The Philadelphia Eagles have had tremendous success regarding "12" personnel since Doug Pederson became the head coach. The Eagles used "12" personnel on 57 percent of their offensive plays last season, which was second in the NFL.

That number has dipped this season, going to 50 percent over the first six weeks. Since the arrival of Golden Tate, the Eagles have used more "11" personnel, eliminating the frequency of "12" personnel.

In Sunday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert combined for nine caches for 82 yards and a touchdown. Goedert has emerged as a strong blocker on the Eagles, especially over the second half of the season. With Goedert showing more signs of production (which would help if the Eagles gave him consistent targets), "12" personnel may be the No. 1 option going forward.

"Yeah. I mean, you could. You think about how Dallas has blocked this season, how he's kind of emerged himself as a primary blocker for us, and Zach [Ertz] in space." said Eagles head coach Doug Pederson. "But, again, it's predicated a little bit on the defense. It is a bigger body. Obviously, a tight end versus say a nickel DB or a safety. Yeah, I think you could consider that as a primary personnel group.

"But at the same time, Alshon [Jeffery], Nelly [Nelson Agholor], Golden [Tate], Jordan [Matthews], these guys also have been very productive for us, too. We have to keep that in mind, as well."

The receiver most affected by the "12" personnel change is Golden Tate, who offensive coordinator Mike Groh admitted the the coaching staff takes off the field when they go to "12." Tate had one catch for seven yards in Sunday's loss.

"Yeah, he can. It doesn't mean we eliminate Golden completely when we get in 12 personnel," Groh said. "Yeah, he certainly could be in the game depending on what we want to get done. Absolutely."

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The Eagles are still trying to find ways to use Tate, especially since they gave u a third-round pick for him. If "12" personnel is the way they go to get Goedert on the field, Tate appears to be odd man out...which may be what the defense is planning all along.

"Each week game plans are different from what we see on film," Pederson said. "Last week against the Cowboys, our 12 personnel, it just depends on how the defense wants to sub. If teams go nickel, five DBs, then there is a really good opportunity to stay in 12 personnel and run the football and we've had some success doing that.

"If a team stays in their base defense, keeping their third linebacker on the field, we've also had some success with matchups, tight ends against backers, against teams like that. We had success in the second half last week. So, a lot of it is just predicated on the defensive structure.

"Not every team subs the same way on defense. This team we're playing this week is a little different that way, so it can be a little bit of a balance. They play a little bit more base defense to everything on first and second-down.

"It's just predicated on the structure of the defense that we're seeing that week."