pennlive
In the first two weeks of the NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles' screen plays have repeatedly failed, resembling a futile charge into a brick wall. During the first quarter of their 24-20 win over the Tennessee Titans in Week 2, quarterback Jalen Hurts tossed his first screen to running back Tank Bigsby. As soon as Bigsby secured the catch and turned upfield, Titans cornerback Micah Robinson dropped him for a two-yard loss. Tight end Dallas Goedert's ineffective block on the perimeter allowed Robinson an easy tackle, while linebacker Cedric Gray slipped past tight end Johnny Mundt's block to help finish the play.
In the second quarter, Hurts connected on a screen to running back Will Shipley, but with no blockers in the vicinity, Titans cornerback Alontae Taylor wrapped him up for another two-yard loss. The third quarter saw Titans cornerback Marcus Harris blitz Hurts, forcing a screen intended for Saquon Barkley to be thrown into the ground. Later, with 6:53 left in the fourth quarter, the Eagles sent rookie wide receiver Makai Lemon in motion and threw him a screen out of the backfield, only for Harris to tackle him for a five-yard loss.
For the second straight week, the Eagles failed to generate any positive yardage on screens. In their Week 1 victory over the Washington Commanders on Sept. 13, Lemon lost three and five yards on two screen attempts, getting tackled instantly due to poor blocking. Despite these struggles, offensive coordinator Sean Mannion remains undeterred and plans to keep calling screen plays.
Key Analysis
Mannion addressed the media on Wednesday, expressing confidence that the plays are close to breaking through. "I think we're close on a few of them," Mannion said. "I think there's some fundamental things to clean up a little bit. I think we had a couple that were fundamental based, a couple that were just execution based, but the screen game's going to be a big part of what we do and called a couple of them that were close and a couple that I think will across the season be more productive plays moving forward." Until the Eagles refine their timing and blocking, these screen passes will likely continue to yield negative results.
Originally reported by pennlive.