The Numbers Philadelphia Eagles Hoodie , a weekly, stats-based game preview I do for Bleeding Green Nation. For more about the stats I use (and why I use them) to make my “armchair coach” observations, check out an archive of previous posts in this series here.Week 7 In HindsightI’ll be honest - I didn’t devote any attention to football for the rest of Sunday and all through Monday. I didn’t watch the late games, or Sunday Night Football. I barely checked my fantasy scores. I didn’t read a single football-related article on Monday. I don’t think I’ve ever been as disgusted with an Eagles loss as I was yesterday. Not even the Titans game earlier this year or the Joe Webb game in 2010. Or the Redskins game in 2008. I could go on, but you get the idea.What’s so frustrating is how hard this team is to figure out. On offense they look efficient and methodical. The defense gets pressure. Carson Wentz is having a better start to this season than he did in his MVP-caliber season last year. And yet, they fail to play complete games against scrappy teams. They’ve blown two 17-point leads. They haven’t beaten a team with more than 2 wins. The offense has only managed to score more than 21 points on one occasion. None of these facts feel right. But they are.It’s easy to blame yesterday’s loss on the defense for giving up 3 fourth quarter touchdowns. They definitely deserve their fair share of the blame, but at the same time, this “three score lead” was 17-0. Can we really expect to win games scoring 17 points in today’s NFL? Are the replacements in the secondary good enough to play a complete game? With their experience, should we expect them to be?This is a complicated issue, but the two biggest problems seem to be the lack of the big play (where have you been, Aggy?) and the unreliability on defense. In other words, this team is bland. They are effective, but lack the capability to give themselves a shot in the arm when they need one. The closest they came on Sunday was when Wentz baited the Panthers into a pass interference call deep down the field. It wasn’t even a completed pass. This, coupled with an injured and young defense that simply does not have the talent or experience to make plays consistently, has the makings of an efficient team that will beat you in the most boring way possible. The natural side effect of this is that if you can actually make the game interesting, you’ll probably beat them. Unless you’re the Colts. Because they’re bad.I’m not ready to blame Doug - he hasn’t shown any signs of being less aggressive than he as last season - but it seems obvious now he really misses the brain trust of Reich and DeFilippo. If things don’t turn around soon, he might need to shake things up with how he delegates game-planning responsibilities to the coaching staff. It’s becoming quite apparent that this team is lacking an “X” factor that they had last year in spades.With all that being said, it’s my turn to play coach as the team prepares to play the Jaguars in London. Bold-faced statistics indicate that team has the advantage, while numbers in parenthesis are the league rank.Game Preview: Jacksonville JaguarsThe Eagles have a decent advantage (almost) across the board, with the exception of sack percentage, and even that’s not that big of a difference. YPA is about even, although the Jaguars quarterback situation is in flux and the Eagles started Nick Foles for two games, so that might not be reliable. And while the Eagles’ 16.5 Y/PT is nothing to sneeze at Customized Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys , Jacksonville’s 21.4 Y/PT is downright abysmal. They are essentially needing two drives starting as touchbacks just to score a touchdown. There is also one more factor to consider not mentioned here: the Wembley Effect. This will be the fourth straight year the Jaguars play in London. They know the routine and how to deal with the time change. They have won their last three games at Wembley, including a total thrashing of the Baltimore Ravens last season. It’s not a “real” stat, but it is a real advantage at this point that we must consider going into this game. But now, for the actual game plan.Eagles OffenseIt’s tough to discern exactly what the Eagles should do on offense. The stats tell one story, and it’s clear that recently the eye test reveals the Jaguars have been struggling, but at the same time Jacksonville has one of the most talented defenses in the league. Do you plan around what they have been capable of historically? Or do you throw that to the wind and go off what we’ve seen in recent weeks?Personally, I think the Eagles need to risk a shock to their system. The Jaguars have been generating pressure at a rate similar to the Panthers and I felt the Eagles handled that very well. Carson often had time to throw and a clean pocket. As long as the early returns are similar in London, dial up some deep passes to liven up the offense and let the Jaguars know you’re not afraid