What’s going on with Rashaad Penny, what would the Eagles’ offense look like with an effective red-zone attack and a huge franchise record that nobody noticed Jalen Hurts broke.
It’s the Week 6 edition of Roob’s Random Eagles Observations.
1. One Eagles player I get asked about more than almost anybody else is a guy who’s played less than almost anybody else. All Rashaad Penny has to show for his first five games in an Eagles uniform is nine snaps on offense, two on special teams and three non-descript carries for nine yards. Penny came here with so much fanfare. There was that 5.7 career rushing average, tied with Hall of Famer Marion Motley for the highest in NFL history by a running back with at least 300 carries. And Penny was so excited for the season after losing some weight and enjoying a healthy training camp. And we all figured D’Andre Swift would be RB1 but we also figured Penny would have some role alongside Kenny Gainwell. But it just hasn’t materialized. Penny hasn’t even gotten on the field in four of the Eagles’ five games, and the only reason he played at all against the Vikings was because Gainwell was out with a rib injury. And if all the backs stay healthy, Penny might not play again. It’s not that Penny is in the doghouse or hasn’t practiced or prepared well. He hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s just that Swift is clearly the best back on the roster right now, and Gainwell and Boston Scott have both been here three years and Nick Sirianni has a tremendous amount of trust in them. So why is Penny even here? Because he was cheap – one year, $1.23 million - and Howie Roseman understands that running backs get hurt more than players at any other position and if you can stockpile good backs with low price tags you do it. Swift, Scott, Penny and Gainwell all have cap figures under $2 million, so the Eagles have tremendous talent and depth at a key position without spending much money. So Penny waits to play and we wait to see him. Not what we expected, but it does make sense.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
2. The Eagles are 26-6 in their last 32 games. They’ve never won more games in a 32-game span in the franchise’s 91-year history.
3. Through five games, the Eagles are 4th in the NFL in points scored at 28.2 per game, which is incredible considering they’re 28th in red-zone production. But it gives you an idea just how dangerous this offense can be. Consider this: The Eagles’ average drive this year has gone 38 yards, which is 2nd-highest in the league (behind the Dolphins at 44.0), and they’ve had the 4th-most red-zone drives with 21 (the 49ers have had 23 and the Bills and Dolphins 22). But they’ve only scored touchdowns on 38 percent of those red-zone drives (8 of 21). What if the Eagles were just average in the red zone? The league average is a TD on 56 percent of red-zone drives. If the Eagles were at 56 percent, they would have scored four more TDs and they’d be averaging 33.8 points per game, which would be 2nd-highest in the league (behind the Dolphins’ 36.2). So if the Eagles had just an average NFL red-zone offense they’d be scoring nearly 34 points per game. Just goes to show you what this offense is capable of and how explosive it will be once they figure out their red-zone issues.
4. A quick glance at Kenny Gainwell’s rushing stats shows a 3.3 average, which ranks 45thout of 57 running backs with at least 20 carries so far. But with Gainwell, you have to look at how he’s being used. Gainwell is the Eagles’ designated run-out-the-clock guy, which means a great many of his carries come with the Eagles holding a lead against a loaded box. And that’s an important role. The Eagles trust Gainwell, whose assignment is often to just run into traffic and hang onto the football and try to get two or three yards. He does have the one fumble, but get this: In the first three quarters this year – running against conventional fronts – Gainwell is averaging 4.1 yards per carry on 22-for-89. In the fourth quarter, running almost exclusively against stacked fronts, he’s averaging 2.3 yards per carry on 17-for-39. The numbers aren’t particularly pretty, but sometimes you’ve got to look deeper to really understand what’s going on.
5. The Eagles have already used more defensive backs this year (12) than all of last year (11).
NFL
6. We wrote a few weeks ago about a new metric called “success rate,” which measures a player’s yards on a particular play in the context of the down and distance. For a running back, a successful play is a rush that gains at least 40 percent of what’s required for a first down (or touchdown) on first down, 60 percent on second down and 100 percent on third or fourth down. Who’s got the highest success rate among all NFL backs so far this year? It’s D’Andre Swift, with a 64.5 percent success ratio. Who’s second? It’s Jalen Hurts at 60 percent. Boston Scott? He’s at 83 percent, although he obviously doesn’t have enough attempts to qualify among the leaders. See a pattern here? Swift’s success rate with the Lions was 45.1 and it’s 64.5 as an Eagle. Conversely, Miles Sanders’ success rate was 53.9 as an Eagle but it’s 34.4 as a Panther. These numbers speak volumes about the Eagles’ offensive line. They’re run blocking at an unbelievable level right now.
7. Jalen Hurts quietly broke a pretty significant franchise record on Sunday. When the season began, Hurts was the 3rd-most accurate quarterback in Eagles history at 62.3 percent, trailing only Nick Foles (62.9) and Carson Wentz (62.7). He improved to 62.4 in the opener vs. the Patriots and then to 62.8 with his 18-for-23 against the Vikings. He was still at 62.8 after the Tampa game, then got to 62.9 vs. Washington. But Foles still had a fraction of a lead at 62.910 to Hurts’ 62.906 – a difference of 4-1,000ths. But with his 25-for-38 on Sunday in L.A., Hurts nudged past Foles, improving his career accuracy to 63.00 percent. Hurts is now the most accurate quarterback in Eagles history.
8. By now you’ve heard that Jason Kelce on Sunday will make his 144th consecutive start, setting a franchise record he currently shares with Jon Runyan. What’s amazing is that only one NFL player – at any position – has a longer current streak. That’s Falcons left tackle Jake Matthews, who’s started 149 straight games. The next-longest streak on the team belongs to Darius Slay at 35 straight games, but he’s out for Sunday. The only other players with active consecutive start streaks of 10 or more games are DeVonta Smith (26), Landon Dickerson and Haason Reddick (22) and A.J. Brown and Jordan Mailata (17). And Kelce’s on his way to 144. Incredible.
9. The Eagles have just five interceptions in their last 14 games.
10. I’ve been clamoring for the Eagles to use the running backs more in the passing game since Nick Sirianni got here. The Eagles were last in the NFL in 2021 and 2022 throwing to the backs, and I just think those are safe, high-percentage throws that considering the receiving ability of D’Andre Swift, Boston Scott and Kenny Gainwell could produce big dividends. It finally seems to be happening. D’Andre Swift in the last two games has 10 catches for 61 yards, and those aren’t huge numbers, but they’re encouraging. Swift is the first Eagles running back with four catches in consecutive games since Boston Scott caught six, seven, six and four passes the last four games of the 2019 season. Swift certainly got a receiving pedigree – 156 catches in three years with the Lions – and I love to see that part of his game finally getting some attention. With 171 receptions in his first 45 career games, Swift is among the top 20 running backs in NFL history, not far behind guys like Roger Craig, Marcus Allen and Chuck Foreman. He's such a weapon however he gets the ball in his hands.
Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts:
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube