Scouting Eagles' offensive line

AFTER SPENDING 11 years in the league as an offensive lineman and another two-plus decades breaking down miles and miles and miles of film for his TV jobs as a college and NFL analyst, Brian Baldinger is a pretty good judge of offensive line flesh.

He can tell a good one and he can tell a bad one. Even with the offseason releases of veteran guards Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans, he felt fairly confident that the Eagles had a good one.

So, he is as surprised as anyone by the Keystone Kops routine he's seen the last two weeks.

"I'm shocked," he said. "I can't believe it. To watch (center) Jason Kelce go the wrong way on a play in Atlanta. To watch all the indecision. Of all the things that have gone wrong and all the reasons they're as poor on offense as they are right now, the one that surprises me the most is how indecisive they are about what they're doing."

The 0-2 Eagles are last in the league in rushing and last in the league in yards per carry, averaging only 2.1 yards per run.

DeMarco Murray, who rushed for a league-best 1,845 yards with the Cowboys last season, has been continually getting hit in the backfield by defenders who are slicing through the Eagles' line like a hot knife through butter. He has 11 yards on 21 carries. After two games last season, he had 285 yards.

"They love to run those perimeter type plays to get to the outside," Baldinger said. "They're all predicated on down-blocks by the tight end and the tackle to get out. But when they get out, they're running by players.

"They're not really sure if the guy behind them is going to get them like in a zone scheme where you're just blocking areas. It's like they've never run these plays before."

This isn't about one or two guys. This is about an entire line. It's like all of the Rockettes suddenly forgetting how to do those leg kicks.

"It's everybody," Baldinger said. "Including the tight end. Brent (Celek) has missed a lot of blocks. He's usually a pretty reliable guy. But he's missed a lot of blocks on the edge in the first two games."

The Falcons and Cowboys both did a lot of slanting and stunting. It gave the Eagles problems, though Baldinger doesn't know why.

"Their basic plays - the inside and outside zones - I don't know how many times a week they run through those plays against every possible scenario in practice and walk-throughs and meetings. They walk through that stuff all the time.

"To stunt and move up front, that's to be expected. That's why you're a zone (blocking) team. To eat all that stuff up. But when they're stunting against them, Brent right now seems to be in no-man's land. They'll run a perimeter play and that end is coming hard inside.

"And they're going to get more of it. Teams that maybe it hasn't been a big part of their scheme, they're going to start using it, because these guys have shown no ability to stop it."

The Eagles' inability to run the ball, particularly on first down, has short-circuited the entire offense. They rushed for only two yards on 16 carries on first down in the first two games.

They are averaging only 5.13 yards on first down, which is the ninth lowest average in the league. Take out the only good half of offensive football they've played so far - the second half of the Falcons game - and that average plummets to 3.8.

"Those negative runs on first down have put them in a hole," Baldinger said. "Tempo is all predicated on positive gains and moving the sticks.''

Second-and-long has been the rule rather than the exception the first two weeks. Twenty of the Eagles' 38 second-down situations have been eight yards or more. All of those second-and-longs have led to third-and-longs, which is why the Eagles find themselves 31st in third-down percentage (21.7).

"Anytime you're looking at second-and-long (or) third-and-long, your play calls are kind of limited,'' said right tackle Lane Johnson. "It puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback to throw the ball.''

"You really want to gain at least 4 (yards) on first down to kind of keep yourself on schedule," coach Chip Kelly said. "But besides the second half of the Falcons game, we have not been very good on first down.''

Baldinger believes the offensive line's problems are fixable. But two things concern him. One is the total disregard defenses have for quarterback Sam Bradford as a runner. The other is the fact that even when the line has blocked a play correctly, the holes have been disconcertingly small.

"(Bradford's) no (running) threat at all,'' he said. "I think the Terrell Suggs hit on Sam sent a message to the whole league that we're not a zone-read team. When Chip kind of put that out there, all those teams, whether they thought Sam was ever going to run at all or not, (realized) there's zero threat. Even if he pulls it down once this week to try and keep them honest, they're not going to change anything they're doing. They're just going to attack and angle on one side or the other every single play right now.

"And whether it was Barry Church last week or William Moore against Atlanta, those safeties are just waiting for that back to cut back. They've completely taken the cutback away because there is no (quarterback running) threat.

"Secondly, even when they block a play correctly, as infrequent as it's been, there hasn't been, outside of (Darren) Sproles one time and the touchdown run by Murray (against the Falcons), there hasn't been a hole. There hasn't been any type of big hole like we're use to seeing in this spread offense. It just doesn't exist right now.''

Twenty-one of the Eagles' 33 rushing attempts in the first two games gained 2 yards or less. Thirteen of those 21 resulted in zero or negative yards.

If that doesn't change Sunday, you can pencil in another loss.

With the Eagles facing the Jets, an AFC pro personnel scout broke down offensive coordinator Chan Gailey's offense for the Daily News:

"Chan isn't really worried about your personnel. They played Cleveland in Week 1. Joe Haden is one of the three best corners in the league, and he just went right at him with (Brandon) Marshall.

"With (Eric) Decker and (No. 3 receiver Chris) Owusa out, they'll be a little bit more run-heavy this week. But they're going to take their shots with Marshall. He will be a big part of the game plan. He'll get 10 to 12 targets. They'll also probably get their backs (Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell) more involved in the passing game.

"Ivory is a downhill runner. He's a pounder. They've got a good offensive line. Their tight ends are kind of an afterthought. If they can get in manageable third-down situations, they'll spread you out and run screens and draws. Chan is the best I've been around at taking advantage of whatever the defense is trying to do.

