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Eagles' wideouts playing lesser role

The focus of the passing game has shifted to tight end Zach Ertz and the running backs.

Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)
Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)Read more

NICK FOLES completed 21 passes Monday night in the Eagles' 30-27, come-from-behind win over the Colts. Only six of them were to wide receivers.

In last week's season-opening, 34-17 win over Jacksonville, only 11 of his 27 completions ended up in the hands of wideouts.

Some people, particularly those still mourning the loss of DeSean Jackson, might find the modest reception numbers by the wideouts to be a reason for concern, even though the Eagles happen to lead the league in scoring and total offense through the first 2 weeks.

It should be noted that Chip Kelly isn't one of those people.

"We don't care where the production comes from," he said yesterday. "You get 460 yards offense [against the Colts] and score 30 points, it's enough for us to win. So we're happy with it."

Last season, when Jackson was on his way to his best pro season and rookie tight end Zach Ertz still was trying to get his arms around Kelly's offense, and Darren Sproles still was employed by the New Orleans Saints, Jackson and the team's other wideouts were the main focus of the passing game.

They were targeted on 61 percent of the Eagles' pass attempts. They had 56.4 percent of the receptions, 61.7 percent of the receiving yards, 62.5 percent of the touchdown catches.

They also were responsible for 63.3 percent of the team's receiving first downs and 58.8 percent of its third-down receptions.

In the first two games this season, almost all of those numbers have dropped dramatically. The wideouts have been targeted on only 48 percent of Foles' attempts. They have only 32.7 percent of the team's receptions and 37.5 percent of the receiving yards.

They have only 40.7 percent of the receiving first downs and 30.8 percent of the third-down receptions.

"It's not alarming to me," Kelly said. "I want everybody to play better. I want our outside receivers to play better. I want our inside receivers to play better. The running backs, the offensive line, everybody.

"But I think we're still getting production. The good thing about this group is we're built in a manner that I think we have more than just two weapons. So, if for some reason, [the opposing team] is going to say, 'Hey, we're going to go try to play press man and play those [wide receivers] out there, then we have to be able to beat you other places.

"I think bringing Jordan [Matthews, slot receiver] in, and getting Ertz a little more playing time, and getting another running back in there, who is going to match up with your inside guys? We got into that situation last year, and our outside guys got shut down. So now you have to get to our slots and tight ends."

While the wideouts still will be an important component of Kelly's offense - Jeremy Maclin has two of the team's three touchdown receptions and is tied with Ertz for the team lead in first-down receptions (seven) - it has become clear that the focus of the passing game is shifting from the wideouts to the tight ends and running backs, particularly Ertz and Sproles.

The 5-6, 190-pound Sproles has long been one of the game's best pass-catching running backs. As he showed again Monday night when he notched a career-high 152 receiving yards on seven catches, the 31-year-old back is an absolute Houdini on screens. Particularly when he's running behind an offensive line as athletic as the Eagles'.

He took a fourth-quarter screen from Foles 51 yards to set up the game-tying touchdown. Not long after that, he gained 17 yards on another screen to set up Cody Parkey's game-winning 36-yard field goal.

"A lot of guys, sometimes it takes them a while to get going," Kelly said. "But Darren has the ability to go from 0-to-60, so to speak, very quickly.

"He can kind of find his way out into the screen, whether he's got to go inside the tackle or outside the tackle, and then be patient enough once he gets the ball to take off. But I think he also has great vision to understand where his blocks are coming from and sets them up really, really well. I also think he's difficult to see sometimes when he's coming up inside the line of scrimmage and working it out into the screen path."

Said offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur: "I talked to [former Chargers coach] Norv Turner about Darren. He mentioned how their screen game fell off when Darren left San Diego. He's got a feel for it. He's quick. I think he sort of gets lost in there a little bit. Then all of a sudden he pops out.

"I'm just glad he's here. You could see when the game is in the balance and he gets the ball in his hands, he always does something good with it. I think as we go through the season here, we're going to see he's going to play a big part if we're going to win a lot of games."

The same goes for Ertz, who is quickly developing into one of the game's best young tight ends. The 6-5, 250-pounder is a difficult matchup for opposing defenses because of his blend of speed, size, route-running ability and Velcro hands.

He has seven catches, including a league-high six of 20-plus yards. He's averaging an impressive 23.3 yards per catch. Against the Colts, he caught a 21-yard pass from Foles on a third-and-11 play in the third quarter that kept alive an Eagles scoring drive. In the fourth quarter, he kick-started the game-winning drive with a 24-yard reception.

All seven of Ertz' receptions have resulted in first downs, including a team-high four on third down.

The Colts tried to cover him with a linebacker, a nickel corner and a safety. None had much luck.

"I want to excel in every matchup I get, each and every week," Ertz said. "I was able to make the most of my opportunities on a lot of the plays. That's my goal every week. My philosophy is, I don't want to be covered. I don't want to allow myself to put on tape that I can be covered."

Said Shurmur: "We felt we could throw the ball inside [against the Colts]. We felt like the matchups were good. I thought Zach did a good job of getting open.

"He's a tough guy to cover. He has a really good feel for route-running. He can catch the ball in a crowd. And he's got size. So you can throw the ball high like we did a couple of times and he can take it off the top shelf."

On Twitter: @Pdomo

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian.com