As the Eagles embark on the most important 4th quarter of the year (the final 4 games of the regular season), everyone seems focused on the 4th quarter struggles the Eagles have had over the past 2 weeks. I've heard all the theories, the Eagles can't play a slower tempo, the Eagles have poor clock management, Chip Kelly is taking his foot off the gas pedal, etc., etc.

For me, it's simple when you review the tape. It's all about execution. It doesn't matter how fast or slow the Eagles are going, it's not about being aggressive. It is about executing the plays as called.

In my mind, there are three keys to a successful 4-8 minute offense:

1) Don't go backwards

2) Keep moving the chains

3) Keep the clock running. Avoid going out of bounds and avoid incompletions

Honestly, I don't see the Eagles as having a 4th quarter problem. I throw the Redskins game out a bit because Chip admitted that he took the foot off the gas. Since then, we've had 2 games where we bled the clock masterfully (TB and GB) and 2 where we struggled (Cards and Redskins). It's worth taking a look at the difference between those games.

If you review the play-by-play reviews of the final drives against Tampa and Green Bay the common theme was the ability for the Eagles to stay in positive yardage situations which lead to manageable down and distances. When you review the Redskins and the Cards game, you see lots of negative plays setting up unmanageable downs and distances.

And that's why it all comes back to execution. Let's have a look, starting with the Redskins game.

By the time the Eagles got their first possession of the 4th quarter, they held a comfortable 24-0 lead. This is where the Eagles had to start considering eating up the clock.

On 2nd and 10 of that drive, this happened:

Holding. #79 offense. 10 yard penalty, repeat 2nd down. 2nd and 20. The Eagles violate key #1, Don't go backwards. However, despite 2nd and 20, the Eagles get 19 yards on their next 2 attempts setting up a 4th and 1.

Is this where people are complaining that Chip isn't aggressive enough in th 4th quarter? If anything, I think we should have punted, but Chip decided to keep the foot on the gas and go for it on 4th and 1. Bryce has an initial hole:

but London Fletcher fills it:

Hey, the other guys get paid too.

Fast forward to 12:56 of the 4th quarter. Redskins just scored their first TD and the score is now 24-8.

1st and 10 and Daryl Tapp, yes, Darryl Tapp beats Jason Peters, yes, Jason Peters, really badly:

Again, Rule #1: Don't lose yards is broken. It's now 2nd and 16.

However, the Eagles work themselves out of that rut and get a 1st down 2 plays later. Nick gains a few more yards on a couple of zone read keepers, and then this on 2nd and 7. Players needs to know the situation. Get positive yards and live to play another down.

McCoy has a bit of a seam. Put your head down and take the 2 yards.

Instead, McCoy stops, makes a guy miss:

He now has a second chance, to steal a couple of yards and get down. He has a couple places to go:

Instead, he chooses to cut it outside and runs backwards. This is GREEDY football:

The result is a 5 yard loss, setting up a 3rd and 12 that we don't convert. Honestly, Shady should have went to the bench for this move. He has no business being outside the hash marks given the situation:

So in conclusion of the Redskins game, I don't think it was play-calling, poor coaching decisions, or clock management, or tempo. It came down to execution and the Eagles didn't execute.

***

Let's have a look at the Cards game. 4th Quarter, 24-14 game 13 minutes to go. McCoy rips off a big run. However, Jason Avant feels the need to push his man in the back instead of just walling him off. Block in the back, 10 yard penalty. Moving backwards.

Later on the drive, we run a bit of a new wrinkle play that probably needs a bit more time for practice. As Derek Sarley pointed out, the timing hasn't been worked out on this yet. The Cards blitz and essentially give you the look you want, but Cooper is not looking back for the ball. Foles has to eat it and take a sack.

Here on 3rd down, the Cards beat us on a stunt. They've been beating teams all year on this stuff. Again, the other guys get paid too:

Fast forward to the 10:00 mark of the 4th quarter. Still 24-14. Shady is at it again. On this drive, we ran a lot of the sift block plays that Sheil highlighted where Casey comes across the formation and takes out the unblocked defender (yellow arrow). He has three options here; red, purple, and blue.

Which do you think he takes?:

And then there is this play. Running Bryce Brown directly into the unblocked defender. That can't be by design!

Finally, 4:45 of the 4th quarter. We are nervous now. It's 24-21. And more going backwards. #56 beats Kelce through the A gap:

and tackles McCoy for a loss:

Then, we've been setting up this play on the previous series where we ran a bunch of plays with the TE coming across the formation on the sift block. This time, Celek leaves Abraham unblocked:

But #56 isn't fooled. He immediately takes the Celek option away, Abraham explosed onto Foles and sheer disaster almost occurs:

Thank you Honey Badger!!!

Finally, on 3rd and 3 of that drive, Kelly decides to go back to the bread and butter. Inside zone read. And once again, here's my Mike Vick plug. Check out what the Eagles receivers do on the bottom of the screen. They aren't running anything other than "get to the sidelines and open up the field for Foles as much as possible" routes. Problem is, Cardinals have the scrape exchange, and Washington is spying Foles:

Check out that gaping hole, and it's Foles vs. Washington 1-on-1. I think we know who wins that match-up:

Cards got one more shot because we couldn't convert that play. Luckily the defense (and refs) bailed us out.