to attack them. I know this has been the opposite of what I’ve been saying for the past month, but now that the offensive line has shown demonstrable improvement, I think they can afford to change things up a little bit.Of course, this isn’t Madden. I’m not suggesting they go “four verts” on every play. The screen game proved effective last Sunday against Carolina and I think that’s something they should continue to develop, especially since the Jaguars have the talent up front to bottle up a traditional ground game. Screens and bombs also complement each other quite well, and I think they can work in tandem to mitigate the aggressiveness of the defense.Eagles DefenseIf the Eagles need “a shot in the arm” on offense, the Jaguars need a punch in the face. I cannot overstate how bad their Y/PT is. Their figure of 21.4 is a full yard more than the next-worst team, the Oakland Raiders. If there was a team that needed a big play to reinvigorate themselves, it’s the Jaguars, which means that preventing long passes should be the Eagles’ top priority. In recent weeks they’ve done much better at defending the deep routes, but have still given up large catch-and-runs, including old friend Torrey Smith’s devastating fourth down reception last week. Dede Westbrook is very much in the Torrey Smith mold, so a focus on surer tackling in practice should be a focal point of game preparation. Blake Bortles seems to be hot-and-cold with his confidence, so keeping everything in front of them and forcing him to dink and dunk his way down the field should help them in the red zone, where the Eagles are either “very good” or “very bad.” They’ll need the very good red zone defense to win on Sunday, especially if the Jacksonville defense suddenly wakes up.Closing ThoughtsOverall www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com , this has been a disappointing start to the season. It sucks that, for some reason, they have to figure out how to close out and win games all over again. The offense just isn’t scoring at the rate we’re accustomed to - even with Carson’s improved play - and the defense simply does not seem to have enough talent on the back end to play a complete game. As weird as it is to say, maybe the Eagles suffered all the “right” injuries last year, and all the “wrong” ones this year. It might be easier for Schwartz to adjust for injured linebackers than it is for him to adjust to a banged up secondary. Likewise, Pederson might be more adept at covering for injured linemen and quarterbacks than he is at making up for injuries at other skill positions. We won’t know for sure until we see how they fare in the second half of the season.On that note, not all is lost. This is certainly not the start we wanted - or expected - but the NFC East kind of sucks again this year. They have 5 division matchups in their last 8 games to take control of their path to the playoffs. It’s also important to remember that the NFL season is often a tale of two halves. The 2013 Eagles started 3-5 before going on a 7-1 tear to close out the season, and in as recently as the 2016 season the Falcons were 5-4 before steamrolling their way to a Super Bowl berth that they reasonably should have won. This Eagles team is as talented as both of those (if not more), so there’s no reason why they can’t turn the corner for the home stretch. I still have faith that we can see the Eagles hosting a playoff game at the Linc in January.Do you? The Eagles have had a few days off since their win over the New York Giants, and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz spoke to the media on Monday to talk about some of the improvements he wants his group to make, and what makes preparing for the Panthers so challenging.Here’s what the DC had to say:On Avonte Maddox at safetySchwartz noted that on a short week, the team did what they had to do in terms of personnel decisions. He went on to say that he should really tip his hat to Maddox, as he was the guy who probably had the most on his plate on Thursday, not just in terms of playing safety but also to move over into the nickel without taking any reps there.He went on to say that Maddox’s flexibility there was a big reason the Eagles won that game. Schwartz then talked about the big tackle Maddox made to force the Giants to kick a field goal, and the DC noted that the rookie saved them four points, but that’s what a free safety is supposed to do.He continued, “That’s one of the things we liked about him, his range, he’s tough. He’s not the biggest guy in the world, but he plays big.”Schwartz was then asked what about Maddox off the field that made them so comfortable giving him so much responsibility as a rookie. He went on to say that Maddox is a smart guy and is mature beyond his years, and since he’s gotten to Philadelphia there hasn’t been a situation that was “too big” for him. Schwartz also lauded Maddox as having a great attitude, and when they asked him to take reps at safety