The 2021 Eagles were…not what we thought they’d be. A team that looked dead in the water halfway into the season changed their offensive philosophy to be what Eagles fans have been begging them to be for the past few years. The result was a 7-2 finish against competition that, while admittedly weak, proved that the national media and some fans (myself begrudgingly included) thought they’d be. Instead of being near the bottom of the league, Philadelphia has found itself in the playoff race. There are many reasons for this, many surprises that bloomed after being watered in the first half of the season.
OROY: Devonta Smith
I spoke about paradigm shifts in the past, and any Eagles fan who’s been watching for the past couple of years knows how terrible the wide receiver corps has been. At times, it’s been painful to watch. With that said, Devonta Smith is the rainbow after the storm that was the 2020 season. I feel like Smith would be more heavily featured if the Eagles were a more pass-heavy team, but that philosophy is what earned us a 2-5 record at the midway point. Though Smith’s usage has been somewhat low, only catching 2-3 passes in some games, that low volume usage was still rewarded by big plays down the field. Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni agrees that Smith has done well in his limited usage, and Smith if you ask Smith himself, he’d say he’s much happier winning games and seeing limited targets than losing games where he catches 100 passes.
OPOY/MIOP/BV: Jalen Hurts
The difference that (half) a season makes. At the midway point, I was hopeful yet skeptical that he could turn into the player Howie never drafted him to be. After his first year starting, Hurts has captured the locker room as well as a good portion of the fanbase. Other people have observed that Hurts has become less concerned with tucking and running when his first read isn’t there. It’s good that Hurts is maturing in the pocket, it makes me only wonder what the Eagles could do if Sirianni plays to the teams strengths the entire 2022 season year.
MIDP: Milton Williams
I’m sure we all remember the video of Howie Roseman disagreeing with Eagles Head of Scouting Tom Donahoe. Roseman went with the guy that he wanted (Milton Williams) over the apple of Donahoe’s eye (Alim Mcneill), who went one pick before. The disagreement only makes sense if Donahoe wanted to move up, but one way or another, Williams ended up being the better pick anyway, as the two have near-identical stats despite the former having four fewer starts. I’m unsure if Williams was this good from day one and just didn’t get that much of an opportunity to show his skills or if he was an athletic specimen that needed molding before he was ready, but it feels like Williams has really begun to grab the attention of Eagles fans in the past few weeks.
DPOY: Darius Slay
Nothing’s changed from the halfway point. Darius Slay is still the best and the most impactful defender we have. If I was writing articles last year, I would have called Slay the best offseason acquisition. Looking back, I find it funny that I ever had to defend Slay from people who wanted him traded/called him overrated.
The defense sadly hasn’t been worth mentioning this year, but the same fortunately can’t be said of Slay. Improving on his 2020 season, where he gave up more than 50 yards in coverage twice. Through nine weeks, Slay has yet to give up more than 30 yards to one receiver (Mike Williams: 1 catch, 49 yards). Now that Slay isn’t the only capable corner in the backfield, he has absolutely been going off this year.
Sauce Gardner, Nakobe Dean, or any other difference-maker Howie adds on defense will likely take a load off of Slay’s shoulders, which means he probably won’t be DPOY like he was this year. With that said, though Slay will likely be asked to do less next year, taking weight off of his shoulders will inevitably make the pro bowl cornerback even better.
MVP: Offensive Line
If I had to give it to a single person, it would actually be Jalen Hurts due to how much his agility and improvisation opened up the run game. If I can cheat and put an entire position group, I’d like to give a shoutout to the offensive line that helped the Eagles become the #1 rushing offense in the NFL despite not running very much in the first half of the season. It really didn’t matter who Hurts was handing off to, the line dominated regardless, and for that, I must give kudos both to the offensive line for constantly creating gaps for the halfbacks to run through, as well as Jeff Stoutland for being one of the best positional coaches in the league.
BOA: Nick Sirianni
Where were you when the Nick Sirianni flower power speech saved the Eagles season? I was nonchalantly scrolling through Twitter the moment I saw Sirianni give this little soundbite at a press conference. I foolishly decided not to entertain the thought. Or rather, perhaps not foolishly, as Sirianni felt like he was overly reliant on gimmicks early in the season, relying on pandering shirts and a “dawg mentality” mantra. Halfway through the season, though, something clicked: flower power. A combination of preaching patience and hard-nosed running pulled the Eagles out of the dirges of a long offseason. Sirianni proved over the latter half of the season that he’s not just a Roseman/Lurie puppet, that had an offensive philosophy that bore fruit (no pun intended). Somehow, out of all the hot Head Coach candidates, Sirianni is the only one that will be playing in mid/late January.
Speaking of players that take pressure off of others who are performing well, Nelson has been a decent thunder to Slay’s lighting. More accurately, Nelson has been a lightning rod of sorts, making Slay’s job easier by allowing the latter to shadow the #1 receiver all game. Based on Slay’s numbers in coverage, I’d say that the plan is working. There are issues schematically that hold the defense back, but the duo has worked as intended.
Glossary
- BOA: Best Offseason Addition
- BV: Best Value
- DPOY: Defensive Player of the Year
- OROY: Offensive Rookie of the Year
- OPOY: Offensive Player of the Year
- MIDP: Most Improved Defensive Player
- MIOP: Most Improved Offensive Player
- MVP: Most Valuable Player
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Dylan Patrowicz is a featured writer at The Birds Blitz. For more from Dylan, check out his archive and read through our Eagles articles for the latest news about the Birds.
