Following defensive coordinator Bill Davis' press conference on Tuesday, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur took to the podium to discuss the current state of the Eagles' offense.
Here are four takeaways from Shurmur's session with the media …
On Sam Bradford's Mentality
The last time that quarterback Sam Bradford played meaningful games late in December was his rookie season of 2010, when the Rams and Seahawks battled for the NFC West title in the final week of the season. Shurmur served as the Rams' offensive coordinator that season, and he sees much of the same in Bradford now as he did five years ago during the home stretch of the season.
"He was dialed in, just like he is now," Shurmur said. "These are big days, these training days, where he gets a good feel for the concepts that we're going to call and how it's going to fit against the defense that we're going to play.
"Sam's a very dialed-in, kind of a cerebral, thoughtful, quiet guy, so it's the same (as 2010)."
On Spreading The Ball Around
One of the first topics to come up on Tuesday was the Eagles' lack of production from their outside receivers in Sunday's game, as Josh Huff, Nelson Agholor and Riley Cooper combined for just six catches. According to Shurmur, the goal for offense is the spread the ball around to every playmaker while taking advantage of the best matchups that are presented.
"I think we're looking for each position to make an equal amount of impact," Shurmur said. "Certainly I think that Jordan (Matthews) has done some good things for us. Zach (Ertz) has done some good things on the inside … We look at it just a little bit differently. We want everybody to have great production, and the challenge is that when you don't get great production, how do you handle it? You just keep working."
On The Growth Of Nelson Agholor
After hauling in a 53-yard touchdown against Buffalo two weeks ago, Agholor was held without a catch on Sunday night against the Cardinals. Shurmur says that the player who was covering Agholor was mostly to blame and that he's seen a steady improvement form Agholor in this his rookie season.
"He's coming back from the (high-ankle sprain) injury and he's out there competing," Shurmur said. "I think he continues to get better physically each week. Last week in the game he was playing against Patrick Peterson, and he did some good things against him but we weren't really throwing in that direction.
"Nelson is going to be a really fine player in this league … The first couple of years for a wide receiver are important. His growth just got slowed by the injury."
On The Running Back Rotation
Toward the end of the press conference, Shurmur was asked repeatedly about DeMarco Murray's role in the offense after garnering just two carries on Sunday night. Shurmur explained the importance of keeping all of the backs fresh down the final stretch of the regular season.
"Teams that have one back and they use them a lot, they tend to get hurt," Shurmur said. "We're fortunate that this time of year we've got our full stable of guys ready to go. If we had one running back that was far and away better than the other ones, then you'd see a guy get the very most of the snaps. We just happen to have guys that we think are good and we're fine with having them in there."
