The Eagles asked a lot of their offensive line this week, but they vow to improve after win over Titans
Through two games, the line has been shaky in the Eagles' wins, but "I don’t want anyone to panic," Jordan Mailata said.
NASHVILLE — Continuity is king, Jordan Mailata thinks. It is what the Eagles’ left tackle was leaning on most after his team escaped disaster in its last-minute 24-20 win over the Tennessee Titans.
The offensive line wasn’t good enough during the team’s win over the Washington Commanders last week. And after losing Landon Dickerson to injured reserve with a knee injury, the offensive front came to its second game with a new look.
The Eagles moved center Cam Jurgens to left guard to fill the hole left by Dickerson. They inserted Drew Kendall at center. It was Jurgens’ first game ever at left guard and Kendall’s first career start in a game with real stakes. They asked that duo to try to handle a defensive front that has one of the best interior linemen in the NFL in Jeffery Simmons.
How hard can it be to change from center to guard? Jurgens’ first season as a starter was at right guard before he moved over to center after Jason Kelce retired. Jurgens likened his week to a basketball player making a major change at the rim.
“Everything is different,” Jurgens said postgame. “Your hands are different. Your feet are different. You’re kicking different. It’s weird. It’s like if you’re a basketball player and you always dunk one-footed, then all of the sudden, you got to be a two-foot dunker and change everything.
“It’s different. But at the same time, we’re all football players, and it’s still football.”
The Eagles won Sunday, in a similar fashion to the way they won last week against an opponent that, on paper, is inferior: barely. Nick Sirianni and a few players have spoken about wanting to focus on the joy of winning and not worrying about style points, but the offensive line’s play through eight quarters has made the winning more difficult than it should be.
The Eagles, who are implementing a wide-zone run scheme, can’t run the ball the way they want to. Saquon Barkley suffered a stinger and ran just four times Sunday, but four Eagles — including Barkley and not including Jalen Hurts — combined for 78 yards on 27 carries.
“I don’t know if it’s landmarks,” right tackle Lane Johnson said. “I got to go back and watch the film. It’s really tough to say right after a game. I don’t know if we created any big creases like last week. There’s a lot to clean up.”
Is some of this still growing pains with the new offense?
“Yeah,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot that’s different. There’s aiming points, there’s different names for plays here that we’ve had in for a long time.
“We need to keep getting better and hopefully see this ground game improve.”
» READ MORE: Grading the Eagles' win over the Tennessee Titans
It is the key to making the offense go. The Eagles want to use more under-center play action and marry their run and passing games, but they can’t effectively do that unless they can run the ball, and they can’t effectively run the ball unless they block better.
The passing game had issues, too. Simmons had a whopping seven pressures and was credited with hitting Hurts three times, including one that led to Hurts underthrowing DeVonta Smith on a sideline route in the fourth quarter for his second interception of the game. Hurts was pressured often and hit six times, including three sacks.
The offensive line also was flagged three times: Jurgens and right guard Tyler Steen for holding and Lane Johnson for illegal formation.
“I’m going to learn a lot from this game,” Jurgens said. “I’m going to get a lot better. I’m excited to get better from this. Jeffery Simmons is a damn good player.”
It was a lot to ask of Jurgens and Kendall, who said the Eagles “all handled it well” and “have to learn from it.”
This is the unit the Eagles will be working with moving forward, which gets back to Mailata leaning on the continuity to give him confidence things will be corrected.
The Eagles decided early in the practice week that Kendall would play center and Jurgens would play guard. They practiced all week with that in mind, though Mailata decided to play a joke on reporters by having Fred Johnson line up at left guard for drills in an act of subterfuge during the period open to media.
Dickerson, who struggled mightily last week as he dealt with a knee injury, is out for at least the next three games, and it remains to be seen if he’ll be ready to return when he is eligible.
“You got to build continuity, and this is the first time all five of us have been together,” Mailata said. “I am confident in those five. I am confident in us being able to see how we can correct and pass off games.
“I don’t want anyone to panic. The best thing about offensive line play is if you can get continuity. Now we have our starting five moving on. Now we have film on how we’re getting beat, how we’re not getting beat, and things to work on.”
» READ MORE: Highlights from the Eagles-Titans broadcast on Fox
In the end, the offensive line kept Hurts clean enough on the final drive when it mattered. The quarterback did have to make a heady play to get rid of the ball before being sacked, but he was afforded a clean enough pocket on a few key throws.
“That was so damn exciting to go down there, in the two-minute drill, and win the game,” Jurgens said. “We shouldn’t have been in that [situation]. But a win is a win.”
Johnson’s thoughts were similar.
“There’s a lot to clean up,” he said. “But a win is a win, and it’s hard to get in this league.”
It sure looked like it Sunday.
Landon Dickerson has made a career of fighting through injuries and pain, last season being the latest instance. But after the left guard looked like a shell of himself Week 1 vs. Washington, the Eagles decided to shut him down — at least for now. With Dickerson landing on injured reserve, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff McLane explains why, this time around, he and the Eagles are taking the cautious route. Jeff also shares what he's heard about how the Eagles might fill Dickerson's void on the offensive line, and takes listener questions in this week's mailbag segment. Listen here.
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