he just said, “okay”.He talked about players like that with low blood pressure Philadelphia Eagles Womens T-Shirt , who just go about their business, and it serving them well on the field.Schwartz was asked why they moved the rookie safety to the slot, as opposed to a veteran guy, but the DC noted that the rookie took all those snaps in training camp. He also pointed out that based on the corners they had and the matchups they were looking at, they thought Maddox at nickel made the most sense.He continued to talk about how Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills are both young players, but they do have a bit more experience, and so he tried to put the hat on those guys a little more. Schwartz did say they could get a little more help to the slot than they could on the outside.Defense vs. the GiantsSchwartz was asked how they get production out of a very young group — noting that Malcolm Jenkins was the only defensive back over the age of 24 to play on Thursday. The DC wasn’t willing to give out any gold stars just yet, and noted that the group has plenty of things to work on still.He did say that it’s a committed group of guys, and the veterans (read: older guys) who are sidelined with injuries are sure to help coach up some of their teammates and getting them ready. Schwartz emphasized, as he’s done in the past, that it’s a group effort moreso than based off of any one individual performance, and that the players among the group being so close helps drive that team mentality.He was asked about some of the missed tackles on Saquon Barkley on Thursday night, but Schwartz wouldn’t be so quick to call them misses, but rather that Barkley is just an impressive player. Schwartz noted that their game plan going into the matchup was to limit Odell Beckham Jr.’s targets, which made them more vulnerable to the run game, but that was a calculated risk they were willing to take.He said the most disappointing run from Barkley wasn’t any of those in which players “missed” the tackle, but the one where no one laid a glove on him and the rookie went for 55 yards. He continued to point out that with guys like Barkley, you just have to keep coming.“He was outstanding in that game, he was certainly all that we could handle,” Schwartz said of Barkley.On the roughing the passer callsSchwartz was asked how he coaches his pass rushers to be aggressive, while also trying to avoid a roughing the passer flag, specifically pointing to Tom Brady almost being taken down on Sunday Night Football before being let go and eventually scoring. Schwartz noted that something like that isn’t entirely new, and talked for a bit about when he was in Tennessee and they lost to Vince Young after a defender tried to avoid drawing the flag.On Carolina prepHe did go on to talk about specifically heading into the game against Carolina Philadelphia Eagles Hats , and having to prepare to face a 6-foot-5, 250-pound quarterback who’s hard enough to tackle alone, then to add in trying to avoid the roughing the passer penalties while also accounting for their designed runs, is challenging.Schwartz went on to talk about Cam Newton and how he’s opened up just about every designed run possible, and how the Panthers offense has used more quarterback designed runs than they have in the past.“To go Spinal Tap on you, they just turned their quarterback runs up to 11.”He summed up that it’s difficult to avoid those penalties, but they just have to make sure they stay within the strike zone, you can’t hit late, can’t use their head, and now have to try and shift their weight to avoid coming down on the quarterback. Schwartz admitted in the heat of battle it’s a little easier said than done, but that’s the job they have to do.Schwartz was later asked how the Panthers’ run game compares to others, and he noted that while a lot of teams are using zone reads, even in the redzone, that Carolina is a team that you can’t put constraints on based on down and distance. He was asked if Carolina’s offense looks the same or different under new OC Norv Turner, and Schwartz thinks there were significant changes this offseason. He went on to point out that there were some familiar faces, but there were also a lot of changes along the offensive line and to some of the receivers.Schwartz acknowledged that it’s not just a new offensive coordinator on the Panthers sideline, but also a lot of new personnel to account for.On injuriesSchwartz noted that the string of injuries to the defense this season is one of the reasons they emphasize cross-training and versatility in their players. He said injuries are nothing new, and it’s just a matter of when they happen and to how many people in the same position group that matter most.He was then asked when he started putting such an emphasis on cross-training, and he pointed to when offenses started using three wide receivers and it sort of took the box safety out of the equation — somewhere around the early- to mid-2000s.