Rich Hofmann | Passing game has to improve
AS WE ENTER the annual reassessment phase of the Eagles' season - it really does happen every fall - the suspicion (based on history) is that the Eagles will try to win ugly here for a couple of weeks. They will run the ball a little bit more, and they will give quarterback Donovan McNabb some easier throws, and they will lean on a better-than-expected defense, and they will be very happy with 17-14.
That is the expectation as another drive up the placid New Jersey Turnpike looms.
It might even work, against the Jets this week and for the next couple of weeks. It is not the answer, though, not really and not for the long term.
Because you can fixate on the running game all you want, but the 1-3 Eagles aren't going anywhere this year if they don't start throwing the ball better.
I know, I know, the run/pass ratio is Our Municipal Obsession - and I am often as obsessed as anyone. This year, though, not so much. It just seems to miss the point. The NFL remains a throwing league, a league where the scoring is done through the air, and the Eagles' passing game is atrocious right now - and thank heaven for the Detroit Lions, or the passing game would be whatever adjective is worse than atrocious.
You can make the argument that more running might help with play-action passing, and that is fair. But the Eagles are already running the ball more than they have since 2002, the year when McNabb broke a leg and the second-best defense in the league carried them home. (Note: They don't have the second-best defense in the league anymore.)
At 26.5 carries per game, they are even running a bit more than the three-headed monster year of 2003, when Duce Staley, Brian Westbrook and Correll Buckhalter lugged the team around while McNabb battled ineffectiveness and then a thumb injury.
They can run more now, certainly - and especially if Andy Reid has determined that the situation is so dire on offense that they can't get it blocked well enough in the passing game, or that the quarterback still isn't far enough back from knee surgery, or that Westbrook's abdominal strain is just too limiting for him to provide his customary spark. (Westbrook practiced again yesterday, for whatever that is worth.)
But all of that is just nibbling at the edges of the real problem. That is, their passing game has been awful.
"Our running game is in pretty good shape, it appears," said offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. "I think we're doing a reasonable job there. Our pass game has to get better. It was terrific for one game [against the Lions], and we'll work hard and we'll prepare. The team is working hard . . . great effort and great preparation. They just have to get better."
Is it the receivers? Are they getting stymied by press coverage at the line of scrimmage?
"There's no one thing," Mornhinweg said. "I think there's a little misconception. I went through every bump-and-run snap that we had on any receiver - we did a reasonably good job there. That's not the biggest problem. Catching the football and protecting the quarterback . . . Everybody is involved in that protection."
And?
"Throwing the football and being precise with our pass game," he said. "We were really precise one game, and we just have not been precise enough in other football games. Our passing game is based on precision and timing and accuracy and catching the football and making some yards after the catch. We just have to get better at that."
Mornhinweg suggests the fingerprints on the problem are everywhere and everyone's and, well, fair enough. That doesn't change the task ahead and it only complicates the solution.
You want to measure an NFL offense? Count the number of big passing plays - that is, plays of 20 yards or more. It is really hard to win without them. You need those big bites of yardage. Walking the ball up the field is a nice notion, but it is hard to sustain without making a mistake, and it really does shorten the game and put a premium on great defense.
In 2003, the three-headed monster year, the Eagles had 45 of those big passing plays.
In 2004, the Super Bowl year, it was 56 big plays. In 2005 and 2006, it was 49 and 63.
This year, through four games, the Eagles have seven. They are on a pace for 28. They cannot win that way. It is that simple.
So, yes, they can run the ball more and probably will run the ball more starting this week - it is what history suggests. Just don't pretend it is the real answer. Because this team will start throwing the ball better, and soon, or this team will go over a cliff. *
Send e-mail to hofmanr@phillynews.com. For recent columns, go to http://go.philly.com/hofmann.
