It happened again as the Philadelphia Eagles; offense folded in the second half of the 23-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Wild Card to end their season.
Philly's offense only had 114 yards in the second half after getting 188 yards in the first half. 87 of the 114 yards in the second half came on the final two drives of the game. Three drives in the second half were three-and-outs, something the offense has led the NFL in.
There were very few bright spots to the offense as Saquon Barkley had over 100 yards rushing and DeVonta Smith had eight receptions for 70 yards. The bad was painful for the Eagles, though, as the offense had four drops on third down, with A.J. Brown accounting for most of them in the loss.
One thing has become very clear, though, as the offense, led by offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, is broken. And has been all season, even if Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni wants to be delusional about it and won't accept it. There is only one thing Sirianni can do now.
It's time to cut the cord and fire Kevin Patullo
This is an offense that has failed on multiple levels all season and has looked as horrendous as they ever have under Sirianni as head coach. Look at the numbers of the offense this season:
- 24th in total offense (311.2 yards per game)
- 23rd in passing (194.3 yards per game)
- 18th in rushing (116.9 yards per game)
- 19th in scoring (22.3 points per game)
That compares perfectly to what happened in this game. Jalen Hurts had 168 passing yards, and the Eagles had 3.9 yards per carry. What was worse was once again, the play calling in the second half.
Patullo again played it conservatively with the lead, with runs on first down that the 49ers were ready for, and held them behind on the line. The pass routes were once again all-out routes, hitches, and slants. Any deep balls were bad as they were for guys like Jahan Dotson and Dallas Goedert, who are not serious threats.
Blame has to be put on Brown as well for his drops and lack of effort on some plays, as he did not get the job done. But for the most part, Patullo should shoulder the blame for the game and the season in general.
This is a loss that is going to sting because Eagles fans knew what was going to happen: Patullo calling a poor second half and costing Philly the game. Sirianni has no choice but to have a tough conversation about his buddy being the OC and moving from him in the offseason.
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If Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman don't force Sirianni to make that decision, there are bigger problems the organization has to make.