In Roob's Eagles Observations: Jeff Stoutland, the offensive line miracle worker

A look at the miracles Jeff Stoutland has worked since joining the Eagles’ coaching staff in 2013, thoughts about Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee’s future and Jordan Mailata’s reaction to his Pro Bowl snub.

Eagles-Giants in Week 18 may be meaningless, but that's definitely not the case with our Week 18 Random Eagles Observations!

1. Just how much of a miracle worker is Jeff Stoutland? His track record with the Eagles’ offensive linemen in his 12 years with the Eagles is staggering. From 1956 through 2012 — the 57 years before Stoutland got here — Eagles offensive linemen made a total of 22 Pro Bowls. From 2013 through this year, Eagles offensive linemen made a total of 26 Pro Bowls. That’s not only the most in the league, only the Cowboys are within 10. And get this: Under Stout, 10 different offensive linemen have started at least 25 games. Seven of those 10 have made at least one Pro Bowl: Evan Mathis, Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Brandon Brooks, Landon Dickerson and now Cam Jurgens. The only exceptions are Allen Barbre, Isaac Seumalo and Jordan Mailata, who was snubbed this year even though he is the best left tackle in football. With 25-year-old Jurgens and 26-year-old Dickerson, this is the first time in 71 years the Eagles have had two Pro Bowl offensive linemen 26 or younger. In 1953, 25-year-old center Ken Farragut and 23-year-old tackle Lum Snyder both made it. The Eagles are also one of only two teams with seven different Pro Bowl offensive linemen since 2013. The Saints are the other, but their seven have only made a total of 14 Pro Bowls — 12 fewer than the Eagles' seven. Three offensive linemen in franchise history have made at least five Pro Bowls, and Stoutland coached them all — Peters, Kelce and Johnson. And this is the most remarkable: Since the inception of the Pro Bowl in 1951, Eagles offensive linemen have made a total of 55 Pro Bowls, and Stoutland has coached 47 percent of them. One last thing about Stout: He also has the title of running game coordinator. And the Eagles have had a different running back make the Pro Bowl in each of the last three seasons, with a record-setting performance this year from Saquon Barkley. Stout isn’t a coach. He’s a sorcerer.

2A. I know a lot of people don’t like this sort of meaningless end-of-the-season game, but I actually enjoy seeing rookies, practice squad guys and backups get an opportunity to play in a real NFL game, and these are huge evaluations for Howie Roseman and the coaches as they look ahead to the 2025 roster. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the young defensive backs get a chance to play — Kelee Ringo, Sydney Brown, Eli Ricks — as well as guys like Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Thomas Booker on defense and some of the backup offensive linemen, like Trevor Keegan and Tyler Steen, plus Ainias Smith, Johnny Wilson and Will Shipley if he clears concussion protocol, and of course Tanner McKee. These games can get ugly, but they can also be a lot of fun.

2B. My favorite moment in a “meaningless” Eagles game came on the final day of the 2001 season, when the Eagles faced the Bucs in Tampa six days before they played the Bucs in a wild-card game at the Vet. The Bucs were up 13-3 late in the fourth quarter but A.J. Feeley — who replaced starter Koy Detmer — got the Eagles within a field goal with a two-yard TD pass to Dameane Douglas with 2:19 left. After Karl Williams fumbled the ensuing kickoff at the Eagles’ 24-yard-line — forced by Rashard Cook, recovered by Tim Hauck — Feeley gave the Eagles the win with a 24-yard TD pass to Douglas with 1:54 left. Douglas scored three touchdowns in his career and two of them came 25 seconds apart. Douglas remains the last Eagles wide receiver with two touchdown catches in a fourth quarter.

2C. Douglas had a great nickname: D1. Why D1? When he was playing football for Hanford (Calif.) High near Fresno, he caught a pass and was sprinting down the visiting sideline toward the end zone yelling at players from the other team, “I’m going D1!” As in Division 1. His teammates heard him, thought it was hilarious and Douglas was forever known as D1. And he did go to Cal before the Raiders drafted him in the fourth round and he ultimately landed with the Eagles.

2D. Since that day in Tampa, only one other NFL wide receiver has had two touchdown catches in the final 2 ½ minutes of a game. It happened late in the 2011 season, when the Patriots took a 31-3 lead on the Colts at Gillette Stadium before the Colts rallied with a 21-point fourth quarter highlighted by one-time NBC Sports Philadelphia analyst Dan Orlovsky TD passes to Pierre Garcon with 2:12 and 0:36 remaining (with a Patriots 3-and-out in between). Just in case you were wondering.

