By Patrick Del Gaone, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Last season, Philadelphia had a pro-style quarterback, Sam Bradford, running a tempo offense. Now, with new coach Doug Pederson at the helm, the Eagles run a pro-style system, but with a rookie quarterback who’s a proponent of the up-tempo offense.
The Philadelphia Eagles squandered a golden opportunity to vault into a first-place tie with the Cowboys last Sunday, relinquishing a ten-point fourth-quarter lead in the 29-23 overtime loss at AT&T Stadium.
After halftime, the Eagles’ offense unveiled a no-huddle offense and drove seamlessly down the field for a critical touchdown to open the second half scoring. At this morning’s press conference, offensive coordinator Frank Reich discussed the benefit to changing up the pace.
“The tempo offense really is a great change of pace,” Reich said. “We worked a lot on it this offseason. We talked about it in every game, waiting for the right opportunity to use it. We thought this was the week. It was effective, and executed well with it. It certainly has its advantages. I don’t think it’s an every play thing… but that’s the key, you’ve got to execute to have rhythm. Carson really likes it and handles it well, so there’s some benefit to that.”
The Eagles have been massively outgained by both the Redskins and Cowboys in their first two divisional games of the year. Jim Schwartz’s normally stingy defense has yielded a whopping 953 combined yards, while the Philly offense accrued just 530 total yards in the one-score losses.
“Finishing these games, it’s honestly a team thing,” Reich said. “I remember hearing a stat that 75 or 80 percent of games are decided by one score or less. It’s just execution. Experience tells me, I’ve been in hundreds and hundreds of close games, 80 or 90 percent of it is just execution, making enough good plays so someone can make a great play to win the game. 10 or 20 percent of it is someone making a play that they shouldn’t make, breaking a tackle, making a catch, making a throw that you shouldn’t be able to make. That’s what wins those games a lot of the time.”
NFL schedule makers have done the Eagles no favors in 2016. This Sunday’s road game against the Giants marks the third time Philadelphia plays a team coming off of their bye week. Moreover, after Atlanta plays Tampa Bay tonight, the Falcons will have ten days to prepare for their week 10 game in Philly.
Schwartz knows that facing a savvy veteran like Eli Manning with two weeks of preparation will make their third divisional matchup particularly strenuous, especially with premier receiver Odell Beckham Jr. lined up on the outside.
“He’s tough, we’ve [faced] some good receivers this year,” Schwartz said. “Beckham is similar to [Antonio] Brown in some ways. He’s got extreme quickness. He can take a short pass and go the distance with it. He can threaten every inch of the field. It’s not just him down the field, we gotta do a great job tackling him. This guy might be the best hitch runner in the NFL. He’s strong, he can stop on a dime, he’s strong coming back to make the catch, and then he can run after the catch. We have our work cut out for us, we’re gonna have to limit those big plays. It’s not just him though, that receiving crew has made a lot of plays and they obviously have a Super Bowl winning quarterback that puts those guys in the right position.”
You can watch the full press conference from Schwartz and Reich below.
