The Philadelphia Eagles have found a way to win their first two games, but their running game hasn't quite followed along. The defending two-time NFC East champs managed only 89 rushing yards in their 24-20 win over the Tennessee Titans, and the offense has yet to consistently produce the explosive runs it expects from its ground attack.
It would be easy to point at the offensive line or the running backs and leave it there. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni isn't doing that. He spoke with the media Monday. When asked about his team's slow start on the ground, he made it clear that everyone involved has a responsibility for getting the running game moving.
"In the run game, like everything in football, it takes just collaboration from every piece.
From coaching to playing. It’s not just on the backs or the O line. I think when the run game’s going really well, people tend to say, ‘Hey, the backs and the O line are doing really well.’ Well, it takes everybody. That is true, and then it also takes the tight ends, and it takes the quarterback and it takes the wide receivers. So, it is a full team effort and coaches as well, and we have to be better as a whole there. We’re going to continue to work like crazy to get to that portion. We’ve found ways to win the first two games, but we know we’re capable of being better in the run game."
That is an important distinction. The Eagles aren't treating the rushing struggles as a problem they can solve simply by blocking better or handing the football to Saquon Barkley more often. Every player involved has a job to execute, and one missed assignment can turn a potential big gain into a routine run.
The Eagles believe they're closer than the numbers suggest
Coach Sirianni also pushed back against the idea that the running game is completely broken. In his view, Philadelphia has been close to creating bigger plays but hasn't consistently capitalized when the right opportunities appear.
"I think there’s elements of it being close, too. There’s some things of [it] being close, but when you’re close and you’re on the verge of creating some explosives, when you get the looks that — they’re going to junk it up enough that when you get the looks that are really good looks, you’ve got to make them pay when they’re in that. And we’re close. We are close. But it goes back to when you’re close, it’s never just one thing. It’s the entire group working as a whole. We have to be committed to it still and keep grinding away at it, but we know we have room to improve there in our run game."
That may be the most encouraging part of the answer. Philadelphia isn't abandoning what it wants to be offensively. The Eagles believe the ingredients are there and that some of the bigger runs are waiting to happen when everyone executes at the same time.
For now, the running game remains a work in progress. The good news is that Philadelphia is 2-0 while working through it. The better news would be seeing that progress finally show up in the numbers. They, the media, and the game's most passionate fan base won't have any issues with this team's trademark ground attack returning to its dominant form if they can make that happen.
This article originally appeared on Eagles Wire: Nick Sirianni says Eagles' running-game problems are a team-wide issue