3A. When considering whether it made sense for Nick Sirianni to let Saquon Barkley go for Eric Dickerson’s record, consider how long it might take him to get to 101 yards Sunday against the Giants. There have been five games where Barkley didn’t rush for 101 yards at all. In the 11 games he did, he got to 101 in the fourth quarter five times. So he only reached 101 before the fourth quarter in six of 16 games. And it took him 19 carries vs. the Packers, 15 vs. the Saints, 13 vs. the Giants, 20 vs. the Bengals, 21 vs. the Jaguars, 25 in the first Washington game, 14 vs. the Rams, 19 in Baltimore, 15 vs. the Panthers, seven in Washington and 23 Sunday vs. the Cowboys. So on the average — when he did get to 101 yards — it took him about 17 carries to get there. So you’re looking at — on the average — Barkley getting to 101 yards somewhere late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter. That means quite likely keeping the starting offensive line in for most of the game and Barkley absorbing a lot of hits as he chases Dickerson. Now, it’s easy to say the Giants’ run defense stinks, and Barkley would get there faster than average against a team with nothing to play for. But when everybody knows you’re running the ball to try to get a record as quickly as possible, now you’re easier to defend because the other team knows exactly what you’re doing. As bad as the Giants’ run defense is, even if Saquon goes out and averages 6.0 yards per carry, it would still take 17 carries to get to 101. Do you really want Barkley and all the starting linemen out there in the third quarter of a meaningless game on a cold day a week before a playoff game running into a stacked box? It would have been amazing to see Barkley break the record, but Sirianni absolutely made the right call on this one. Just too risky.

3B. There is still one record Barkley can break, and that’s Terrell Davis’s record for most rushing yards in the regular season and postseason combined. Davis ran for 2,008 yards in the 1998 regular season and then 468 in three postseason games for a single-season total of 2,476 yards. Barkley is at 2,005 and would need 472 to surpass the Broncos’ Hall of Famer. If the Eagles reach the NFC Championship Game, he’d have to average 157 per game against some pretty good defenses. Possibly but not probable. If the Eagles reach the Super Bowl, he’d need to average 118 yards per game. I wouldn’t bet against him.

4. I said this at the end of last year, long before the Eagles acquired Kenny Pickett, that I would have been fine if the Eagles went into the 2024 season with Tanner McKee as the No. 2. I saw enough from him at training camp to know he had the size, accuracy, arm strength, intelligence and poise to handle the job in Year 2. That said, I also understood why the Eagles went out and got Pickett. If you’re a team with legit Super Bowl aspirations, there’s a comfort level you have with an experienced backup who’s won games in the NFL and has played close to 1,500 career snaps over an untested 6th-round pick who’s never played in a regular-season game. Pickett showed Sunday why the Eagles believed in him. He played smart and tough and was productive. But what about next year? After seeing another training camp of McKee and his performance Sunday, I’d be fine trading Pickett this offseason if the opportunity arises. That’s how much I believe in McKee. Pickett is still only 26 and he may have shown enough against the Commanders and Cowboys to earn the eye of teams looking for a veteran quarterback, either as a backup or a guy who can get you through half a season until your hot-shot rookie is ready. Pickett is under contract for one more year, and if you can find a team willing to part with a conditional 5th-round pick that can become a 4th-rounder, I would do it. Quarterbacks are valuable assets, and there are always teams looking for good  ones, and Pickett has shown what he’s capable. The Eagles have three capable quarterbacks, and knowing Howie Roseman’s track record, he’s already thinking about turning one of them into draft assets. Obviously, Jalen Hurts isn’t going anywhere and McKee, with his upside and potential and high ceiling, isn’t going anywhere. So I’m shopping Pickett. If nobody is interested? You bring him back. But in my mind, having McKee as a No. 3 is a waste. He can play, and we all finally saw it in his brief cameo on Sunday.

