Veteran’s brutal Week 1 tape and injury outcome raise serious concerns for Eagles’ offensive line
Entire offensive line had a tough game against the Commanders, but Dickerson’s performance was particularly concerning.
Landon Dickerson was awful in Week 1. There’s no sugarcoating it. And I know it’s early, I know it’s one game, but watching the tape back, it was bad. Landon was charged with a game-high four pressures allowed on 35 pass-blocking snaps. All five of the Eagles’ offensive linemen gave up at least one pressure, but Dickerson stood out for all the wrong reasons.
Ultimately, the Eagles decided to place him on injured reserve, which will force him to miss at least the next four games.
I want to focus on Dickerson specifically because we know what this guy is capable of when healthy. He is one of the best guards in the game at his best. Three Pro Bowls in five seasons is nothing to look past. But that’s the problem. The “when healthy” qualifier has followed Dickerson his entire career, and it’s getting harder to ignore.
Dickerson’s body has been through the wringer
Go back to this offseason. Dickerson is 27 years old, and he was contemplating retirement. Think about that. A 27-year-old Pro Bowl guard seriously considering walking away from football. Why? Because his body has been through it. Two ACL tears in college. A bad ankle sprain. He comes to the NFL, and there’s another knee injury, an ankle, two thumb injuries. Then he had a meniscus issue last year during the Eagles’ Super Bowl run. This guy has been plagued with injuries, and it really sucks because when he’s healthy, he’s probably the best in the game.
And on top of that, he’s just a guy you want to root for. He overcomes adversity. He put his long-term health on the line to be a part of that 2024 Super Bowl run. Remember when he and center Cam Jurgens were going back and forth trying to stay in that NFC Championship Game? They played through a lot of pain. You want to root for a guy like that.
But wanting to root for someone and evaluating what’s happening on the field are two different things.
The tape was ugly
I’m not going to sit here and say it’s time to pull the plug and make a change after one week, but now that is inevitable. Watching the film, Dickerson was out of place repeatedly. He whiffed on blocks. He couldn’t move. The explosiveness, the lateral quickness that makes him elite when right, it just wasn’t there. It was a huge concern last season, and it is now an ultimate concern.
Everything the Eagles like to do offensively, everything they do well, is connected to that offensive line. The running game with Saquon Barkley, protecting Jalen Hurts, sustaining drives, all of it runs through the trenches. That’s been the Howie Roseman philosophy forever: build from the front backwards. So when the front isn’t holding up, the entire operation is in jeopardy.
And it’s not just Dickerson. Even Lane Johnson got put on his back in Week 1. That is not something you see regularly from a future Hall of Famer. Jurgens looked like his body might not hold up much longer either. The whole unit needs to tighten up fast.
What comes next for Philly
The Eagles brought in Chris Kuper as the new offensive line coach this offseason. But here’s the thing: no coach can fix what’s happening here if it’s a health issue. Jeff Stoutland couldn’t fix it last season, Kuper can’t fix it now. You can’t coach a guy into being healthy. Dickerson and his teammates either need to get healthy, or the Eagles need to start looking at alternatives.
Willie Lampkin and Drew Kendall looked really good in the preseason. With Dickerson on IR, Kendall should have the first opportunity. I hope Dickerson shows later in the season he gets something left in the tank. But the Eagles have to be realistic about what they’re seeing on tape.
Philadelphia needs to get this right in the next few weeks. The schedule doesn’t slow down, and this offensive line is the engine that drives everything. If Dickerson can’t be the guy we’ve seen in those Pro Bowl seasons, the Eagles have to be willing to make the tough call whenever he returns from IR.
