Eagles Might Have A Head Coach In the Making With Strong Special Teams Work
Merrill Reese has said it before, and he’ll say it again if you ask – Michael Clay could someday be a head coach. The legendary voice of the Eagles saw it with John Harbaugh when the longtime head coach of the Baltimore Ravens began his professional coaching career as a special teams coordinator in Philly.
Still just 34, Clay is making a case. Personnel are always in flux on his special teams units, changing from season to season, even game to game, yet they have been consistently steady. This year, they have made some plays that have helped win games. Those plays include two blocked field goals in the same game against the Los Angeles Rams and a blocked punt against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In Sunday night’s 16-9 win over the Detroit Lions, Clay left his defense on the field on fourth-and-one after the Lions had sent their punt team onto the field. He was wise to the aggressive surprises Lions coach Dan Campbell and his special teams coordinator Dave Fipp, who spent eight years with the Eagles coaching special teams, like to pull.
“The amount of fakes that Detroit had ran since 2021 - I think it was at 12 at that point (so) jJust having kind of a sense what the game was going back and forth, kind of a defensive struggle, you always got to be prepared for that,” said Clay on Tuesday.
Moro Ojomo And Others Smothered Lions' Fake Punt
So, he left his defense on the field. When the Lions snapped the ball to upback Jahmyr Gibbs, the Eagles were ready. Moro Ojomo smothered the play, bursting in from the left, diving and grabbing Gibbs by the ankles. Gibbs went straight to the ground for no gain, and the Eagles, already leading 3-0, took over in Lions territory with just over 13 minutes to go in the second quarter.
“When we used to play Dallas, and Bones (John Fassel) was there, he ran a thousand fakes when he was with the Rams,” said Clay. “So, you always just go back, and you always know that's on your mind that they can try to steal possession. It's not just a one-man job, it's the whole organizational job to get us in the right spots.”
Clay gave credit to several members of his staff for making that stop happen, including Director of Football Operations/Pro Scout Ameena Soliman and Pro Scout Terrence Braxton. He said Soliman was on the road in Washington doing some advance scouting a week earlier and alerted him about the fake punt tendency, and Braxton did a good briefing on Monday.
Clay then got his unit together on Friday for a reminder.
“I usually get the entire team in here just to reiterate, 'Hey, they've ran this amount of fakes, not just at the midfield, but they ran it from the minus-21, the minus-22,’ and I thought it was an awesome job by Moro, JC (Jalen Carter), and Jalyx (Hunt) really kind of collapsing that pocket in right there," he said.
“So, kudos to all the intel we get prior to the game. Then the guys paying attention come Friday and just understanding the severity of the game.”
Analyst Suggests Bold Tanner McKee Test to Diagnose Eagles’ Offensive Problems
The defending champion Philadelphia Eagles are sitting at 8–2 after Sunday night’s 16–9 win over the Detroit Lions, which is an impressive feat considering the drama that has been following the team around like Pigpen’s perpetual cloud of dirt.
Star wideout A.J. Brown has been at the center of the storm. In discussing the offense’s inconsistency, Brown has been more than a tad blunt about his side of the ball not playing up to the defensive effort the Eagles have shown. There are also rumblings about quarterback Jalen Hurts and his role in Philly’s current offensive stagnation.
Statistically, this season has brought one of the least-dynamic Eagles attacks of the Hurts–Nick Sirianni era. Through Week 11, Philadelphia is averaging 23.4 points per game (that’s ranked 16th in the NFL) and just 300.1 yards per game, which is ranked 25th in the league. The passing game has sagged to 184.9 yards per contest (28th), with the offense converting only 33.9% of its third downs (that’s ranked 29th in the league).
A huge issue, several prominent reporters say, is how Hurts is running the offense and how his teammates feel about it.
Hurts’ Leadership of Eagles Offense Is Frustrating Players, Report Says
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported that “multiple offensive players have grown frustrated with Jalen Hurts’ approach this season, particularly against zone coverage.” According to Russini, the belief is that Hurts has become too reliant on checkdowns or he scrambles when bigger plays are arguably available downfield.
Longtime Eagles reporter Derrick Gunn added more smoke on Monday, saying “a lot of people in that organization are frustrated with the quarterback situation right now,” comparing Philly’s current QB vibe to the late-Carson Wentz years, also suggesting the Eagles’ coaching staff see Hurts drifting from the weekly plan once games begin.
“He plays ‘his game,'” Gunn said about Hurts, adding:
“It’s frustrating, in a lot of ways, to the coaching staff. And to the players. Extremely frustrating to the players. Because when they look at the film, the next day or a few days later, they see what’s available out there and what should’ve happened, and it didn’t happen, that’s frustrating to them as well.”
BGN Floats Idea of Starting Tanner McKee Over Jalen Hurts to Gauge Offensive Struggles
GettyIf the Philadelphia Eagles started backup quarterback Tanner McKee over Jalen Hurts for a few games, it would provide a telling assessment of the team’s offensive struggles.
Hurts has thrown for 1,995 yards with 16 touchdowns and just one interception, posting a 59.5 QBR through 10 games. The Eagles rank 10th in yards per pass attempt (7.4) and own the league’s lowest interception rate. But the passing volume is surprisingly low at 26.9 attempts per game, which is ranked 31st in the NFL.
Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green floated an intriguing — if not wholly unrealistic — scenario that might help the team determine whether Hurts is the problem on offense, or whether it’s the coaching staff, their system and/or playcalls.
“I’m not saying the Eagles should or will bench Hurts for Tanner McKee because that obviously just isn’t going to happen,” Gowan wrote on November 17. “But it would be pretty fascinating to see what the offense would look like for a game or two without Hurts, would it not? If it continues to be so out of sync, we can clearly point to the coaching staff being the major problem. If it looks a whole lot smoother, however, that might force reconsideration.”
Gowton has a point. As he noted, benching Hurts isn’t something the NFC-leading Eagles are going to do. Barring injury, Hurts is QB1 and it’ll stay that way. But it
This is all hypothetical, and Hurts has undoubtedly earned his starting job. But subbing out Hurts for McKee would certainly help provide an answer as to where the problem is rooted in Philly.
