The Philadelphia Eagles enter the 2020 NFL season looking to become more explosive on offense after the 2019 season saw countless 12 or 13 play drives from a sputtering offense.
Last season Philadelphia finished 14th in offensive DVOA, finished in the top five in third-down and red-zone offense, but needed long sustaining drives to secure points. That has to change in 2020 and one facet of the offense that can produce more explosive plays is the implementation of more play-action passing.
According to The Athletic via SportRadar, Wentz attempted just 20 passes on play-action under center through the first 12 games of last season, but that number increased to 26 over the final four regular-season games, all Eagles wins.
Last season the Eagles were one of only eight teams in the NFL whose offense was more efficient under center than it was in shotgun. Thirty-one percent of their pass plays were play-action, and the Eagles figure to increase that number with Press Taylor’s promotion to the passing game coordinator and Rich Scangarello’s hiring.
four of the top-five teams in play-action frequency (Ravens, Rams, Chiefs, Titans, 49ers) all made deep playoff runs and were amongst the best in the league at explosive plays.
The Eagles were right behind Tennessee in that category and with the Eagles playing best as the offense gets simpler, look for the Eagles to spend less time in shotgun and more time faking handoffs to Miles Sanders before going over the top for big plays this season.
With two of the top tight ends in the NFL on the roster along with fast wide receivers and Alshon Jeffery, the Eagles could the next step in their transformation by simply adjusting to more play-action passing.
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