Philadelphia Eagles: 4 Ideas to improve their red zone offense
By Hunter Doyle
1. The Philadelphia Eagles can feed Travis Fulgham.
It’s evident that Travis Fulgham isn’t just a flash in the pan. This kid is the real deal. It looks like he’s the heir to Alshon Jeffery and the young ‘X’ receiver Philly has been searching for. He can do it all. He has size. He has a good release. He sells vertically and then breaks when he gets the cornerback to flip their hips.
He can find holes in zone coverage, and he can make contested catches with his big catch radius. He knows how to attack a cornerback’s leverage. The tape shows that he’s also a ferocious run blocker. You name it and this kid has shown it thus far.
Wentz and Fulgham just missed a couple of potential touchdowns versus New York in Week 7. If it wasn’t for Wentz being under pressure most of the time, the ball placement might’ve been a little bit better. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to go back to it since it appears Pederson is out of other options.
In the fourth quarter, Pederson decided to give Hakeem Butler his first offensive snap in one of the biggest moments of the game. Butler may present great potential down the road, but let’s face it. He’s still a project at tight end. On fourth and goal, Butler didn’t even know where to lineup at first. Then, he couldn’t come down with the ball.
Sure, there was likely a missed defensive pass interference on Logan Ryan. Despite that, Butler is six-foot-five and 227 pounds while Ryan is five-foot-eleven and 195 pounds. If Butler can’t position his body and box out Ryan, he honestly doesn’t deserve the penalty. Plus, New York didn’t see Butler motion over and Wentz missed a wide-open touchdown by simply waiting too long to snap the ball.
It doesn’t make a ton of sense why we haven’t seen Pederson try this with Fulgham yet. He’s flashed his contested catch ability and it wouldn’t be a bad idea on first or second and goal. He knows how to use his technique and position his body for those 50-50 throws. It’s worth a shot.
It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to throw a quick screen pass out wide to Fulgham in the red zone with blockers in front. They’ve done it with Alshon Jeffery in the past and with his frame, it’s worked perfectly. It’s worked a few times outside of the red zone with Fulgham, and he’s got a big frame himself to fall forward into the end zone.