Eagles air frustrations as passing attack struggles

PHILADELPHIA — Frustration about a passing attack that has yet to hit its stride bubbled to the surface for members of the Eagles following Sunday’s narrow win over the Carolina Panthers.

The Eagles have won nine straight games to improve to 11-2. The ground game, led by MVP candidate Saquon Barkley, continues to hum. The defense has played above expectation all season.

An aerial attack that features some top-tier players, including receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, saw its struggles continue Sunday as quarterback Jalen Hurts finished with 108 yards on 21 passing attempts.

The ground game, meanwhile, racked up 209 yards, averaging 6.7 yards per attempt, on an afternoon when Barkley set a new franchise record for rushing yards in a single season (1,623).

So what’s missing?

“Being on the same page,” said Smith, who later noted he was talking about this week specifically. “Thinking the same. Seeing the right signals. Just going out there and making it work.”

The Eagles entered Week 14 with an NFL-low 307 passing attempts on the season. Given the team’s success and Barkley’s prowess, the receivers have taken their reduced roles in stride.

There were a couple instances when Brown cleanly beat 1-on-1 coverage and was not targeted. He did not have a pass thrown to him until the waning moments of the first half. He tossed his helmet after coming off the field following a three-and-out in the second quarter.

“Passing,” Brown said, on what the offense needs to improve on.

When asked how hard it is for a receiver to get into a rhythm when the offense isn’t passing the ball much, Brown responded: “Incredibly tough.”

The standards are high among a gifted group of players with championship aspirations. It’s not a big surprise, then, that Smith’s takeaway postgame, which echoed the thoughts of several others, is that “offensively, we need to be better.”

“I think [the Panthers] did a good job; I think we did a bad job,” Hurts said of the passing game. “That starts with me, how I execute. Ultimately, you yearn and I yearn for better synchronization, for a more complimentary style of ball, in a sense.

“You know, some things don’t get you until it gets you. And there’s definitely been some urgency there, trying to figure it out. And got to keep climbing and trying to progress.”

So should the conversation of being on the same page be happening this late into the season?

“No,” Hurts replied. “I’ll just say no.”