Adrian Fedkiw
So Doug Pederson did all he could, huh?
Let’s find out.
Obviously, Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai got manhandled by the Washington Redskins’ Ryan Kerrigan throughout Sunday’s 27-20 loss. Pederson was a guest on the WIP Morning Show on Monday and explained what he did to help the rookie fifth-round pick out.
“I went through my call sheet this morning and I wanted to make sure that I was doing everything as a play caller to help Big V and I think Big V is going to be a great player. The first play of the game we had three tight ends over on his side. We ran the ball on second down, third down we ran the football. Fourth play we ran the football. We had a jet protection that we were sliding his direction. We had a chip protection on the next play. We ran a movement where Carson (Wentz) was out of the pocket. Another run, another chip to his side, another run, another run,” he said.
“I helped him as often as I could. There were going to be times where he was going to have to be a professional right tackle and play the game. And I thought after we got through a couple of series, it was rough to start. I’ll admit, it was rough to start. But once we got through a couple of series, he settled, he battled, and he fought through it. And to his credit, in the National Football League to play right tackle, I thought he did a good job. Does he have a lot to learn and a lot to fix? Sure, we all do. But, again, just looking at my call sheet here, I felt like that I gave him enough help to start this football game.”
I’m going to break down that opening drive right now.
On the first play where Carson Wentz got his jersey ripped, Brent Celek stayed in to block, while Zach Ertz and Trey Burton ran pass patterns. Pederson called a play-action and Celek wound up getting matched up 1-on-1 against Kerrigan. I’m not sure if this was a blown protection, but Celek going against Kerrigan is more of a mismatch than Vaitai being on him.
Instead of helping Jason Kelce out, Brandon Brooks should’ve been 1-on-1 against Chris Baker and Vaitai could’ve helped Celek double Kerrigan.
Pederson then called three consecutive running plays to the left, all away from Big V. While that’s understandable, it also makes the offense a bit more predictable if you’re going to run the football to the left most of the time.
And now to the jet protection. Kelce chipped Barbre’s defender and seemed to be looking for a blitzer that didn’t come. This left Brooks and Vaitai 1-on-1 and the end result was an easy sack for Kerrigan. It would’ve been ideal had Kelce slid to the right so Brooks could’ve helped out Big V. And just to comment about Vaitai’s technique, his base is too narrow and he’s standing too upright. He never seemed to get underneath Kerrigan and win the leverage battle.
The last play was a 3rd-and-18 and Ertz provided a nice chip to help Vaitai neutralize Kerrigan.
Here’s the second drive and it starts with Wentz being out of the pocket. Baker got into the backfield unabated and Vaitai seems confused whether to take on Kerrigan after the Ertz chip or Baker. It didn’t help that Brooks attempted to help out Kelce instead of block Baker.
After a cutback run to the left, Sproles does a fantastic job on his chip of Kerrigan.
The Eagles’ third series saw them go three-and-out again and Big V was left on an island on the last two plays. The first play was a play-action boot leg to the left and away from Vaitai. Kerrigan overwhelmed Vaitai on second down, putting him on skates, but the rookie did a solid job on Trent Murphy following a TE stunt on third down. This was the first time so far that Big V has held his own going 1-on-1 against a defender.
I won’t go as in depth for the second half calls, but will highlight some plays from each possession. I’ve got three plays of Vaitai getting left on an island and neither of them produced favorable results. The only chip Vaitai received was one from Dorial Green-Beckham on the play that was called back for Wendell Smallwood’s illegal block in the back. Kerrigan overpowered Vaitai with a bull rush in the first clip, was left unblocked on the second play and nearly got to the quarterback on a simple screen play by leaving Big V in the dust with an inside move.
It took until the fourth quarter and the fifth drive for Vaitai to finally get double team help. He later received a chip from Kenjon Barner on the 54-yard bomb down the right seam to Jordan Matthews.
The sixth trek saw Vaitai get a pair of chips from Sproles on the 23 and 22-yard completions to Green-Beckham and Ertz. The other pass play had Wentz get the ball out quickly, which helped Big V out because he was left 1-on-1.
Pederson said that Vaitai settled in more and more as the game went along and that actually was the case on Philly’s final possession. He looked more balanced, bent his knees and had a wider base on his two 1-on-1s against Kerrigan.
And the same was true on Vaitai’s chip help from Sproles and another play where he saw late help from Brooks.
The Eagles ran the ball just four times on the right side and Vaitai got overextended on this occasion.
In all, I don’t agree that Pederson “helped him as often as he could,” but it did seem like Vaitai looked better later on in the game. Vaitai saw a bunch of chips but not nearly enough double-team help. I’m also still trying to figure out why Celek only saw 25 percent of the snaps, he’s the Eagles’ best blocking tight end.
Pederson also elected to run the ball off the right side of the line four times, which makes the running game a bit more predictable. That’s also where Brooks is and run blocking is his strength. Philadelphia also ran the ball off the left side twice as much as it did up the middle.
Improvements clearly need to be made.