McLane: Eagles offense can't catch up at Heinz Field

PITTSBURGH - The final installment of the Dark Knight trilogy was filmed here. Heinz Field stood in as the home stadium for the Gotham Rogues, and as villain Bane systematically obliterates the Batman-less city he sets off a bomb underneath the grass just after kickoff.

The ground craters and engulfs every player save for the kick returner.

The image briefly crossed the mind while watching the Eagles first-team offense play on that very same turf Thursday night. What if the earth swallowed up every wide receiver? Would the Eagles or their fans care? It's not like Jordan Matthews was out there.

All kidding aside, the receivers didn't deserve sole blame for how dreadful Doug Pederson's offense looked in the Eagles' 17-0 preseason victory over the Steelers. The makeshift line was out of sorts, with rookie Isaac Seumalo at left guard and Allen Barbre at right tackle as the unit prepares for the inevitable loss of Lane Johnson.

Running back Ryan Mathews struggled to find consistent holes, and whenever quarterback Sam Bradford and the offense seemed to be moving in the right direction, there was a setback -- a sack or penalty.

Even the tight ends - the offense's best unit - contributed to the malaise. A Zach Ertz pass-interference penalty negated a third-down conversion. The Eagles managed a first down on the next play when receiver Nelson Agholor skied for 22-yard grab. But Agholor, true to his nature, dropped the next pass.

"Catch the ball," Agholor said. "But at the end of the day, that was over with. Line up again and get open. I'm not going to harp on little stuff."

Josh Huff, Robin to Agholor's Batman if the superheroes specialized in blunders, got in on the action as well. Bradford tossed a 15-yard out a series later - perhaps his best throw of the night - and Huff bobbled and dropped it.

Pederson's group was handed the ball four times after the defense notched first-half interceptions, and all it could muster was a field goal before the break. As bad as the starting offense looked, Jim Schwartz's defense was its polar opposite.

NFL preseason football isn't exactly movie-world fake, but it doesn't represent the reality of the regular season. The Eagles still have two preseason games - although the first team is unlikely to play in the finale - and more than three weeks to correct their mistakes and build cohesion.

"It's not the end of the world for me," Pederson said. "I know what they've been doing in practice. ... Again, we don't put a ton of game-planning into games like this."

The offense, though, is lacking in talent and depth - particularly at receiver, running back and on the line. Without Matthews, who has been sidelined with a knee bruise and could be out at least for the remainder of the preseason, Bradford has very little at his passing disposal.

Ertz is above average, but there's only so much he can do within the confines of consistent double teams. Bradford advanced the Eagles to the 22-yard line late in the second quarter, but on his last pass, the Steelers telegraphed a seam throw to Ertz and had him covered both high and low.

The Eagles have already gone about rectifying their receiving deficiencies, of course. They traded for Titans receiver Dorial Green-Beckham on Tuesday and had him on the field in the third quarter. Quarterback Chase Daniel lofted a corner fade to Green-Beckham in the end zone, but the pass was short of the 6-foot-5, 240-pound receiver.

Later, fourth-string quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson threw to Green-Beckham on the flat and the ball sailed through his hands. The second-year receiver was in a difficult spot, playing in an offense he knows little about, but if anyone had expectations that he would come in and be a savior, the drop was a wake-up call.

Pederson had planned on playing the starting offense into the second quarter, depending upon the number of plays. Last week, the unit took a total of three snaps and scored a touchdown off another turnover. The offense again had only three plays on its first drive against the Steelers, but it was forced to punt after two short rushes and a check-down to Huff on third down.

Speaking of check-downs, Bradford had plenty. He's skilled in the art. But it was hard to knock him when so few of his receivers could get space downfield or when he faced third and absurdly long. Overall, Bradford completed 14 of 19 passes for 115 yards.

"I thought they played well tonight," Bradford said of his receivers.

Bradford isn't the problem. He isn't the solution either, but the Eagles are a long ways from finding out if Carson Wentz is the answer. The rookie quarterback watched his second preseason game from the sideline as he nurses fractured ribs.

There was buzz last week after Wentz's debut, but the excitement level surrounding Game 2 was predictably nil. There was interest in how Seumalo, the Eagles' third-round draft pick, would perform under the lights. He did fine, but had the holding penalty. Can Pederson afford to start him once the season starts? Stefen Wisniewski would seem to be a more obvious choice.

Rueben Randle seemed to rebound from a particularly dismal first game in Eagles green. But how excited can one get about two catches for 10 yards? He often doesn't seem very enthused about doing his job.

Daniel, after last week's disastrous debut as the Eagles' backup quarterback, was more poised and made several accurate downfield throws. He was aided by undrafted rookie Paul Turner, who caught three passes for 44 yards.

Turner looks like a keeper. He would survive our fictional implosion of Heinz Field. But he's the only one.

jmclane@phillynews.com

@Jeff_McLane