I agree. At this precise point in time the Eagles aren't looking like an even good team. Lack of a TE or plus 3rd WR allows a a merely good defense to stifle our two ace WRs and limit the run. Our uninspired, and rarely confusing to the other teams, offense seems to surprise nobody since we lost Goedert. I fear it is beyond that. Like when the Dodgers figured out how to neutralize Howard and like Arizona learned how to neuter the lineup in this year's playoffs, lesser teams now have a roadmap to beating the Eagles. A couldn't-be-dropped, dropped pass prevented KC from beating us and SF made us look like a team which should be drafting in the top 10. We simply cannot control the center of the field on defense. The excuse is that we prevent the long bomb, but KC/SF had more open bombs against us than we had against them. They limited that part of the Eagles O, while still frustrating us short and in the middle of the field.
The Eagles went to the Super Bowl last season. Naturally the good teams we compete against studied us thoroughly. What was novel last year is plain vanilla to them this year. The power of the RPO has gone the way the surprise of our prior extreme hurry up went. For lack of a better word, our offense has become 'static'. Guys shift and stop for a ten-count. Screen receivers get to a spot and stop. Motion is almost non-existent. Hiking the ball before the clock is below 5 seconds is almost nonexistent. Hurts calls an audible, then there is a wait to snap the ball, until the opposing team has ample time to adjust.
I realize that not having LBs is a matter of the team's budget priorities, but it is also a big weakness in scouting and development. We have had some LBs as relatively high draft picks. Crickets from them. Davion Taylor? We hardly knew you. No excuse for the LBs being as bad as they are, even given lack of prioritization of the position. It has been clear for a long time that middle-of-the-field is a problem with this D. Seems to have been no attempt to solve it.
