‘Little More Oomph’

While the Philadelphia Eagles are 2-0, there is plenty of room to improve on both sides of the ball.

On the season debut of “Q&A” former Eagles stars Jason Avant and Quintin Mikell reviewed the first two weeks of the 2023 season and identified areas where the team needs to get better. 

Eagles’ offense saw success when they began to hand the ball off to RB D’Andre Swift

D’Andre Swift

Quintin Mikell: “He is so explosive, is strong, can catch the ball in the backfield, is a big play threat. I’m not sure in the meeting room if they trust (Kenny) Gainwell over Swift because Swift has a little less experience jn the X’s and O’s in the offense, but he was something else. I was enjoying watching him run the ball. I love Gainwell as well, but Swift offers a little more oomph.”

Jason Avant: “Seeing how explosive Swift can be, you would think they would give him more reps. I don’t care who you put behind that line, they are going to make yards because the offensive line dominated. 103 yards Swift had before he got touched.”

Jalen Hurts

Mikell: [When] Jalen drops back, it is like he is waiting for that big play instead of taking what the defense gives you and then moving up to the big plays later on in the game…the biggest things are playcalling, formations, and Jalen not taking what the defense is giving him.”

Avant: “Jalen is struggling when it comes to seeing all of this and eliminating things before it happens. When a defense is running a few different things, you have to eliminate it before you get to the line of scrimmage. The interception that he threw, it was clear that it was Cover 2. Jalen Hurts has to see better.”

Defensive Line

Avant: “Jalen Carter is third in the league over two games when it comes to quarterback pressures. For a defensive tackle, that is amazing and he is only playing 50% of the snaps. And then Jordan Davis is in the backfield making TFLs…And Fletch (Fletcher Cox) is getting off the ball. The young guys have inspired Fletch.”

Secondary

Mikell: “I am hoping it is not going to be more of the same. You can send a four or five man front but you can change up the looks in the backend. You can press, you can play off. I just don’t see enough creativity in the backend.”

– Benjamin Paul is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com.