The city of PhiladelphiaThe Eagles’ literal attempt to sprint their way back to the Super Bowl is well known.
They have an offensive line and a ground assassin in Saquon Barkley.When he worked for the Giants, the superstar running back could only dream of it.
Despite having a top 10 tight end in Dallas Goedert and two outstanding receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, first-year offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and head coach Nick Sirianni have determined that the best approach to defeat rival teams is to intimidate them at the line of scrimmage.
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In terms of running and rushing attempts, the Eagles are the league leaders. In terms of passing attempts, they rank bottom in the league.
Although that may seem like an odd combo, the Eagles don’t give a damn.
After practice on Wednesday, quarterback Jalen Hurts stated, “It’s not strange at all.” We take any necessary action.
Landon Dickerson, a guard, felt the same.
Dickerson remarked, “I honestly could not give a damn about that statistic.” A far more significant statistic is wins and losses.
The Eagles, who are 9-2, will go into Sunday’s game against the Ravens in Baltimore on a seven-game winning streak. They are aware that opposition will attempt to slow down Barkley and the running game in various ways. On Sunday, the Rams attempted a another strategy by lining up in five-man fronts 54.8% of the time.
Clearly, it didn’t work. The Eagles ran for a season-high 314 yards, with Barkley accounting for 255 of those yards.
According to tackle Lane Johnson, they want to try to stop it in whatever way they can. The Baltimore linebackers are excellent, in my opinion, but many teams will attempt other things.
For Barkley and the Eagles offensive line, this will undoubtedly be the most difficult test of the season. In the NFL, Baltimore has given up the fewest yards per attempt and the second-fewest rushing yards. They feature two excellent run-stopping linebackers (Malik Harrison and Roquan Smith) and Kyle Hamilton, who is perhaps the league’s best run-stopping safety.
This season, the Eagles have only faced one top 10 rushing defense (Green Bay), while the Ravens have only faced two top 10 rushing offensive teams (Pittsburgh and Washington). Only three teams have rushed for more than 100 yards against the Ravens: Tampa Bay, Denver, and Pittsburgh. Barkley has more 100-yard rushing games this season than fifteen teams combined, with seven.
Naturally, Baltimore has a dynamic running game of its own. The Ravens, led by quarterback Lamar Jackson and running back Derrick Henry, are second only to the Eagles in rushing yards and have played three of the NFL’s top rushing defenses: Pittsburgh, Denver, and Kansas City. The Eagles are tied with Arizona for second place with 5.2 yards per run, while the Ravens lead the league with 5.8 yards per rushing attempt.
If you’re wondering if a team that leads the league in rushing attempts and trails the league in passing attempts can win the Super Bowl, you’re not alone.
Most likely not, according to a league source. You’re playing against the odds and swimming upstream because that’s probably the hardest route. However, there are numerous strategies to win a Super Bowl. The Eagles can defeat any team in the NFL if that is the strategy you want to deploy against them. They can also play some pretty excellent teams and coordinators that choose to play nickel against them in an attempt to halt their passing game. Any time a team plays nickel against the Eagles, in my opinion, it’s a gift because they will get a nice play.
Teams that prefer to run a lot more than they pass can win the championship, according to history, and current statistics suggest the league may be moving back toward running.Teams were rushing for a combined total of 245.1 yards per game, the most since 1990, according to an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Vic Fangio, the defensive coordinator for the Eagles, stated that passing has increased by 4.5% during my first three seasons in the NFL (86, 87, and 88) as compared to the previous three seasons (21, 22, and 23). There has always been a run game. Teams are managing it more effectively. Teams are realizing how vital it is to run the ball to victory. Thus, the run game hasn’t yet vanished. The fullback vanished. This week will see some two-back runs since, ironically, Baltimore has a fullback. The run game, in my opinion, has never disappeared. More teams are now majoring in it.
With Barkley on their side, the Eagles are attempting to obtain a master’s degree in rushing in the hopes of obtaining the credentials necessary to win the team’s second Super Bowl. They are running the ball more often than any other team since Pittsburgh in 2005, 56.26% of the time. The Steelers ran it 57.39% of the time their route to winning the Super Bowl.
The Pittsburgh team is the first one in the history of the Super Bowl to win the championship despite having the most running attempts and the fewest passing attempts.
To win that way, a strong defense is typically also necessary, and the Eagles now have the lowest yards per game allowed in the NFL. Even though they only threw the ball 41.5% of the time, the 1985 Bears won because they had the best defense and rushing offense. In 2005, the Steelers’ defense was ranked fourth in the league.
Hurts doesn’t delve too far into the statistics and takes a straightforward approach to everything.
He stated, “I look forward to winning, and whatever is necessary to do that.”
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