Eagles O-line looking to eliminate mistakes

Lane Johnson walked into the Eagles' locker room last Sunday wanting DeMarco Murray to rush for 200 yards against Murray's old team. That's a high standard, but Johnson has been part of an offensive line that has opened the way for more rushing yards than all but one team the last two seasons. The Eagles haven't been perfect in his career, but they've usually been able to block.

When Johnson sat at his locker after an inept rushing offense totaled only 7 yards in a loss to the Cowboys, no rationalization was offered. Johnson hoped Murray would top 200 yards. Take the zeros away, and that's what Murray finished with last week.

"We went out there and pissed on our leg," Johnson said.

Entering Sunday's game against the New York Jets, the Eagles have the lowest rushing total in the NFL - 70 yards. Defenses might as well be holding Chip Kelly's play card, because they seem to know what's coming. The high-priced Eagles backfield is getting acquainted with defenders before reaching the line of scrimmage.

It comes back to the offensive line, which was once a strength of the team. Kelly, who let go of two longtime starters and did little to add depth during the offseason, is not making any lineup changes. So the line must prove that the problem is not with the players..

"The personnel is good enough," Kelly said. "The execution isn't good enough."

Jason Kelce watched game film early this past week and saw a "perfect storm." A play would be blocked "almost perfectly" by everyone on the team except one player, and it happened play after play, with a rotating cast making the errors.

"When we had a great play called, one guy screwed it up," Kelce said. "It was a culmination of, really, everybody screwing up throughout the day."

There were plays when Kelce ran through the defensive line, instead of pulling around, and was picked by a defender. One was a 4-yard loss by Darren Sproles, who had nowhere to go because linebacker Sean Lee was waiting for him. Kelce was supposed to be there blocking Lee.

"If I go around, I don't have to beat Lee to the spot - I just have to beat Sproles to Lee," Kelce said. "They were in a defense that I should have known pre-snap what they're doing. That's what I'm talking about with the stupid mental mistakes."

He said some of the mistakes were the result of players "overthinking." Instead of just blocking, they were trying to anticipate the defense.

"We've just got to execute better," tackle Jason Peters said. "Chip calls the plays, and we've got to block it better. . . . Once we get assignments picked up, we'll get the running game back up."

The Eagles can have confidence in Kelce, Peters, and Johnson. They've performed at a high level before. Allen Barbre and Andrew Gardner are new starters. Kelce insisted that his errors are not the result of overcompensating for new personnel. Peters and Johnson expressed similar sentiments.

"The film showed me a lot of mistakes, obviously," Kelce said. "But I do think they're all correctable. I don't think anything was guys weren't good enough."

The changes to the offensive line started in February, when the Eagles released right guard Todd Herremans, a longtime starter with a high salary.

Kelly did not fill Herremans' spot when free agency opened. The Eagles sat out the offensive line market altogether, spending money at other positions, such as running back, wide receiver, and inside linebacker.

The draft provided an opportune time to find young linemen, but Kelly didn't like the choices when the Eagles were on the clock in 2015. They took an extra inside linebacker in the third round. They traded their fourth- and fifth-round picks. They did not like the linemen in the sixth and seventh rounds. They scoured the undrafted free-agent market after the draft, but signed no one.

Since drafting Johnson with the No. 4 overall pick in 2013, the Eagles haven't selected a single offensive lineman, the only team to go two years without doing so.

"There were guys that we really wanted in this draft, but . . . in each round they were taken before we had an opportunity to pick," Kelly said.

At the time, the Eagles line included left guard Evan Mathis. But Mathis did not show up to voluntary workouts because of a contract dispute. The Eagles used Allen Barbre at left guard in Mathis' spot - not right guard, where there was an opening. It was a sign that the Eagles were planning to play without Mathis.

Sure enough, Mathis never had a chance to go to mandatory minicamp. Kelly released him the day before, with seemingly no reason for moving on from a two-time Pro Bowl player other than Kelly's deciding he didn't need him.

"We obviously are down a good football player," Kelly said, "but we're confident in the guys we have, and that's why we made the decision we made."

The backups the Eagles needed last season when injuries beset the line now became the starters.

Barbre never had competition for the left guard spot. Gardner beat Matt Tobin and John Moffitt for the right guard spot.

Barbre and Gardner had been on 10 combined teams and never were full-time starters. Kelly saw something in both that other teams in the league didn't.

"I've seen them perform," Kelly said. "Andrew played last year in eight games for us, and we have seen Allen perform since going back to the Green Bay game [in 2013], when he filled in. And I've seen Allen every day in practice and in training."

There's no guarantee the Eagles would be better with Mathis and Herremans, neither of whom is a standout on his current team (the Broncos and Colts, respectively). But the Eagles subtracted more starting-level talent than they added.

Even with the rushing success of the last two years, frustrations about a grounded offense surfaced. In Week 4 of 2014, the Eagles ran for only 22 yards on 12 carries in a loss to San Francisco.

However, they played with three backups and one starter out of position that day. The game last Sunday came with the entire line together for all but one snap.

There are always adjustments to be made. Johnson said the Eagles could add more variety to their plays and formations to make the offense less predictable.

The running game could also look different on Sunday against the Jets' three-man front. The Eagles' first two opponents were 4-3 teams, and Kelly said the Eagles run different plays against 3-4 teams. The spacing of the defensive front dictates what Kelly calls.

The linemen agreed the offense's revival must start with them. If the line blocks better for the running game, then it will be easier to pass. But the line might be only as good as its worst players.

"Even if the tackles are playing good or the guards are playing good, if one guy doesn't get the job done, it affects us all," Johnson said. "We're one block away from making a big play. It goes on everyone to play together in unison. That's the beauty of the O-line."

zberman@phillynews.com

@ZBerm