Why Saquon and his O-line appreciate the Eagles’ play-calling approach originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles were able to run the ball with some success in the first half on Sunday night but things weren’t really popping off like they wanted.
But they kept running and running and running.
Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore kept calling those plays.
And by the end of their 37-20 win over the Rams, the team had rushed for 314 yards and Saquon Barkley had set a franchise record with 255 on the ground.
“Yeah, it’s great, man,” Barkley said when asked about the Eagles’ sticking with the run in the second half. “That’s football. You wish every run was a 7-yard pop and a 10-yard pop but it’s not like that every time. You gotta stick with it, you gotta grind it out, you gotta get a feel, be able to get a rhythm and we’ve been able to get a great rhythm with the guys up front in recent weeks.”
It wasn’t like the Eagles were bad on the ground in the first half at SoFi Stadium. They had 114 yards on the ground and Barkley had 13 for 73. But the Eagles were also clinging to a 13-7 lead against a team that coming into the game was better defensively against the run than the past.
Since the bye week, the Eagles’ offensive strategy has been way more run-based and it’s working for them. Barkley is an MVP candidate and he’s running behind one of the best lines in football.
This is a line that loves to run block.
“Yeah, you can definitely feel it wearing down the opposing defense,” right guard Mekhi Becton said. “It’s actually fun when you run the ball like that because you can feel the defense giving up slowly. It’s actually a fun feeling.”
During the bye week, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson approached Nick Sirianni and asked to change their offensive strategy. They thought running more would help and they were right.
Since the bye week, the Eagles have rattled off seven straight wins and have 1,512 rushing yards, a 5.2 average and 16 rushing touchdowns. They lead the league in rushing since Week 6 and the next closest team (the Ravens) have 406 fewer rushing yards.
That means the difference between No. 1 and No. 2 on the list of rushing yards since Week 6 is the same difference between No. 2 and No. 21.
The most impressive part of the Eagles’ rushing offense is that opposing defenses know it’s coming and are doing everything they can to try and stop it. Entering Week 12, the Rams were stacking the box on just 17.4% of their snaps, which ranked 24th in the NFL. Against the Eagles, they stacked the box on 33.3% of their snaps, which ranked 7th in the league during the weekend.
And it still didn’t really matter.
“It’s a great feeling because you just know you’re breaking the will of another man,” Becton said. “When you know something is coming and you can’t stop it is a great feeling.”
Early in the game, the Rams were throwing some different stuff at the Eagles to slow them down and it worked a little bit. But as Barkley said, when teams do that, they put themselves at risk in other ways. The Eagles were able to adjust and take advantage.
There are eventually going to be games where the Eagles need to throw more to win but that will be the counter. Because they have rushed for 220+ yards in four of their seven games since the bye week and Barkley is rolling.
“As we progress and face more teams, we’re going to see more stuff to try to stop it,” Johnson said. “With the run game, sometimes it’s not perfect early, takes a little bit to get into rhythm. But once we started to get a hat on a hat, Saquon found some creases. He’s just a dynamic running back.”
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