Is there any reason to believe Eagles' offense can find itself in postseason?

Is there any reason to believe Eagles' offense can find itself in postseason? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Can the Eagles’ offense magically figure things out and become productive, efficient and competent in the postseason after sputtering all year?

I don’t see how.

I don’t see how this offense is going to magically figure things out against the kind of teams you face in the postseason.

I don’t see how you can expect to just flip a switch and suddenly start moving the ball and finishing drives and scoring points against top defenses.

I don’t see how Kevin Patullo can magically morph into the sort of elite play caller you need to win playoff games.

Every conversation about the Eagles right now includes some form of the phrase, “They’re only going to go as far as the defense can take them.”

And there’s no other way to look at it. The Eagles’ only chance at a deep playoff run is if Vic Fangio’s unit continues playing otherworldly football and shutting teams down on a regular basis. And it’s not impossible. For only the third time since 1939, the Eagles won three games this year when the offense managed 16 or fewer points.

And I see no reason the defense won’t keep playing at this level. They’re on fire right now. But it’s asking an awful lot of the defense to just keep carrying this team on its back. Honestly, it’s asking too much. Because this offense has been so consistently terrible that even this defense can’t overcome their ineptitude.

The Eagles have faced six teams this year that currently have a winning record, averaging 16.7 points and 293 net yards and converting 32 percent on third down in those six games.

They scored 20 offensive points just once against those teams – 26 vs. the Rams in their comeback win back in Week 3. Since then, 15 vs. the Broncos, 10 vs. the Packers, 15 vs. the Bears, 19 vs. the Chargers, 13 vs. the Bills.

Sure, the offense looked functional against the Raiders, Commanders and Giants. You don’t get to play the Raiders, Commanders and Giants in the playoffs.

All year, we’ve kept saying, with this kind of talent, the offense has to get going. With Jalen and A.J. and DeVonta and Dallas and Saquon and that offensive line? How could it not? They’re loaded with talent on that side of the ball.

But we’re still waiting. And week after week we get the same tired explanations about struggling on first down, falling behind the sticks, and penalties and putting the players in better position to make plays.

And now we’re supposed to believe that after four months of inefficiency and inadequacy the Eagles’ offense is going to suddenly figure things out just because it’s the playoffs?

It doesn’t work that way.

On Wednesday, Nick Sirianni was asked if he believes the offense can kick into gear in the postseason after such a dismal regular season. He said he does believe it can happen and he used last year as an example, when the Eagles were at their best in the postseason.

But the offense last year averaged 24.6 points per game during the regular season against playoff-bound teams before going nuts in the playoffs, as opposed to 16.7 points this year vs. playoff teams. That’s a difference of a touchdown per game. Not quite the same. That was a good offense that took off in the postseason. This is a terrible offense.

I do have faith in this defense to keep the Eagles in every game. They’re playing out of their minds and getting better each week, and they’ll go into the playoffs having allowed an NFL-low 14.5 points per game since Week 9.

But there’s no margin for error right now. The defense is going into every game against good teams knowing that they have to be almost perfect to make up for an offense that we just saw gain 16 yards after halftime in Buffalo.

The offense hasn’t gotten better, hasn’t grown, hasn’t progressed. It’s actually worse now than the first few weeks of the season. They’ve tried week after week to fix it and they’ve failed. So how can we expect them to miraculously fix it now, 18 weeks into the season?

You can get away with elite defense and hapless offense against the Commanders or Raiders or Giants. Not against the teams they could face in the postseason.

Since 1961, the Eagles are 2-18 in the postseason when they score fewer than 20 points, with the wins coming in the conference semifinal round against the Falcons in 2017 – think Jalen Mills on Julio Jones on the final play – and the wild-card game Chicago in 2018 – think Double Doink.

So, yeah, maybe they can steal a 17-13 wild-card win and conceivably a 15-12 squeaker in the second round. But the only goal for this team all year has been to get back to the Super Bowl and win another one.

And with this offense, this hapless, plodding, bumbling offense, that’s just not going to happen.

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