5. A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert all played in the opener vs. the Packers in São Paulo. Then Brown hurt his hamstring at practice a few days later and missed the Falcons, Saints and Buccaneers games. Smith also missed the Bucs game after suffering a concussion in New Orleans. Then came the Browns, and Brown and Smith were back, but just three plays into the first quarter Goedert suffered a hamstring injury and missed the Giants, Bengals and Jaguars games. Everything was fine for the first Dallas game but then came the Commanders and Smith suffered a hamstring injury that sidelined him for the Rams and Ravens games. It was during that Ravens game that Goedert suffered a knee injury that landed him on Injured Reserve, and he hasn’t played since. The Eagle have three big-time weapons in the receiving game and even though they missed a combined 14 games this year, those three have combined for 72 percent of the Eagles’ receiving yards and 77 percent of their receiving touchdowns. But that trio has only been together for three full games — the Packers, the first Cowboys game and first Washington game. In three games with Brown, Smith and Goedert, the Eagles averaged 31 points and 397 yards and went 3-0. In the 13 games where they were missing one or more of the Big Three they’ve averaged 26 points and 365 yards and went 10-3. Still good numbers but a significant drop. But Goedert is back practicing, Brown and Smith have minor twinges but are as healthy as you could hope for in early January, and the Eagles will go into the playoffs with all three in uniform. All three are experienced, seasoned playoff performers. Smith has 405 yards (60 fewer than Harold Carmichael’s franchise postseason record) and a 15.0 average in five postseason games, Goedert is 35-for-347 with three TDs in eight playoff games, and Brown has 13-for-142 and a TD in three playoff games as an Eagle — all during the 2022 run. Having all three of those guys healthy is huge for this offense and this team.

6. Since 1996, the Eagles have only drafted four players who’ve had double-digit sacks in a season: Trent Cole, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox and Josh Sweat. 

7. Every year the Eagles have won at least 12 games, they’ve reached at least the NFC Championship Game:

12-4, 1980: Won NFC Championship, lost Super Bowl

12-4, 2002: Lost NFC Championship Game 

12-4, 2003: Lost NFC Championship Game

13-3, 2004: Lost Super Bowl

13-3, 2017: Won Super Bowl

14-3, 2022: Lost Super Bowl

13-3, 2024: ???

8. Kenny Pickett on Sunday became only the sixth starting quarterback in the last seven years to beat the Cowboys without getting sacked. The others are Andrew Luck in 2018, Ben Roethlisberger and Lamar Jackson in 2020, Tom Brady in 2021 and Jackson earlier this year. That’s six QBs in the Cowboys’ last 120 games. Pickett is only the second Eagles quarterback to beat the Cowboys without getting sacked since Donovan McNabb in 2001. Carson Wentz did it in Dallas in 2017.

9. Since 1988, only the Packers have reached the postseason more than the Eagles. During that 37-year span, the Eagles have made the playoffs 22 times and the Packers have made it 23 times. The Patriots and Steelers have also gone 22 times. 

10A. Jordan Mailata has been the best left tackle in football this year, but only three tackles per conference make the Pro Bowl team, and the voters went with Lane Johnson, Tristan Wirfs and Penei Sewell and Mailata remains the best Eagle ever without a Pro Bowl to his name. Not surprisingly, Mailata handled the news gracefully and professionally: “I don't seek recognition. I get that from my coach and from my brothers in the room. That's the only recognition. Anything else after that, I don't really listen to. Maybe that's part of (my) success, but I think that's just how coach Stout has molded me. Jason Kelce was that way. He never sought out recognition from anyone but his coach and his brothers that he plays with. So that's just the same mindset I have. Just from being in the same room with him, playing alongside him.” Lane Johnson didn’t make a Pro Bowl until his fifth year, even though he deserved it a few of those earlier years, and he and Mailata have spoken about how it’s counter-productive to be bitter or resentful when it happens: “Lane and I have had our chats. Lane always comes to me and he's like, ‘Same thing happened to me, brother. Just keep grinding.’ I'm like, ‘Man, I'm good. I'm telling you, man. I'm good. Don't worry about me. I've got enough fuel in this engine. I have enough drive. We're going to be just fine.’” 

10B. Mailata was equally insightful talking about Nick Sirianni’s difficult — but correct — decision to rest the starters Sunday, even though it likely cost Saquon Barkley the NFL rushing record: “I think Nick made the best decision in terms of our goals as a team. It sucks, but again, that is the hat that Nick wears, that he has to make that call. As players, we have to respect that call. You can have all the conversations you want, but at the end of the day, that's Nick's decision, and we have to respect that. That's just the bottom line.”

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