Eagles Mailbag: Who Is To Blame for Philadelphia’s Offensive Woes?

The Philadelphia Eagles are 2-0 with wins over an NFC East rival and in a Super Bowl rematch. Yet the biggest topic of discussion among Eagles’ fans is the offensive struggles through the first two weeks of the regular season.

Eagles first-year OC Kevin Patullo has been the easy target for criticism, although it isn’t entirely his fault. I’ll discuss the offensive issues, potential moves at TE and much more in my Eagles mailbag ahead of Week 3.

While it’s easy to blame Patullo for the issues with Philadelphia’s offense through the first two weeks of the regular season, he isn’t the only person at fault. During a recent livestream for “The Philly Special Show,” I mentioned that Patullo is the OC, but he’s essentially operating with one hand tied behind his back.

The other hand is a mixture of both Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts, as the both of them have a massive say in Philadelphia’s offense. Therefore, it’s hard to say who the offense revolves around more. There are multiple chefs in the kitchen and they each have a say in how the meal is prepared each week.

I’ll go with a little polite chuckle for now. But in all seriousness, it just feels premature to call for Patullo’s job or put all of the blame for the offense’s struggles on him. The issues with Philadelphia’s passing game aren’t new and exclusive to a Patullo-led offense.

Through the first two weeks of the regular season, Hurts has completed 75.6% of his passes for 253 passing yards. While that’s a disappointing passing yardage total, Hurts threw for less passing yards over a two-game span twice under Kellen Moore last season.

Philadelphia’s offense struggled mightily to consistently move the ball through the air in 2024. Yet the Eagles were still able to make plays when it mattered most and win Super Bowl LIX. It’s far too early to panic about the passing struggles in Philadelphia.

There have been plenty of suggestions tossed out by many people about improvements to the passing game. The coaching staff and Hurts could certainly do a better job of attacking the middle of the field and being less obvious with the play-calling from certain pre-snap alignments.

It’s also important to point out that we’re just two weeks into the regular season. There is plenty of time for the team to evolve and make changes along the way.

One potential tweak that I went on a passionate rant about during the latest livestream is the usage of Grant Calcaterra. If the Eagles aren’t going to throw the ball to him, he has essentially become useless due to his inability as a blocker. They’re better off putting a different TE (Kylen Granson or Cameron Latu) or a sixth OL (Fred Johnson) on the field instead of Calcaterra.

The Eagles couldn’t have hoped for much more from both Jihaad Campbell and Drew Mukuba at this point in their NFL careers. Both players have made plays throughout the first two weeks of the regular season, while also being able to avoid any catastrophic mistakes.

Campbell had a stronger performance than Mukuba in Week 1. Yet Mukuba made noise with a huge game against the Kansas City Chiefs last week. It’s safe to say that Philadelphia’s front office is likely very happy with both players thus far.

Eagles undrafted WR Darius Cooper showed promise during the preseason but it’s often hard for those players to have established roles on a championship contender. There are already concerns about Philadelphia getting the ball to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, so it’s hard to envision a role for Cooper just yet.

On the bright side, Cooper did see the field more in his second regular season game. After playing just two offensive snaps in Week 1, Cooper played 12 snaps against the Chiefs. Although he was a run blocker on 10 of those plays, primarily on “Tush Push” attempts.

Philadelphia’s defense can absolutely be the #1 ranked defense in the NFL this season. I mentioned multiple times throughout the offseason that this Eagles’ defense potentially has a higher ceiling than last year’s unit.

While there are several new starters this year, those players have the potential to be even better than the players that they replaced. If Campbell, Mukuba, Moro Ojomo and others can continue their hot start, it’s hard to place a ceiling on Philadelphia’s defense in 2025 and beyond.

It feels like TE is one of the only weaknesses that Howie Roseman hasn’t made a notable move at in 2025. I understand that Dallas Goedert is great when healthy, but he simply isn’t available to play enough.

Both Cole Kmet and Michael Mayer would be ideal trade targets since they’re each under contract beyond this season. Yet it’s hard to envision that either player is available for trade just yet. TE is certainly a position worth monitoring closer to the trade deadline.

I’m not sure that trading for Mike Gesicki would solve any of Philadelphia’s issues at the position. Gesicki doesn’t offer much as a blocker and will turn 30-years-old in October.

If the Eagles are going to trade for a TE, my guess is that they would want to add a younger player with a more complete skillset and at least one year remaining on their current contract.

I don’t think that either scenario is very likely, but if I had to pick one, it would be that the Eagles will draft a TE in the first round. There are several impressive TEs expected to enter the 2026 NFL Draft, currently headlined by Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq.

While many want to see Johnny Wilson moved to TE because of his size, I don’t think it makes sense to move him there just yet. Part of the reason why the Eagles drafted Wilson is because of the rare size that he brings at WR. If he changes positions, Wilson will no longer stand out among the rest due to his size.