The Eagles struggled on third downs under former head coach Doug Pederson and that inefficiency has resurfaced in 2021 under Nick Sirianni.
Philadelphia’s new head coach has been visibly frustrated by the teams’ inability to be more efficient on the game’s most important down. The Eagles were 0-for-8 on third down in the preseason opener against the Steelers and 2-for-10 last Thursday night against the Patriots.
No team in the NFL can be successful with an 11 percent conversion rate and Sirianni spoke recently about what Philadelphia can do to improve on third downs.
“When we get into game planning a little bit more for the (regular)-season games, then, yes, we’ll get our guys in better positions, attacking the coverages that we want to attack,” Sirianni said via NBC Sports Philadelphia. “The same thing on the defense, attacking the protection schemes the way we want to (attack) them and matching up their route concepts.”
The running ability of Jalen Hurts, coupled with DeVonta Smith’s sure hands should lead to better results, especially if Philadelphia does indeed put more emphasis on the running game this season.
