Why Kevin Patullo scrapped the script when Eagles faced the Cowboys
Sure seemed like that 15-play script worked wonders on opening day. The Eagles’ first 15 offensive snaps against the Cowboys Thursday night generated one touchdown drive and a good chunk of a second touchdown drive.
Gotta love that offensive script.
Or maybe not.
Turns out there was no script.
First-time Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo said he didn’t use a pre-set menu of plays to open the game since the Eagles’ coaches didn’t know what the Cowboys’ defense would look like with 1st-time defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, the former Bears head coach.
“The first drive was not scripted,” Patullo said Tuesday. “It was a little more of what was happening and what we were getting and kind of challenging them a little bit vs. what we were seeing.”
You’re going to get more unscouted looks on opening day than any other week. As teams play more and more games, opposing coaches have a better and better idea of what to expect. Especially when a team has a new staff, like the Cowboys.
If you don’t know what the defense is going to look like, it doesn’t make sense to script the offense.
Patullo said there will be times he dials up plays off a script to open a game and there will be times he doesn’t.
It all depends on the opponent, the opposing staff, the time of year and situation and his comfort level with how that opponent is going to try and defend the Eagles.
“Really, every drive is a little bit different,” he said. “Sometimes we’re trying to see what they’re doing, sometimes you get a feel for what they’re doing rather quickly. I think it was a little bit of a balance of both, and we were able to kind of see what was going on and kind of plan the next couple of things from there.”
There were a lot of positives from the offense Thursday night.
The Eagles scored touchdowns on their first three drives, got points on their first four and converted 62 percent of their third downs. Jalen Hurts completed 82 percent of his passes and ran for two touchdowns. They scored on every drive before the hour-long weather delay.
But … then there’s the A.J. Brown issue.
The Eagles’ superstar receiver didn’t get a target until after the two-minute warning and caught only the one eight-yard pass that set up Jalen Hurts’ clinching scramble.
Patullo said that while it’s important to get Brown involved – as well as DeVonta Smith – it didn’t make sense in that game to force the ball to anybody.
“Going in, we had a fair share of things that were going to go to (Brown) as the primary, and sometimes games play out like that and that’s kind of how it was,” he said.
“We don’t ever want to force it. If it’s one of those games where you’re trying not to force it and you’re being productive and you’re staying on track, the guys understand. He played his butt off, too. He knew what was going on and just the way it was, and then we were moving the ball and being efficient.
“You always put that in mind when you start the game plan. Like this week, ‘Hey, he’s the guy, this is where we want to go with it.’ Once the game starts to unfold, you just kind of play it accordingly.”
And the way it turned out, Patullo felt it made sense to go conservative and stick to the running game and short passing game as the Eagles’ defense began dominating.
Punt it and play defense wasn’t the strategy when the game began, but it ended up working.
“Each game is different going into it,” he said. “You think you’re going to get one thing, you may get another. So in-game, you’ve got to make those adjustments and just let it play out, so you don’t ever want to stress anything like that too, too much because then you can create bad habits (by forcing things).
“We were pretty efficient for the most part. … You really just want to look at, ‘How do we stay on track and advance the ball and do what we need to?’ As long as that continues, that’s kind of the goal.”
Why Kevin Patullo scrapped the script when Eagles faced the Cowboys
