitimate two-tight-end package. Calcaterra is fortunate not to be penalized here, while Stowers' usage throughout the game was strange. We repeatedly asked a player drafted primarily for his receiving ability to perform difficult ****** ignments as an attached blocker.
#game #offense #calcaterra #running
We are back! Sort of. The Eagles' preseason opener was hardly an inspiring return to watching the Eagles. I am not interested in using a preseason game featuring almost no established starters to make sweeping declarations about Sean Mannion. The Eagles have repeatedly demonstrated that they are happy to sacrifice preseason entertainment to protect important players and conceal the more meaningful parts of the playbook. Whether you agree with that approach or not, this organization does not treat these games as rehearsals for its actual offense.
There were still some early indications of Mannion's influence, particularly in the running game. As part of the run-game data we are tracking for our Patreon this season, I charted six Outside Zone runs and three Duo runs. That is not a large enough sample to declare that the Eagles have transformed their offensive identity, but the emphasis was noticeable. The structure of the running game was more interesting than the results, especially when you add in more under center runs.
The other important piece of context is that Baltimore's defense was not nearly as vanilla as the Eagles' offense. Jesse Minter called several creative pressures and tested the communication and protection rules of an inexperienced offensive line. By comparison, the Eagles kept everything extremely basic.
The opening clip summarizes much of the first-team offense. The Eagles used Grant Calcaterra and Eli Stowers together, but neither currently looks capable of giving them the blocking they would need from a legitimate two-tight-end package. Calcaterra is fortunate not to be penalized here, while Stowers' usage throughout the game was strange. We repeatedly asked a player drafted primarily for his receiving ability to perform difficult ****** ignments as an attached blocker.
#game #offense #calcaterra #running
3 months ago
