Eagles Camp Football
Philadelphia Eagles' Pat Shurmur speaks at a news conference before practice at NFL football training camp, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
(Matt Slocum)
PHILADELPHIA -- Thanks to some subtle schematic adjustments and simply better execution, the Eagles offensive line played it's best game of the season in Sunday's blowout win over the New Orleans Saints.
It may have taken four games, but the offensive line seemed to develop some continuity up front, despite just two games being played with Matt Tobin at right guard instead of Andrew Gardner.
Eagles center Jason Kelce repeatedly explained that perhaps he and his teammates were overthinking too much during the first quarter of the season as a reason for inconsistency up front. On Wednesday, Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur had some simple advice for his linemen.
"The mind is a dangerous thing," Shurmur said. "You've just gotta go play sometimes. This is a game for PE majors. We've gotta just go play. We've gotta be aggressive. We've gotta just go."
Sunday's offensive outburst was highlighted by 186 yards gained on the ground by running backs DeMarco Murray, Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles. However, there was potential for an even more dominant ground game due to the line opening up running lanes that at times the backs ignored by cutting in the opposite direction.
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Whether that success in the trenches continues Monday night against the Giants remains to be seen, but Shurmur stressed that simplifying things up front is going to be critical moving forward.
"We've just gotta go play," Shurmur said. "Sometimes go right or go left, or whatever your'e going to do ... And block the guy that shows. Sometimes that's just what we need to do.
"So when our guys are saying 'We've gotta do more, or we're overthinking things,' they're going past that first stage of 'go left and block a guy.' We can -complicate the game sometimes ... We've gotta block them, but the runner's gotta run, the quarterbacks are going to throw and the receivers are going to catch. That's sort of what it is."
Matt Lombardo may be reached at MDLombardo@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardo975. Find NJ.com Philadelphia Sports on Facebook
THE NO-HUDDLE SHOW, Ep. 11: Finally, a glimpse of what Eagles fans expected
There were plenty of encouraging signs in the Eagles' blowout win over the Saints. From Fletcher Cox's dominance to Josh Huff's emergence, the Eagles showed what they're capable of doing. Now the question is: Can they do it again vs. the Giants? Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher.