October 01, 2015
As we've all seen, the Eagles have dinked and dunked their way through ugly passing performances the first three weeks of the season. It is not a revelation that they have struggled to throw the ball down the field. Still, at the risk of beating a dead horse, let's put some context on how truly awful it has been.
In 2013, the Eagles set a new NFL record with a ridiculous 80 pass plays of 20+ yards. In 2014, they had 63 pass plays of 20+ yards, which was still good for third in the NFL, but a significant dropoff from 2013. So far in 2015, they have 7, which puts them on pace for 37 on the season.
In chart form:
| Year | 20+ yard passes | Rank | 40+ yard passes | Rank |
| 2013 | 80 | 1 | 18 | 1 |
| 2014 | 63 | 3 | 13 | 5 |
| 2015 | 7 (37 projected) | 26 | 0 | Last |
While the Eagles have had seven plays of 20+ yards this season, they have not completed a single pass that traveled more than 20 yards past the line of scrimmage. In other words, all of those 20+ yard pass plays have come as a result of receivers picking up yards after the catch.
If you lower the threshold even further, on pass plays in which the ball has traveled at least 11 yards past the line of scrimmage, here are Sam Bradford's numbers this season:
| Comp | Att | Comp % | Yards | TD-INT | Rating |
| 7 | 25 | 28% | 153 | 1-3 | 26.3 |
Not only have the Eagles eschewed the deep passing game completely at times, but when they have taken rare shots down the field they have been ineffective.
More awfulness:
• The Eagles are one of only four teams without a pass play of over 40 yards this season.
• Their longest completion on the season is 32 yards, which is the shortest "long" pass play in the NFL.
• The Eagles pick up first downs on 29.1% of their pass attempts, which is third worst in the NFL.
• They're averaging 5.8 yards per pass attempt, which is second worst in the NFL.
• They've thrown the fourth-most interceptions.
The Eagles have gone from the most deadly deep passing team in the NFL in Chip Kelly's first season to one that is almost completely non-existent.
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