Will Jalen Hurts use his legs more than during the regular season? Will Dallas Goedert have another big postseason game? Will the offensive line regain its form after a week off? Can we trust Jake Elliott to make a high-leverage kick?<\/p>\n
So many questions and we take a stab at some answers in a wild-card weekend Roob\u2019s Random Eagles Observations!\u00a0<\/p>\n
1. One thing that could really help bring the offense to life as the Eagles head into the postseason is Jalen Hurts using his legs. He\u2019s still a weapon as a runner, even though he ran less than ever this year. But it\u2019s been a big piece of his postseason success over the years, and it\u2019s time for the Eagles to spring him on the 49ers and the rest of their postseason opponents as long as they\u2019re alive. In his first four playoff runs, Hurts has run 75 times for 384 yards, not including kneel downs. That\u2019s 38 yards per game and 5.1 per carry. During the regular season this year, he was at 26 rushing yards per game (not including kneel downs) and 4.6 per carry. Hurts\u2019s first four years he never averaged below 8.5 carries per game. This year he was at 5.6. So he\u2019s still good at it, he just doesn\u2019t do it as much as he used to. I don\u2019t know if the Eagles were intentionally holding Hurts back as a runner this year to try and keep him healthy, but he is healthy and it\u2019s time to unleash him. When Hurts gets out in the open field, he\u2019s still dangerous and the Eagles could sure use that extra dimension as they try to revive the offense against the 49ers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2. DeVonta Smith has been quite a postseason weapon for the Eagles over the years, with two 100-yard games, 169 yards in the two Super Bowls and a 13.8 per-catch average. His 595 postseason receiving yards in nine posteason games is already an Eagles postseason record and 8th-most ever by a player in his first four seasons. The only other Eagles with multiple 100-yard postseason receiving games are Fred Barnett and Keith Jackson, with two each. Smith has always been a very good regular-season player, but the truly elite are the ones who raise their level in the postseason, and Smith has routinely done that.<\/p>\n
3. One of the most improbable plays in Eagles playoff history was Rodney Peete\u2019s 43-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to Rob Carpenter that gave the Eagles a 38-7 halftime lead over the Lions at the Vet on the way to a historic 58-37 wild-card win in 1995. Carpenter had only caught one touchdown in his previous four seasons \u2013 all with the Jets \u2013 and that was a 7-yarder from Ken O\u2019Brien against the 49ers at Giants Stadium. So that was 36 yards longer than any other touchdown he ever scored. Carpenter only caught 51 passes in his career up until that point, and only caught two more, both in the Eagles\u2019 conference semifinal loss in Dallas a week later – the final game of his NFL career. And Peete hadn\u2019t thrown a touchdown pass longer than 37 yards during the regular season and didn\u2019t throw a TD pass longer than 31 yards in his seven NFL seasons after 1995. Peete\u2019s 67.3 passer rating in 1995 is lowest in a season by an Eagles QB with 10 starts in the last 47 years. But his 143.3 passer rating in that wild-card game remains the highest in Eagles history in a playoff game. The only other quarterback in the last 50 years with a passer rating over 140 in a playoff game after a passer rating under 70 in the regular season is David Woodley of the Dolphins, who had a 153.8 rating in a 1982 wild-card win over the Patriots at the Orange Bowl after recording a 63.5 rating during the regular season. Peete to Carpenter. As unlikely as it gets.<\/p>\n
4. Just about any way you measure it, Jalen Hurts has been a more effective passer in the postseason than the regular season, which is crazy considering every opponent in the playoffs is a quality team. Hurts\u2019 completion percentage is 64.4 percent in the regular season but 66.8 in the playoffs. His interception percentage drops from one every 53 attempts in the regular season to one every 85 attempts in the playoffs. He averages 7.1 yards per attempt in the regular season and 8.0 in the playoffs and even his passer rating is slightly higher (95.4 to 94.4). Other than that first Tampa wild-card game in 2021, when he threw two INTs, Hurts has been lights out in the postseason. Hurts is only 27 but already has six playoff games with a passer rating over 100. Only nine quarterbacks in NFL history have had more in their entire career and they\u2019re all Hall of Famers (Montana, Favre, Aikman, Bradshaw), future Hall of Famers (Brady, Mahomes, Rogers, Brees) or Russell Wilson.\u00a0<\/p>\n
