PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles owner Jeff Lurie identified three major problems that kept his team out of the playoffs this season.
“Turnovers, No. 1,” Lurie said. “You can’t be a Super Bowl team and lead the league in turnovers. Then red zone offense in the beginning, especially hearkening back to (games in) Arizona and San Francisco. Third, giving up the big play on defense.”
We’re going to look at each of the three in detail. Today, a look at the troubles in the red zone.
Lurie’s memory is clear. After the Eagles’ Week 8 loss in Arizona, their red zone numbers were worst in the NFL. The Eagles scored touchdowns on just 34.8 percent of their trips inside opponents’ 20-yard line. It’s worth noting that Nick Foles was the quarterback for those seven games (the Eagles’ bye came in Week 7).
By the end of the season, the Eagles’ red zone efficiency was up to 49.2 percent. That’s better, but still had them at just 23d in the NFL. Ten of the 12 playoff teams had higher percentages in the red zone.
“We scored the most points in the history of the franchise for the second year in a row,” Lurie said. “Can you imagine if we had a really good red zone offense.”
The total for points scored (474) was inflated by the 11 touchdowns scored by the defense and special teams.
As for improving the red zone production, there are a couple of factors. They were better in the second half of the season, which meant that Mark Sanchez had more success than Nick Foles. But it also meant the offensive line was solidified as injured starters Jason Kelce and Evan Mathis returned.
In the early going, play calling seemed to be part of the problem. There was the episode in San Francisco where the Eagles drove from their own 9-yard line to the 49ers’ 6-yard line. Chip Kelly called pass plays on three of the Eagles’ four downs. The exception, a second-down run that LeSean McCoy took from the 6 to the 1.
At the 1, Foles threw two incompletions. The offensive line, missing Kelce and Mathis, was one reason for that. The way the Niners defense stacked up in the middle of the field was another. It was only one red zone possession, but it appeared emblematic of the Eagles’ troubles in that area.
Later in the season, Kelly developed Chris Polk as a weapon in the red zone. Polk had four rushing touchdowns in the second half of the season, all in the red zone.
“But part of it is going through a process and really analyzing each situation,” Kelly said. “In the red zone, can we call better plays down there? Obviously. Did the defense change for the sake of change down there or was that something we were consistently in? Did we have a good enough plan when we were in there? There are a lot of things.”
Better quarterback play, fewer turnovers, stability along the offensive line, better play calling -- all would help the Eagles improve their red zone efficiency next season.
