When the Eagles hired Doug Pederson as their rookie head coach, it was an attempt to regain the stabiliy that Andy Reid gave them for a long time.
Unfortunately, what else came with a Reid protégé was some of the same old Reid mistakes: Being too conservative most of the time, and with it, not knowing how or when to be aggressive.
If you thought Pederson's offensive play-calling and overall decision-making were shaky when his team blew a big lead against the Cowboys last week, he managed to outdo himself against the Giants on Sunday.
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That 3-0 start with his rookie quarterback Carson Wentz getting tons of praise has been replaced with an absolute mess as Philadelphia has lost four of five since its bye week to fall to 4-4. That's a quick first to worst in the tough NFC East with the Eagles' once promising playoff hopes all but dashed.
Even worse, the Eagles' defense has given them every chance to win those games. Their losses have all been by one possession, by a total 19-point margin of defeat.
Wentz had a rough start against the Giants on Sunday, throwing interceptions on two of the Eagles' first five offensive plays. But the Eagles had plenty of chances to make up for it in an eventual 28-23 loss.
For the second straight week, for the first times in his young career, Wentz had 45-plus drop backs. Pederson has failed to help his green passer grow and has gotten him out of his rhythm. The game flow hasn't forced them to go so pass-heavy and run-light. There's a lot of predictability and lack of creativity.
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The Eagles were able to get away with dinking and dunking in their wins, when their defense and special teams did everything that was necessary. But now everyone knows the same thing is coming.
Look at the play sheet, and it's filled with short passes or runs up the middle on early downs. When they often add up to minimal yardage, that sets up Wentz to see a lot more uncomfortable third downs.
The Eagles are also trying to force Darren Sproles into a busy power back role, when he's more effective as a third-down change of pace runner and outlet receiver. The few times Pederson trusts Wentz to throw down field, it's been often low-percentage situations to the wrong personnel. Ryan Mathews isn't used enough beyond goal-line situations and Jordan Matthews is thrown to too much in the same slot spots.
There's a bit of an identity crisis, too. While the Eagles enjoyed their best deep ball successes of the season against the Giants, there also was the inexplicable forcing of zone-read wrinkles for Wentz. It shouldn't have taken this long for them to figure out that tight end Zach Ertz needed to be both Wentz's security blanket and top athletic playmaker.
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With the Eagles down 14-3 at the beginning of the second quarter in New York, the decision to go for a fourth-and-2 at the Giants' 23 instead of a field goal that would make it a one-possession game was a miscalculation. The play call was more atrocious, an outside run by Wentz for a loss of 4 yards.
It happened a few minutes later in the same quarter in a similar situation, with the score 21-10. Fourth-and-1 at the Giants' 6, and it was a failed slam of Sproles into right tackle.
Pederson might have been deemed "aggressive" for keeping his team on the field on fourth down, but then contradicted the mindset with the non-aggressive calls. Just as Pederson didn't put his team in the best position to protect or build on a lead against the Cowboys, he also didn't call for the right catchup plays against the Giants.
Pederson has put himself in the challenging position of a first-time coach also trying to be an effective first-time play-caller. Making game, personnel and scheme management all work at once comes with a higher degree of difficulty, further raised by a rookie QB.
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Chip Kelly put on a lot of helmets for the Eagles, and after a brief honeymoon, it quickly headed toward a nasty divorce. With the dual responsibility, Pederson has no choice to improve his juggling.
The Eagles brought on higher expectations for their demanding fan base with inflated success for Pederson and Wentz early against lesser opponents. The rookie reality is settling in for both, as there hasn't been much inspired development since Week 1.
Looking back to the beginning of the Reid era, he also had a rough first season in 1999 with a rookie QB Donovan McNabb before leading the Eagles to nine playoff berths in his next 11 seasons as a consistent NFC power. It's reasonable to expect that Pederson and Wentz will and should develop and mesh better in their roles.
But this also isn't the early 2000s, when the Cowboys, Giants and Redskins were totally dazed and confused. This isn't the same weak NFC East.
Wentz is already lagging behind as the second-best rookie QB in the division, trailing Dak Prescott in Dallas. New York and Washington also have more diversified and complete offenses than Philadelphia. They also have head coaches who are more established as offensive minds.
It's nice to think there's the same patience to play out in Philadelphia But in the league's most competitive and highest-profile division, Pederson has to show more signs of delivery.
So far, he's been out-coached by Jay Gruden, Jason Garrett and now Ben McAdoo head-to-head in his early critical division games. Pederson's team has both struggled with slow starts and feckless finishes.
All the attention has been on Wentz and his sudden bout with mistakes. But it's easy to see that Pederson is the one having the more brutal rookie year.
