The Eagles keep wasting chances after halftime, and it’s becoming the kind of problem that swallows games whole.
Sunday’s loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London had plenty of moving parts - Nick Sirianni’s late-game decisions, injuries to key starters, and a mess of other issues - but the biggest reason Philadelphia walked away beaten was the offense’s work in the second half. Jalen Hurts didn’t sugarcoat it afterward, calling it “inexcusable.”
The scoreboard tells the same story. Philadelphia got only three points after halftime against Jacksonville, and those came on Jake Elliott’s field goal that could have won the game. That was the extent of it: three points, seven drives, five punts, 86 yards on 34 plays, and a paltry 2.53 yards per snap.
And somehow, that was an improvement.
The two games before that were even uglier. Against the Bears and Rams in Weeks 3 and 4, the Eagles failed to score a single second-half point on 11 drives.
They produced just 119 yards on 48 plays, which works out to 2.48 yards per play. The first two weeks weren’t exactly a roaring success either.
Philadelphia scored 20 points across 10 second-half drives against the Commanders and Titans, with both touchdowns coming in the fourth quarter, including Hurts’ game-winning drive in Nashville.
Through five games, the numbers are heading into historic territory. The Eagles are averaging -0.407 EPA per designed run and -0.285 EPA per dropback in the second half. If that pace holds, it would go down as the worst second-half offense combination any NFL team has posted since 2002.
“That’s not the standard,” Hurts said on Sunday after another brutal second-half performance. “It’s inexcusable.”
Sirianni said the same basic thing, just in coach-speak. “We’ve got to figure out our second-half offense,” he said.
“We’re putting together some nice first-half offense and have a lot of opportunities to put the game away. And we haven’t been able to do that. ...
We’ve got to get better at that. Because that’s going to bite us in the butt if we don’t.”
It already has. The Rams came back in the fourth quarter and stole a win. The Jaguars did the same in London.
There isn’t one clean fix here, either. The problem spans play-calling, execution and health.
First-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion has to do a better job adjusting after halftime. Hurts has not been sharp enough.
The offensive line hasn’t been sharp enough. The run game has disappeared, and the passing game has looked out of sync.
The injuries matter, too. Philadelphia has missed Saquon Barkley and DeVonta Smith the last two games, and that has shown up in the flow of the offense. Drew Kendall and Landon Dickerson should be back soon as well, which gives the Eagles at least some reason to think this can stabilize.
But right now, the most honest read is the simplest one: Sirianni, Mannion, Hurts and the second-half offense are not giving fans much to hang on to.
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