Deja Vu

Oh, man.

This article about Doug Pederson's desire to run the ball more...only to call more pass plays is an uncomfortable replay of the Andy Reid years.

As the article notes about the unprecedented number of passes Wentz is attempting:

 Wentz averaged 30.8 passes the first six games, when the Eagles were 4-2.
The last seven games, he's averaged an astonishing 44.7 passes per game – the most in NFL history over any seven-game stretch by a rookie, according to figures from Pro Football Reference and the most in any seven-game stretch by any Eagle quarterback...
So Wentz has thrown more passes the last seven weeks than Donovan McNabb ever threw in any seven-game stretch in his career.
In fact, only nine quarterbacks in NFL history have thrown more passes in any seven-game stretch than Wentz since the Dallas game – Matt Stafford, Drew Bledsoe, Warren Moon, Philip Rivers, Erik Kramer, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Rich Gannon.
So Pederson has called more pass plays the last seven weeks than Andy Reid - owner of the highest pass-run ratio by any NFL head coach in history -- ever called in any seven-week span in his 18 seasons as an NFL head coach.

The Eagles pass/run ratio is 61/39 - which is better than Andy Reid's ungodly 65/35 - but not by much. And at least Reid had a pro bowl QB that was often in conversations about MVP when he did it.

But most disconcerting is Frank Reich's explanation of the unbalanced play calling.

"I know when (Pederson) and I are sitting up there talking about the plan, and the plan of attack in the game, you go in with the idea that we're going to run it 30 to 35 times a game," Reich said Tuesday. "That's what you want to do. But you have to make the calls at the time that you think are necessary to win the game. 

That is scarily similar to Andy Reid's lame weekly explanations as to why, despite expressing a desire for a more balanced pass/run ratio, his team wound up with a 65/35 or - at times a 70/30 (un)balance. Reid would say something nearly exactly like Reich - that they had intended to run the ball more, but gosh darn it, the game situations just forced them to call more pass plays. What's most amazing is that those very same game situations occurred week after endless week.

Like Reid, so like Pederson and Reich. Hello again 65/35

Ugh.