Eagles’ biggest priorities for the bye week: Grow the offense, get healthy, and bulk up that pass rush

The Eagles’ bye week has begun, and while the coaching staff and front office will have some time to rest, don’t expect Nick Sirianni and Howie Roseman to be downing mai tais by the pool all week.

With 13 days until their Monday night game against the Green Bay Packers, the Eagles have plenty of time to self-scout their 6-2 start to the season before they embark upon the second half of the schedule and — soon enough — the push for the playoffs.

The Nov. 4 trade deadline also is around the corner. Will Roseman make a move or will he stand pat like he did last season?

Here are the Eagles’ biggest priorities to address over the bye week:

The reinvigoration of the Eagles offense has been underway since the mini-bye week that followed the Thursday night loss to the New York Giants on Oct. 9.

Since that loss, the Eagles have incorporated more under-center plays in the running game and the play-action passing game. Last week against the Minnesota Vikings, the Eagles thrived in the under-center play-action game, completing four passes for 120 yards and a touchdown. The running game still was lifeless, though, as Saquon Barkley averaged just 1.3 yards per rush on 13 under-center carries, according to Next Gen Stats.

Sunday was a different story. In the rematch with the Giants, the running game flourished from under center. Eagles running backs averaged 10.6 yards per carry on under-center rushes, the highest clip by any team this season, according to Next Gen Stats.

It helped that Barkley and Tank Bigsby got stellar, consistent blocking up front from the Eagles offensive line, arguably for the first time this season. That particularly was a welcome change for Barkley, who racked up 108 yards before contact, the second-best game total in his career, according to Next Gen Stats. He had 205 yards before contact through seven games this season before the Giants rematch.

» READ MORE: For Eagles, the bye week ‘sets you up for some things for the rest of the season,’ Nick Sirianni says

At the bye week, what the Eagles offense needs is more of the good stuff — more marrying the run with the pass, more variety in their play-calling from different alignments, and more consistent run blocking. After all, the opponents only get more challenging after the bye. Jalen Hurts acknowledged after Sunday’s win over the Giants that his more frequent alignment from under center has allowed the offense to incorporate a wider variety of plays.

“I think when you have more variety and you have different variations of what you do, you definitely can build off of that,” Hurts said. “I think the best of them usually are able to attack people in different ways and they can pick their poison with that. I do think that element of what we do, it has always done something for us. We just want to continue to build off of that.

“I enjoy being under center and being able to complement things within our run game and find a flow, but, ultimately, I think it’s about finding a flow and what you do. It’s not necessarily that you stick a guy under the center or you’re playing from the shotgun or you’re in a pistol. It’s about what you’re doing when you’re under center. How we’re leveraging what we do.”

The Eagles have presents waiting for them after the bye week — the presence of a handful of key players who have been sidelined with injuries.

Nolan Smith (triceps) could return to practice in Week 10 after spending the last five weeks on injured reserve. Not only can he bring some juice to the Eagles’ pass rush, he also can help set the edge in the running game, which has been an issue at times this season for the defense.

The offense could get A.J. Brown (hamstring) and Cam Jurgens (knee) back following one-game layoffs. While the offense mustered its most balanced performance of the season both on the ground and through the air on Sunday, the Eagles are a better offense when Brown is on the field.

» READ MORE: Saquon Barkley and the Eagles run all over the Giants

The Monday night game against the Packers also could mark the return of Brandon Graham, who came out of retirement last week. While he might not shoulder an intense workload on his reunion tour reboot, he should be able to bring value to the defense in a depth role, especially against the run.

After a relatively quiet start to the season, the Eagles’ pass rush started to show signs of life against the Giants.

The Eagles sacked Jaxson Dart five times, which is a single-game season high for Vic Fangio’s squad. The pass rush mustered a 16.1% sack rate, ranking No. 8 in the league in single-game performances this season, according to Next Gen Stats. For reference, the Eagles’ second-highest sack rate this year is 5.9% (Week 6 against the Giants).

Jalyx Hunt, who hadn’t made much noise through the first six games of the season, led the charge in back-to-back impressive contests.

Against the Vikings, the outside linebacker posted his first career pick-six. Hunt flashed his pass-rushing chops Sunday, notching a sack and generating nine pressures on 22 pass rushes (40.9% pressure rate), according to Next Gen Stats. Those nine pressures exceeded his previous career best of five pressures in a game.

Hunt and the rest of the Eagles’ defensive front need to sustain this pass-rushing success in the second half of the season, especially against the gauntlet of quarterbacks remaining on the schedule (Justin Herbert, Josh Allen, and Jared Goff, to name a few). Getting Smith back and adding Graham to the rotation could certainly help.

Additionally, to improve the pass rush, the Eagles could …

Even with the additions of Smith and Graham, the Eagles could stand to bolster their edge rusher corps via trade. No, Trey Hendrickson shouldn’t be on the table, but a low-cost rental could be a priority for Roseman at the trade deadline (think the Bradley Chubb tier of players).

The Eagles also could look to upgrade the second outside cornerback spot opposite Quinyon Mitchell, but that seems less likely. Getting a cornerback up to speed in a new defense under a time crunch is a drastically different, more challenging undertaking than doing the same for an edge rusher.

The good news for the Eagles is that Kelee Ringo wasn’t that noticeable in his third start of the season against the Giants. According to Pro Football Focus, he did not concede a catch on three targets.

Can he sustain that performance against the more talented opponents that await the Eagles following the bye? If not, will the Eagles turn to Adoree’ Jackson, Jakorian Bennett, or even Cooper DeJean on the outside? Fangio must have a plan at CB2 coming out of the bye week, whether that means leaning on internal options or looking to outside help.