The Philadelphia Eagles win games by dominating the line of scrimmage. That may be hard to believe for some fans with flashy pieces like Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, Cooper DeJean, and A.J. Brown getting most of the love. But Nick Sirianni and Howie Roseman built this team to control the trenches.
Yes, Hurts can't stop turning the ball over. Yes, A.J. Brown had several game-altering drops in Week 14, and yes, Barkley and the run game have been maddeningly inconsistent. Kevin Patullo takes a lot of flak for that. But when this offensive line isn't rolling like it's capable of, nothing goes right for Philly.
On Monday Night Football against the Los Angeles Chargers, the team was without star left tackle Lane Johnson, just as they have been for several games now. Landon Dickerson was also sidelined for a majority of the game with an injury, which severely hurt their chances.
This stat proves that Eagles may be sunk without Lane Johnson
But Johnson's three-game absence not-so-coincidentally lines up with the Eagles' three-game losing streak. Rarely are there direct correlations in the National Football League, but this sure feels like an exception. Philly fans know how valuable Johnson is, and that was proven by ESPN's Adam Schefter.
"This season, the Eagles are 0-3 without Johnson," Schefter wrote. "Since Johnson’s rookie season in 2013, the Eagles are 120-62-1 in the 183 games he has played, a win percentage of .656. In the 42 games without him, the Eagles now are 15-27, a win percentage of .357."
That is a stark difference. It's almost as if the Eagles are two separate football teams when they have Johnson and when they don't. Of course, most teams are dramatically worse when they don't have their starting left tackle, but that is especially true with a perennial All-Pro and Pro Bowler in Johnson.
However, this is a worrisome stat. With as much talent as the Eagles have, they can't possibly be that reliant on one man playing, right? On a championship-caliber team with superstars at every level on both sides of the ball, Johnson can't possibly be that important, can he?
Well, the promising part of this statistic is that they may not have to find out, as Johnson is expected to be back in Week 15 when the lowly Las Vegas Raiders travel to Philadelphia. The Eagles are getting their missing piece back, so apparently, they should waltz to a victory on Sunday.
Johnson has clearly been a key cog for Philly ever since his arrival, and no fan has ever doubted the emotional and intangible impact a player like Johnson has. But to feel as though you are one injury away, to an injury-prone player, no less, to likely chalking things up to a loss is an eerie spot to be in.
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Surely, the Eagles want to prove this notion wrong and maintain that they are a well-rounded, deep team with enough in-house talent to survive anything. But proving this wrong would mean more games without Johnson, and in a year slowly slipping away from them, it's certainly not worth the risk.