Can anybody other than A.J. or DeVonta catch the football? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
If it’s not A.J. or DeVonta, who is it?
Since Dallas Goedert’s injury – and really to a great extent before it – the Eagles’ passing game has revolved almost exclusively around their two star wide receivers.
Over the last five games – two of which DeVonta Smith missed – A.J. Brown and Smith have 622 receiving yards and no other Eagle has more than 66. Total.
Nineteen times this year an Eagle has had at least 64 receiving yards in a game. Ten times it’s been Brown. Seven times it’s been Smith. Once it was Dallas Goedert and once Grant Calcaterra.
On Sunday in Washington, Brown had 97 yards, Smith had 51 and Kenny Gainwell 6. It was the first time in 27 years the Eagles didn’t have a third player with at least 10 receiving yards.
That last happened Week 2 of 1997 in a 10-9 win over the Packers at the Vet. Irving Fryar had 125 yards, Michael Timpson had 18 and nobody else reached double figures.
Nick Sirianni doesn’t seem to mind not having a legit third option beyond Brown and Smith. At least that’s what he says.
“The pass game is always going to run through those guys,” Siriianni said Thursday. “They’re such dynamic players. I think what’s unique about us is that not a lot of teams have two 1A receivers like we do. So you want to give them opportunities. You want to give them chances.”
And they’ve gotten them. Smith has 92 targets in 12 games and Smith has 82 in 12 games. But the Eagles are one of only five teams that has only two players with 50 or more targets.
Wouldn’t it help to give other people chances? To help draw coverage away from Brown and Smith and keep defenses honest?
That just hasn’t happened lately.
Goedert had 301 yards in four games before the bye but just 140 in five games since the bye. He’s been out the last three weeks but will be eligible to return from Injured Reserve next week.
His replacement, Grant Calcaterra, had 67 yards against the Browns and 58 vs. the Giants but just 38 yards the last seven games.
Saquon Barkley, who once caught 91 passes in a season with the Giants, has had 12 receiving yards or less nine times this year and has just two catches for 19 yards the last three weeks.
Jahan Dotson, who the Eagles acquired from Washington for a 3rd-round pick, has 24 total yards the last six games and is averaging 8.1 yards per game this year. He’s on track to become the first wide receiver since Andre Patton of the Chargers in 2019 to play more than 500 snaps with fewer than 130 yards. Patton was briefly with the Eagles in training camp in 2021.
Gainwell had 40 yards vs. the Steelers but only 62 yards against everybody else this year.
The last Eagles wide receiver other than Brown or Smith with 40 yards in a game – just 40 yards! – is Quez Watkins, who did it the last day of last season, mainly after Sirianni inserted the backups.
The Eagles are the only NFL team without a third player who has at least 125 yards. The last team to go an entire season with only two WRs with 125 or more yards was the 2013 49ers, with Anquon Boldin and Michael Crabtree.
Last time the Eagles didn’t have a third wide receiver with at least 125 yards was 1992, when Fred Barnett had 1,083 and Calvin Williams 598 but veteran Roy Green was third with 105 in half a season.
Defenses love when an offense only has a couple legitimate weapons. It just makes them more predictable and easier to defend.
Smith and Brown are so good they’ve been able to continue making plays when they’ve been healthy. But imagine if Dotson or Barkley or Goedert could produce consistently in the passing game?
It would help the offense in so many ways.
“I feel good about Saquon being a threat to catch the football, no doubt,” Sirianni said. “I feel really good when Dallas is in and Grant Calcaterra, they’re threats to catch the football, and you kind of combine their stats and see the production they’ve had.
“I do still feel really good about our third wide receiver with Jahan and the other guys that are filling into that role as well. Different things call for some different guys to be in there.
“A lot of different options for us to be able to throw the ball to. That’s a good problem to have.”
Options? Sure. Production? Not lately.
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