"I would imagine that Billy Davis is trying to figure out a way to take away Marshall. Especially now that Decker won't be on the other side. If you can take away Marshall, you've got a chance. Because their running game is good, but it's not what they live and die on. They live and die on trying to get you to where you're going to drop people down (to defend the run) then hit you with the pass.

"Davis can't use single coverage on Marshall 75 percent of the time. He's going to have to mix it up. If I'm him, I'd play somebody underneath Brandon, somebody over the top of him, and really try to take him out and force Fitzpatrick to throw to (Quincy) Enunwa or the tight ends or the backs. If you can cover (Marshall) up, you've got a chance.

"The amazing thing with Brandon is, he can't run by you anymore. But he's such a big-body guy that if you put the ball anywhere around him he'll catch it.''

FROM THE LIP

* "That's the way I coach. The game's not over until it's over. It could be junior high, I don't care. We're goin' for your throat." — Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, when asked why he still had QB Carson Palmer in the game with less than five minutes left and his team up by 19 points Sunday against the Bears

* "I think so far this year, there's already been more triple-teams than in the past. But that's to be expected. I mean, that's what I would do too. You have to continue to fight, continue to battle. Like I've always said, it makes it that much sweeter when you do get there." — Texans DE J.J. Watt, on the blocking attention he has received in the first two games

* "I just want to go out there and do my job and be a game manager right now. Who knows what my future holds right now? But I just want to be a game manager, put our team in the best possible situation I can for us to win, and I feel like we as a team did that." — Bucs QB Jameis Winston

BY THE NUMBERS

* Take hope, Eagles fans. Since the current playoff format was introduced in 1990, 24 teams have managed to qualify for the playoffs after starting 0-2, including the Eagles twice — in 1990 and in 2003. They even made it to the NFC Championship Game in '03, when they lost to Carolina

* In his last 18 games at Lambeau Field, Aaron Rodgers has a .688 completion percentage and has thrown 43 touchdown passes and — drum roll, please — zero interceptions. He has a streak of 545 pass attempts at Lambeau without an interception.

* Tom Brady threw 59 passes in the Patriots' 40-32 win over the Bills last week. His average snap-to-release time on those 59 passes was just 1.97 seconds.

* As expected, the accuracy rate on PATs has dropped a little with the ball being moved back to the 15. Last year, kickers converted 99.3 percent of their PATs. Through the first two weeks, the success rate has been 94.1.

* The Jets have had five takeaways in each of their first two games. They're the first team to do that since the '92 Steelers.

* The Eagles' average starting field position through two games is the 26.2-yard line, while their opponents' is the 29.8. That's a -3.6 differential. The Jets' average drive start is the 38.7 and their opponents' is the 22.8. That's a +15.9 differential.

* The Eagles are 30th in the league in points per possession (1.36). Only Houston (1.32) and Indianapolis (1.05) have been more unproductive.

* In the first two games, the Eagles have had 25 offensive possessions. Seventeen of them have lasted four plays or fewer. They have failed to get at least one first down on 11 of those 25 drives.

* The Eagles blitzed on only eight of 37 pass plays against the Cowboys. They weren't very productive with it. Tony Romo and Brandon Weeden completed five of seven passes for 90 yards and a touchdown when the Eagles blitzed. The Eagles sent six rushers on Weeden's 42-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Williams against Byron Maxwell in the fourth quarter. The Eagles' two-game pass-rush numbers:

Rush Tms. C-A Yds. TD/I Sks.

3-man: 9 7-9 79 0/0 0

4-man: 38 28-36 332 1/1 2

5-man: 20 9-18 84 0/1 1

6-man: 4 3-4 64 1/0 0

7-man: 1 1-1 4 0/0 0

* In the first two games, the Eagles have run 108 of their 123 offensive plays, or 87.8 percent, with "11" personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WRs). Last year, they used "11" 66.4 percent of the time (749 of 1128 plays). In Chip Kelly's first season in 2013, they used it 71.9 percent of the time (758 of 1054 plays).

* Only five of Sam Bradford's 84 "aimed" passes in the first two games have traveled 20-plus yards. How does that compare with other quarterbacks? Glad you asked. The league's top-rated passers and their deep-pass totals through two games:

Player, Team, 20+Yd. attempts Aimed

Marcus Mariota, TEN: 7 51

Aaron Rodgers, GB: 5 51

Carson Palmer, ARI: 12 53

Ben Roethlisberger, PIT: 15 63

Andy Dalton, CIN: 7 53

Tom Brady, NE: 11 89

Philip Rivers, SD: 3 67

Tyrod Taylor, BUF: 9 48

Ryan Tannehill, MIA: 12 69

Johnny Manziel, CLE: 4 37

Tony Romo, DAL: 2 71

Colin Kaepernick, SF: 4 69

Derek Carr, OAK: 7 57

Nick Foles, STL: 8 53

Ryan Fitzpatrick, NYJ: 12 56

Teddy Bridgewater, MIN: 6 47

Matt Ryan, ATL: 5 74

Russell Wilson, SEA: 7 68

* The Eagles have gotten off to horrible starts in their first two games. They've averaged only 2.2 yards per play and have only three first downs on their first four possessions in the first two games and haven't scored any points. Last season, they averaged 4.8 yards per play and had 14 first downs on their first four possessions in Weeks 1 and 2, though they only scored six points.

On Twitter: @Pdomo

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian.com