The Eagles are one of only seven teams to have not surpassed the 1,000 rushing yard mark this season and that’s hardly a shocking statistic. Production from the running backs has been so sporadic and underwhelming that Doug Pederson and Mike Groh have almost abandoned it completely. The Saints punished that very mentality last week but if the Birds have any chance of finding their groove on the ground again this year, it has to be on Sunday.
We’ve all heard the Sean Payton quote by now and whether that can be interpreted as a dig at Wentz or simply making the offense one dimensional and putting it on the shoulders of a quarterback struggling with frustration, it worked. The Saints riled Wentz up and forced him to throw 3 picks for just the second time in his career as that anger and stress forced some rookie habits out of the woodwork.
The Eagles offense is in dire need of being able to sustain drives and forcing Wentz to throw time after time when the pass-blocking has been subpar just isn’t the correct formula, especially with all of the ‘Golden Tate implementation’ discussion. The good news is that against the Giants, they’ll have a chance to balance it all out once more.
The G-Men are coming off of a game in which they surrendered 151 rushing yards to the Bucs and namely Peyton Barber, who scored just his second touchdown of the season on Sunday. Barber has had one game of similar production all year and in the game before that, the win that kickstarted all same a similar problem. Matt Breida led the Niners in rushing that game with 101 yards, averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Breida hadn’t averaged more than 3.7 yards per carry in his prior three games. It’s clear that the 21 ranked run defense is struggling massively and the Eagles just so happen to have a rusher who has a 20+ yard run in each of his last three matchups.
The Giants have been unable to generate consistent pressure all year and with a faltering run defense, this is a prime spot for the Eagles to rediscover their rhythm offensively, something that carried them to a win when they clashed earlier in the year. But if the Eagles are unable to get anything going against New York or abandon the run completely, does that not just paint the blueprint for the remaining teams on the schedule?
If the Saints, with an average defense, could force Doug Pederson to put the game on Carson Wentz’s shoulders, could you imagine what the Rams or Texans will do if they follow that plan? Everyone watched that game and saw the same things we did. This will be the matchup that will dictate the Eagles offensive success for the remainder of the season. If they can’t run the ball early and often or consistently move chains (as they’ve struggled to all year), then this may well be the end of the road.
“All these backs with [RB] Corey [Clement] and [RB] Wendell [Smallwood], they have quite a bit of experience playing. [RB] Josh [Adams] is sort of the young one there that’s getting better each week.” Doug Pederson said of the run game on Friday.
“The run game, really offensively, everything is about timing and rhythm. If somebody’s hat placement is in the wrong spot, or maybe we overrun a tackle or a shaded nose, all that can disrupt timing of the run game or in the run game.
Those are all things we’ve been working on and focusing on, and just kind of getting back to what we do and what our strengths are up front.
You see so much inside-zone scheme, and mid-zone scheme around the league. That’s kind of who we are as a run-game team. I listen to [Offensive line /run game coordinator Jeff] Stoutland talk all the time about surfacing blocks and making sure we don’t do that, make sure we get far enough, we don’t run-pass blocks, and we keep our eyes, heads and hands in the right spot. Those are all things we continue to work on.”
The Eagles head into a divisional matchup at home against a run-of-the-mill defense that’s giving up some worrying numbers on the ground. If Doug Pederson sends his offense out to attack through the air and continues to see his unit move off the field as quickly as they ran onto it, what hopes do the last legs of a wounded secondary have at stopping that explosive Giants offense?
There is too much pointing towards the run this week and if the Birds somehow still avoid to force the ball up the gut, there may not be another chance to do so where the implications lead to playoff conversations.
Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
