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The Eagles terrible, horrible, no good, very bad offense

Who could have imagined that at this point in the season that the Eagles defense would be carrying the team?

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Who could have imagined at this point in the season the Eagles defense would be the strength of this team?

Going into Sunday's Redskins game, the Eagles ranked 31st in the league in total offense. Only the lowly, Nick Foles-led Rams had gained fewer yards than Chip Kelly's smoothie-powered offense.

Sure, the offense played better Sunday in the Eagles' 23-20 loss to the Redskins, but it's still a long way away from last year's team, which despite the late-season struggles of Mark Sanchez still managed to end the year ranked the fifth best offense in the league.

Behind a subpar offensive line, the Eagles three-headed monster running game has managed just 280 rushing yards total this season. The team's top offseason acquisition, DeMarco Murray, has just 47 yards rushing in three games this season (30 of which came on one run) and is averaging less than two yards a carry.

And he's not happy.

"Do I think I'm touching the ball enough? No, I'm not. I don't think I am. It's how the plays are being called," said Murray, doing his best Keyshawn Johnson impersonation. "I knew what I was coming in here to do. I knew that I was going to be the guy."

The play of the offensive line certainly hasn't helped the running game. Kelly's decision to cut both Even Mathis and Todd Herremans without drafting or acquiring any replacements caused many, including myself, to scratch our heads during the offseason. Here's the cartoon I drew back in June, which sadly seems prophetic:

ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth is also not a big fan of what the Eagles' have done to their offensive line. Schlereth, who played guard in the NFL for 12 years with the Redskins and Broncos, jumped onto ESPN 97.5 The Fanatic on Friday to rip Kelly's handling of the offense.

"People talk about, 'Oh, revolutionizing the offense under Chip Kelly, he's going to change the game,'" Schlereth told Joe DeCamara and Adam Caplan. "You don't change the game if you don't block people on the line of scrimmage, and that's been the biggest issue for them."

Schlereth's main beef seems to be Kelly's up-tempo offense, which has resulted in the team having just one snap count so it can run more plays.

"Chip Kelly, this is a Pop Warner snap count, essentially," Schlereth said. "It's the same snap count on every play, and defensive linemen tee off on you. You're letting them control the line of scrimmage, you're letting them get penetration in your backfield on a consistent basis because you don't change your snap count."

Schlereth also claims the Eagles are the only team to focus on man-blocking on the front side of their offensive line.

"It's the only team in the league that does it that way, and the reason they're the only team in the league that does it that way is because they're stupid," Schlereth said. "They don't understand NFL principles."

Obviously, the offensive line and the running game aren't the only units to suffer. I described Sam Bradford as a "deer in headlights" last week, and he showed signs of improvement against the Redskins, so I think we can lay off him for a moment:

Despite Bradford's inaccuracy and tendancy to checkdown, he certainly hasn't been helped by the many passes that have been dropped by his nearly-invisible wide receiver corps.

The Inquirer's Zach Berman goes into depth in a great piece about the team's need to get more out of Riley Cooper and company:

Entering Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins, the Eagles' wide receivers have 35 receptions for 353 yards and one touchdown. Most of that comes from Matthews, who has 22 catches for 231 yards and a touchdown while playing in the slot.

Agholor takes most of the snaps at the spot that was filled by Jackson and then Maclin, although it's not necessarily a one-for-one swap. Matthews downplayed the notion of a true No. 1 receiver during the spring and said the focus should instead be on the Eagles' overall receiving corps.

He took 93 percent of the offensive snaps last week and did not record a catch. He has been on the field for 83 percent of the snaps this year and has just four catches for 36 yards. That's comparable playing time to Jackson and Maclin the previous two years, but they averaged about five catches for 83 yards per game.

Bad offensive line. Underwhelming running game. Dissapointing quarterback. Invisible wide receivers. Does that about sum it up?