5. Saquon Barkley said it\u2019s important to him that he raises his level in the playoffs and compared himself to Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry, who have always done that. \u201cThose are arguably the two best, Derrick and Christian. And I know them personally and I know how they train. And I know how I train. So I think it just\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0goes hand in hand. You can see it. I feel like there’s a lot of great backs right now. But when it matters, those two guys, they come alive, and they make it happen. And I feel like I’ve shown that over the last two years. And hopefully, I’m able to continue to show that. So I think it’s a combination of just what a great back is, having a workhorse back, and having the right mindset and the right work ethic.\u201d<\/p>\n
6. Speaking of which \u2026 when the Eagles have a ball carrier with at least 85 rushing yards they are 15-1 all-time in the playoffs. When they don\u2019t, they\u2019re 14-25. Their one loss with an 85-yard rusher was their 2006 conference semifinal loss to the Saints at the Superdome, when Brian Westbrook rushed for 116 yards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
7. If the Eagles\u2019 manufactured bye week is going to help anybody it\u2019s going to be the offensive line, which started out the season on a downer and never really got back to last year\u2019s form. With Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens both less than 100 percent and in and out of the lineup and then Lane Johnson missing seven games, this wasn\u2019t the dominating o-line we\u2019re used to seeing. Jordan Mailata was solid, although not quite up to his usual standard, and Tyler Steen was actually fine in his first year as a full-time starter. But with a full week of rest, the hope is that Dickerson and Jurgens both return to form and become the versatile and athletic interior linemen we\u2019re used to seeing and that Johnson can regain his Hall of Fame form after not playing since Nov. 16. If this o-line can finally play like last year, it will go a long way toward helping this offense finally play like last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
8. Dallas Goedert is eighth in NFL postseason history among tight ends with 52 catches, 11th\u00a0with 562 yards and tied for 10th\u00a0with four TDs. His 76.5 catch percentage \u2013 52 catches on 68 targets \u2013 is 5th-highest ever by a tight end with 20 postseason catches. Goedert is one of the most productive playoff tight ends ever, and as banged up as the 49ers\u2019 linebackers are, I\u2019d expect a lot of opportunities Sunday for Goedert. The 49ers are signing guys off the street to play linebacker. Kyzier White, who was on the Eagles\u2019 2022 Super Bowl team, and Eric Kendricks, whose brother Mychal was on the Eagles\u2019 2017 Super Bowl team, might both have to play Sunday. White has played all of 20 defensive snaps this year, back in September with the Titans. Kendricks has played 36 defensive snaps all year. I don\u2019t think the 49ers have anybody who can cover Goedert. He needs double-digit targets Sunday. He has to be a huge part of the offensive game plan.<\/p>\n
9. What\u2019s your confidence level in Jake Elliott heading into the postseason? He finished the regular season at 74.1 percent, 3rd-lowest among 37 kickers who attempted at least 10 field goals this year. And over the last two years he\u2019s at 76.2 percent, which ranks 37th\u00a0among 41 kickers who attempted at least 20 field goals. He\u2019s 5-for-15 over the last two years from 50 yards and out, which is worst in the league among 34 kickers who\u2019ve attempted at least five 50-yarders. He\u2019s been awful. No way around it. But you can\u2019t ignore that he\u2019s 26-for-27 in his career in the playoffs and that 96.3 percent accuracy is 4th-highest all-time in the postseason, behind three kickers who never missed \u2013 Chris Boswell (17-for-17), Robbie Gould (29-for-29) and Evan McPherson (19-for-19). He\u2019s been so clutch for so long that maybe I\u2019m na\u00efve but if he lines up for a big kick in that 45-to-55 range Sunday or later in the postseason I think he nails it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
10. It\u2019s crazy to look at the Eagles\u2019 starting defense from their 2023 playoff loss to the Bucs: Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, Fletcher Cox, Haason Reddick and Jordan Davis up front, Nicholas Morrow and Zack Cunningham at linebacker, Darius Slay, James Bradberry and Avonte Maddox at corner and Kevin Byard at safety. If you remember, Reed Blankenship was hurt and didn\u2019t play, but it\u2019s wild that just two years later Davis is the only remaining starter. The only backups who played that day who are still on the roster are B.G., Nolan Smith and Kelee Ringo. That was just two years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Jalen Hurts use his legs more than during the regular season? Will Dallas Goedert have another big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4064,69,71,70,6444],"class_list":["post-83363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-eagles","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-roobs-observations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}