Eagles offensive red zone efficiency in Week 7 was their best of the 2023 NFL season by a mile
By Jake Beckman
The Philadelphia Eagles took their Week 6 loss to the New York Jets personally. They showed up for Week 7 and THUMPED the Miami Dolphins, and looked fly while doing so. We mean that both figuratively and literally. How about those kelly green ensembles?
We knew all week that the Birds weren't going to win because of their threads or their color scheme. Solid play would be necessary to eke out a victory, and they delivered, particularly with their red zone offense.
Philly's inability to cash in with TDs in the red zone has been criticized since Week 1. Most of the ire has been aimed at offensive coordinator Brian Johnson and that's warranted, more or less. His play calling inside the opposing team's 20-yard line has been bland and hasn't placed his players in the best position to be successful.
22 Eagles red zone trips during the first six weeks of the NFL season only amounted to ten touchdowns, but Philly did a much better job in Week 7.
Here's a look at what Philly has done in the red zone so far this season.
Realistically, you can probably knock off one or two of these trips because the Eagles weren’t necessarily trying to score in those situations. They were simply attempting to kill the clock, but even with that being said, if we did so, they would still have a red zone conversion rate of less than 50%.
Week | RZ trips | RZ TDs |
|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 1 |
2 | 4 | 3 |
3 | 5 | 1 |
4 | 2 | 1 |
5 | 6 | 2 |
6 | 3 | 2 |
7 | 6 | 4 |
Look at Week 7… The numbers say six trips to the red zone, but it was really just five. Their final trip ended with victory formation. Anywho, they scored on four of the other five attempts, and it doesn't get much better than that.
Everything got off to a slow start in Week 7. If you found yourself in an expletive-ridden tirade, you were not alone. The first red zone trip consisted of a Jalen Hurts option run, a Kenny Gainwell run, and a QB draw. It was puzzling. The Eagles forced THEMSELVES to kick a field goal.
After that drive? Sheesh, the Birds turned red zone trips into field trips; it was just fun. We saw a 19-yard Dallas Goedert touchdown thanks to a tight end screen. We saw a Brotherly Shove after A.J. Brown's tremendous 33-yard near-touchdown was overturned. We saw a 14-yard A.J. Brown touchdown catch to gain the lead. Then we saw Kenny Gainwell pirouette his way into the endzone as a dagger in the Dolphins’ heart to kill the game.
Maybe it was the kelly green uniforms that changed the Eagles' red zone performance. Maybe it was the Dolphins' defense showing that they're glorified Swiss cheese. Maybe it's offensive coordinator Brian Johnson realizing that his offense doesn't have to rely solely on Jalen Hurts running up the teeth of the defense. Hopefully, it's the latter, but it's probably a mix of all three. The Birds impress with a Week 7 win, and everyone's smiling in Philly.
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