Jordan Mailata Says the O-Line Has Done a "Terrible Job." The Numbers Don't Argue.

Jordan Mailata did something Wednesday that players don't always do, according to The Inquirer. He put it on the players, not the coach.

The Inquirer's Ryan Novozinsky wrote that Mailata spoke for nearly 15 minutes Wednesday afternoon, with position coach Chris Kuper taking heat after six straight losses. The Inquirer printed this as Mailata's words: "I don't like passing the blame on a coach. He's doing everything he can. … We've been doing a terrible job." The ellipsis is the Inquirer's. It marks words left out between those two sentences, and we don't know what they were. Earlier in the same story he said, "That's something that we've been talking about as a unit, like, 'You need to do a better job just finishing our blocks.'"

That's not new for him. After Sunday's 27-10 loss in Washington, he said, "It's something that's unacceptable," and, "I kind of put all the blame on us up front and put all the blame on myself" (NBC Sports Philadelphia's Dave Zangaro). He said "bad ball" twice and added, "We got to get back to work and have a good look in the mirror." The Eagles are 2-6 and that was loss number six in a row.

I respect that. Mailata still introduces himself as a graduate of "Jeff Stoutland University" (Zangaro noted it Sunday night), so he could have taken a shot at the guy who replaced Stout. Per the Inquirer, he went the other way: "He gets on us," Mailata said. "He's similar to Stout in that way. The amount of time we've spent in the film room, watching technique, watching good technique, watching bad technique, and then coaching it." He did say what's different from Stout is "really on-the-field stuff that's probably a lot more different to Stout because of the scheme." Then he added, "I think he does a great job." That's a veteran standing next to the new guy while the questions pile up.

So check it against the numbers, because the numbers say he isn't being modest.

Through Week 8, the Eagles have allowed pressure on 42.6 percent of dropbacks. That's fourth-worst in the league, per Next Gen Stats through The Inquirer. The run game isn't saving anybody. They're tied for the league low in yards before contact per carry, 0.7, and they're 31st at getting stuffed, 23.7 percent of runs (Sharp Analytics, per The Inquirer).

Then Sunday. Five sacks. Eight hits. Washington pressured Tanner McKee on 46.5 percent of his dropbacks, their season high. The Commanders came in with just 11 sacks in six games and were missing two of their best interior linemen (NBC Sports Philadelphia). The Eagles ran for 91 yards, and 25 of them came on McKee scrambles. The running backs got 64 yards, 2.67 a carry.

Yeah, but. The excuse is available, and it's not made up. The Inquirer notes the line has been a revolving door: Lane Johnson retired, Cam Jurgens was traded the same week, and Landon Dickerson missed five games, with far less experienced players filling in. That's real.

What bugs me: Zangaro noted the line got back-to-back starts with the same configuration, and it still gave up five sacks. Two games is a short runway. It's also the stretch where you'd hope to see the churn excuse start to fade.

Zangaro also wrote that it's "probably unfair to just point a finger at new offensive line coach Chris Kuper," but "impossible to not wonder" if the Eagles would be in a much better position with Stoutland still here. I can't tell you that. Nobody can. A new system can also take its time, and a line can play badly while it does.

So what did he actually say? Some of it is a real answer. "Finishing our blocks" is specific, and so is putting the blame on the players, starting with himself. Some of it is the standard postgame menu: "There were execution errors and communication errors" (NBC Sports Philadelphia). Okay, but which errors? Zangaro supplies the specifics. The Commanders had 10 pressures and a sack on 12 blitzes, an 83.3 percent success rate, and he wrote that "there were way too many plays with unblocked rushers." That is a protection problem, and it's what to watch Sunday. Mailata said the right things for a locker room. The film has to show it.

Sunday is a clean test. The Giants' pass rush is 20th in the NFL in pressure rate at 34.2 percent through Week 8, and Brian Burns, whose season ended in Week 3 with a knee injury, isn't there to help (The Inquirer's Jeff Neiburg). Joe Milton is starting at quarterback in place of McKee (The Inquirer; AP). If "a terrible job" turns into a decent afternoon against a middling rush, Mailata's words meant something. If Milton gets hit like McKee did, the line is going to need more than another round of owning it.

My take: believe him. Then watch Sunday. The scoreboard doesn't give credit for owning it.

Methods note: every quote is taken from the outlet named, word for word, as that outlet printed it. The Wednesday quotes come only from The Inquirer's write-up, which says Mailata spoke for nearly 15 minutes Wednesday afternoon. We found no audio, video or transcript of that session, so we have not checked them against a recording. The Inquirer's printed quote has an ellipsis between "He's doing everything he can." and "We've been doing a terrible job," which marks words it left out. Stats are the outlets' own, attributed to their data partners. No number in this piece is ours. The verdict in the last section is opinion.

Tommy Vale writes about Philadelphia sports for Negadelphia.