What changed for Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion after an ugly preseason debut? ‘Execution’
The Eagles delivered three touchdown drives in the second preseason game after narrowly avoiding a shutout in their first.
This time last week, Sean Mannion sat in front of the Philly press corps — which had largely praised his work in the weeks leading up to the Eagles’ preseason opener — and had to face the music.
That’ll happen when you lose 24-7 and get outgained 440-159.
On Monday, he got to sing a much different tune.
Mannion’s offense looked much better in the Eagles’ 24-21 preseason loss to the New England Patriots on Saturday. The unit posted 18 first downs (compared to six vs. the Baltimore Ravens), 301 total yards and finally showcased the potential of the wide-zone scheme.
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So, what changed in a week? Mannion said the execution of the run game, which posted 90 yards in 24 attempts, caught his eye.
“It was execution and play style,” Mannion said. “I thought, obviously, the starting unit wasn’t in there, but that second unit [and] third unit, they really did a nice job. We controlled the line of scrimmage early in the game, kind of that first series. I thought the play style was on display. Those are the two things I told them I want to execute — really three — execution, fundamentals, and play style.
“We were a little sloppy in terms of our fundamentals and execution at times in the first preseason game. I thought it was much improved in game two, particularly with the offensive line group up front.”
Now entering the third and final week of the preseason, Mannion can start to think about what life might look like when the starters finally take over during Week 1 (Sept. 13 vs. the Washington Commanders). There are high expectations for the former Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach, who was hired to modernize the Eagles offense with concepts that look similar to those of Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan.
The spotlight will mostly shine on the relationship between Mannion and quarterback Jalen Hurts, who is now on his sixth different playcaller since he entered the league in 2020. What does Mannion think of his progress so far?
“He did a good job,” Mannion said of Hurts’ performance vs. the Patriots in last week’s joint practices. “The first day, we had a lot of big plays and just a couple turnovers we need to clean up. That’s always a focus for us, but you could really see the run game come to life, [and] you could see the play passes off of it.
“We hit a nice pylon route to [wide receiver] Elijah [Moore], but you could see the explosives in the past game as well. A couple turnovers, those are obviously things we always want to address. We talk about the ball relentlessly, but he did a really nice job.
“For the guys who didn’t play in the game, they’ve got a ton of great work in those two practices against the Patriots. I was really happy with how Jalen played throughout.”
The Eagles’ first-stringers get little to no action in exhibition games, annual joint practices with other teams become one of the few opportunities for starters to get preseason reps of consequence. This year, the Eagles traveled to New England for two days of live workouts with the Patriots. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Boston Sports Journal’s Greg A. Bedard recap what they saw, and explain why, even after the joint practices, the Eagles still haven’t shown much of an identity. Listen here.
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