SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The dominos are starting to right themselves along the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line. The question is whether there will be enough of them.
In Sunday's 26-21 loss to San Francisco, the Eagles were down to one player -- left tackle Jason Peters -- playing the position in which he started the season. Injuries took down left guard Evan Mathis, center Jason Kelce and tackle Allen Barbre. Todd Herremans moved from right guard to right tackle for the past two games.
On Monday, right tackle Lane Johnson is allowed to return to the NovaCare Complex. Johnson has been in Dallas working out and staying in shape during his four-game suspension for violating the NFL policy on performance-enhancing drugs.
“There’s help on the way,” coach Chip Kelly said. “We’ll get Lane in here and see what he can do. Maybe that adds a little stability to it.”
That will strengthen two spots, with Johnson stepping back at tackle and Herremans moving back to right guard. But center and left guard, where David Molk and Matt Tobin started Sunday, are still in flux.
“We’re not getting any movement,” Herremans said. “We’re not hitting our combos [combination blocks] correctly. We’re just not playing well. I think everybody up front wants to do it. We just didn’t play well today.”
The Eagles’ line woes allowed the Niners’ defense to pressure Nick Foles without having to blitz and to shut down LeSean McCoy while still dropping back into a soft zone in pass coverage.
“They created pressure with just a three- and four-man rush and played a lot of zone,” Kelly said. “We got whooped up front. We’re not very good up front right now. We’ve got a lot of guys banged up. That’s not an excuse. That’s just the reality of it."
The situation affected Kelly’s play-calling and decision-making throughout the game.
“We called the game a lot differently than we normally do,” Kelly said. “That’s par for the course. You’ve got to try to make some decisions in terms of which way we can go with it, running certain plays, just depending who’s in the game.”
That came to a head on the Eagles’ best chance to steal the game. On second-and-goal at the Niners 6-yard line, Kelly thought he could catch the defense off guard. He ran the ball, and McCoy picked up 5 yards. That set up third-and-goal at the 1.
“We weren’t moving the ball at all versus that front,” Kelly said. “We just thought maybe we could get to the perimeter.”
With the Niners back in their run-stopping defensive posture, Kelly had Foles throw twice from the 1. Neither was complete, and that was the game.
