Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo knew the moment he sat in front of the media on Tuesday that he was going to have to explain what happened to the offense in the second half of their 31-25 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
This was an offensive unit that had 201 yards in the first half and a whopping -1 yards in the second half. Eagles running back Saquon Barkley struggled to find any open lanes as he averaged under three yards a carry in the game. Jalen Hurts is typically very accurate with the football, but he had a staggering zero completions out of eight attempts in the second half. The eye-opener was A.J. Brown having nine targets with just two catches for seven yards.
Overall, it was one of the worst offensive performances by the offense in quite some time. Four second-half drives ending in negative yards is something no one want to see on the stat sheet.
Everyone needs an explanation on what happened to the Eagles' offense. Anything would be helpful to figure out how to get things going. Patullo did not deliver on that much-needed explanation.
Eagles fans still trying to figure out what Patullo was saying
During his press conference on Tuesday, Patullo, to his credit, faced the music and answered some tough questions about A.J. Brown and the rest of the offense. For what happened in the second half, Patullo gave credit to the opponents they had played.
"There were some things we can change.. We've had very unique games.. We've played very good teams and really good defenses where we come out in the first halves to try and throw them off."
That's all fine, and it's reasonable to say they have played some good defense, but it doesn't explain what is going on with the offense. It's two straight games where the offense was fantastic for one half and horrible in the other. The exact same thing happened in the Eagles' 33-26 win over the Los Angeles Rams, but it was the second half where the offense picked it up.
In reality, Lane Johnson's recurring injuries are a massive concern. The offense has seemed to struggle to get much going when he is out of the game. Another question regarding the offensive line is the status of Landon Dickerson, specifically whether he is truly recovered from his meniscus injury or attempting to play through it, as that appears to be a liability at present.
Patullo has been under fire for his play-calling, being accused of being too conservative and not creative enough. Too many times, Eagles fans are seeing bubble screens to running backs or receivers and predictable deep routes being run.
This offense is currently ranked 30th in the NFL in total offense, averaging approximately 251 yards per game. It's bad enough that they are near the bottom in passing, but not even being close to the top 10 in rushing is the bigger concern.
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These were explanations Eagles fans needed to hear from Patullo, and he gave everyone the runaround. Some might actually start siding with Brown on his cryptic complaints, as if Patullo doesn't figure out how to fix the offense soon, 2023 is going to start more like a nightmare reality for Philly.