A clear message developing from Eagles' offense entering Week 4

A clear message developing from Eagles' offense entering Week 4 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The message was clear from inside the NovaCare Complex this week.

The Eagles want to be the aggressor on offense.

It's sort of like what A.J. Brown said after their comeback win over the Rams in Week 4: Let your killers do their thing."

The Eagles' offense eventually kicked into high gear in Week 3, but it didn't happen until they were down 19 points in the third quarter. It can't be like that anymore. As much as we hear offensive coaches talk about taking what a defense gives you, there's something to be said about taking what you want.

And the Eagles are talented enough to do that.

You have to be aggressive," DeVonta Smith said. When you sit back and try to basically play off what a defense is doing, it's tough. You have to go out there and you have to be the aggressor. You have to make the defense adapt to you."

Saquon Barkley on Friday said the message of being more aggressive this week actually came from first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.

You saw that more in the second half of the Rams (game)," Barkley said. But the beauty of the game last week, obviously the first half was so bad, the second half was so good. That's something that we can build off of. You can build off of both. Sometimes you get caught up in what teams are going to try to do to stop us and not so much of you have a hard time stopping us. That's the mindset that we have to continue to have, especially this team. This team (Bucs) definitely don't fear the Eagles."

This is an insane collection of offensive talent. This a roster that has Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Saquon Barkley and the best offensive line in football. While there are undoubtedly great defenses in the NFL, the Eagles should have enough talent to dictate the terms of the way games are played and they know it.

Most teams would prefer to be the aggressor but the Eagles actually have the talent to do it.

I think when you have talented guys and guys that can beat you, the alpha males, I think that does give you and edge and makes you want to do it more," Smith said.

Perhaps the second half of the Rams game will signal a shift in the way the Eagles play on offense in the 2025 season. Could that moment be a true turning point?

After scoring a touchdown on a short field to start their Week 3 game, the Eagles floundered for their next five drives as the Rams took a commanding lead. But then the Eagles scored three touchdowns on their final four drives to win that game. Of course, it's never one thing.

But when asked about what changed for the Eagles to come back against the Rams, Hurts had a simple answer: We had to."

And then the Eagles' veteran quarterback made sure to give Patullo credit for getting the offense back on track.

Brown has been on the forefront of wanting the offense to be more aggressive and has spoken about it in pretty simple terms.

The goal is to win the game and, obviously, we want to do that first," Brown said this week. But I think it just took too long for us as an offense to adjust and be more aggressive. When one thing's not working, let's not just continue to hit our head on the wall and see if it's going to work. Let's mix it up and do what we need to do."

Through three weeks, the Eagles are 3-0 and have done enough to beat the Cowboys, Chiefs and Rams. But they know the offense has plenty of room to improve.

While many think about being aggressive as passing the ball, that's not always the case. It's more about mindset. Barkley wants to be aggressive in the run too.

I think, for me, it's setting the tone with the ball in my hands," he said. Whether that's making people miss or falling forward for extra yards and just establishing the line of scrimmage. If you establish the line of scrimmage, you win football games. I think no matter who you are, whether it's offense or defense, the offensive line is establishing the line of scrimmage and the defensive line is establishing the line of scrimmage, your team is going to win football games. I know we have the best offensive line in the world so I look forward to continuing to run behind them."

This could be a week where the Eagles can be aggressive to take advantage of the Bucs' blitzing defense. At times, the Eagles have taken shots against blitzes, knowing their receivers are covered 1-on-1.

Make one guy miss, that's all she wrote," Smith said.

He even gets excited sometimes when he sees a blitz.

Yeah, because if you make a guy miss, you have a chance for a big play," Smith said. It starts when the QB gives us something, we have to make sure we're on the same page, that we're getting to our route on time for him to get the ball out."