Although Alshon Jeffery is the Eagles' best wide receiver and he's one of their best playmakers on offense, he has caught two or fewer passes in five of his last 19 games.
One of those games was the loss to the Vikings in Week 5, when Jeffery caught just two passes for 39 yards. Sure, he had Xavier Rhodes on him for most of the day, but the Eagles knew they needed to manufacture ways for him to get involved.
That's exactly what they did on Thursday night against the Giants.
While the screen game is thought to be for running backs and shifty little receivers, the Eagles made an effort to throw wide receiver screens to Jeffery on Thursday. And it makes sense. He's one of their best players. He's a big guy who's hard to take down and can make some folks miss.
Here's how the Eagles got him involved in the screen game Thursday:
It's 1st-and-10 and the Eagles just got the ball back at the Giants' 44-yard line after a great return from DeAndre Carter. At this point, Jeffery already has a touchdown, but that's his only catch. They want to get him more involved.
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Jeffery is circled as a part of that bunch formation at the top of the screen.
Just after the snap, Carson Wentz wastes no time getting the ball out to Jeffery, who has a hat for a hat blocking on that side of the field. You'll see linebacker Alec Ogletree has noticed what's going on and he'll make a play.
Good blocking from Nelson Agholor and Kamar Aiken on this play. It creates a big lane for Jeffery. Unfortunately, for the Eagles, Ogletree makes a great play and gets AJ down after a four-yard gain. But that doesn't mean the play didn't work. That just means a linebacker made a good play.
This gained just four yards, but I'll call the setup a success. Ogletree won the down, but if the Eagles can get Jeffery 1-on-1 with a linebacker in space, they'll take that every time.
This is the play you've probably already seen a few times. It's the one the Eagles took from the Patriots the week earlier. The Pats ran it to Cordarrelle Patterson and the Eagles decided to run it to Jeffery on the same spot of the field.
Jeffrey is going to start wide and get put in motion to basically be the trailer in the bunch formation. Again, Agholor and Aiken are the lead blockers.
Jeffery catches the ball and has his two blockers already pushing forward.
The blockers do such a good job, Jeffery doesn't even get touched before he gets in the end zone on a play that started from the 1-yard line.
This was pretty easy. It was Jeffery's second touchdown of the game.
This last play we'll look at came with just 4:26 left in the fourth quarter. The Eagles are well ahead, but they're trying to burn the clock and are faced with a 3rd-and-7 from their own 8-yard line.
This play looks like an RPO and Wentz made the right read. Alshon is going to come back to Wentz and Ertz is going to create a little space for him.
At this point, you can see the play developing. Ertz took care of the corner on that side of the field and Isaac Seumalo, the right guard, is coming off the line to get down field to help with another block.
Seumalo actually falls down here, but he gives Jeffery enough space to make something happen and the veteran receiver does.
The play picks up 8 yards on a 3rd-and-7 and the Eagles are able to continue to burn the clock.
For the game, Jeffery caught eight passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns. The screen game helped him get there. It's something the Eagles should be open to going forward, using as a way to get their best receiver involved.
