Why Eagles WRs coach has been so proud of his superstars this year

https://sports.yahoo.com/why-eagles-wrs-coach-proud-070000880.html

Why Eagles WRs coach has been so proud of his superstars this year originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

NEW ORLEANS — During Aaron Moorehead’s final two seasons as a player in the NFL, he remembers going home to Chicago and running into Bears players in the city.

In particular, he remembers them talking about playing with Devin Hester.

“The guys on the kickoff return team and the punt return team would block so hard for Devin Hester because they knew he had a chance to go the distance every time he touched the ball,” the Eagles’ receivers coach said to NBC Sports Philadelphia on Super Bowl Opening Night.

During 2006 and 2007 — Moorehead’s final two seasons as an NFL receiver with the Colts — Hester was an All-Pro and put together a wild two-year run as a return man. Over 32 games, Hester returned 7 punts and 4 kickoffs for touchdowns.

Hester was the ultimate home run threat and his teammates blocked with the understanding that their individual effort could help get him into the end zone.

Moorehead has brought up Hester in his receiver room this year. Because the Eagles this season have the biggest home run threat in the NFL. Saquon Barkley has seven touchdown runs of 60+ yards this season and the rest of the league has 10.

That has really helped the Eagles’ receivers, even stars A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, have the mindset to really block for their All-Pro running back in this Super Bowl season. And some of those blocks from receivers have helped to spring him.

“Yeah the base was there, but knowing that Saquon can score every time if he gets through and we get our blocks, I think makes it easier,” Moorehead said. “They get mad if they don’t get a good block. You gotta put them in good positions and they’ve really been appreciative of what Saquon’s done and they know how good of a player he is and they know how important he is to our team.

“They still want to get targets and they still want to get touches as every good wideout does, but they have talent a lot of pride in their blocking and understanding that we do have a role in some of those yards that he has. They take pride in that and it’s pretty cool.”

The Eagles began this season with a pass-first offense through the first four games of the season. Jalen Hurts averaged 33 passing attempts per game before the bye week and he hasn’t thrown that many passes in a single game since.

Since the bye, the Eagles have become a run-first team and that obviously isn’t going to be the favorite kind of offense for wide receivers, who always want the football. But as the season went on this year, Brown and Smith really began to take pride in blocking for their MVP-candidate running back.

“They’ve been as selfless of a group as I’ve ever been a part of, especially with two superstars in the room,” Moorehead said. “They know they could have 1,500 yards a season. And to be honest, if A.J. hadn’t gotten hurt, he would have had a 1,500-yard season.

“It’s pretty cool to watch their development as men and understand that there are things that are for the greater good of the team. You can be a person who’s chasing stats and that’s all you want and be on a team that’s not very good. No one wants that. They’ve appreciated the fact that we’re winning.”

Brown this season was a second-team All-Pro and in 13 games had 67 catches for 1,079 yards and 7 touchdowns. Smith in 13 games had 68 catches for 833 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Moorehead wouldn’t go as far as to say he ever had to smooth over any frustration from his star wideouts but did say there have been some moments where he had to remind them why they were doing what they were doing.

There’s trust between Moorehead and his top receivers. If they feel like they have a good matchup against their corner in a particular game, they tell Moorehead and he passes it up the chain of command. But the receivers also know not to abuse that relationship — it can’t be every game and every series.

It’s also hard to argue with the results. Since the Eagles went to this run-heavy offense they have won 15 of 16 games, their running back became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards and they’re about to play in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

“It’s a lot easier when you’re winning games than when you’re not,” Moorehead said. “That’s been a big help to say the least. There’s still a lot of targets and I feel like those guys understand they just have to make the best use of those targets. If the ball’s in the air, it’s gotta be yours. You may not be getting 12-15 targets a game like some of the other guys in the league. So if you’re only getting 8-10, you’ve got to make them count.

“There may be a game where you only get 6 and you’ve got to make those 6 count. I think they’ve done a great job of that too. If they have a game where they don’t have a lot of targets, we hope to increase them the next game a little bit and kind of keep the balance going. They’ve been very selfless and I really appreciate those guys for that.”

https://sports.yahoo.com/why-eagles-wrs-coach-proud-070000880.html