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Will Eagles be able to fix terrible run defense? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Don’t worry, the Eagles aren’t the first team in NFL history to allow 315 rushing yards and 6.4 yards per carry in their first two games.
It’s happened before.
Like Washington in 1944. The 1945 Steelers. And the 1950 Baltimore Colts. The 1952 Dallas Texans and 1959 Washington. Seven other teams as well.
But there’s no way around the fact that through two games the Eagles have one of the worst run defenses in NFL history.
And Alvin Kamara and his NFL-best 5.7 yards per carry are three days away.
Yikes.
“We’ve just got to play better run defense at the end of the day,” Reed Blankenship said. “And it goes for all levels, especially when you’ve got secondary guys rotating down. You’ve just got to make tackles. And I’m part of that, too. And we’re going to get that fixed.”
Maybe.
But so far, they haven’t stopped anybody. Josh Jacobs averaged 5.3 yards per carry, Bijan Robinson 6.9 and Tyler Allgeier 5.9.
All last year only four running backs averaged at least 5.3 yards per carry vs. the Eagles on eight or more carries. Three have done it already this year in just two games.
The Eagles are only the seventh team since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to allow 6.4 yards per carry and at least 315 rushing yards through two weeks. And that 6.4 figure would be 6.7 if not for two Kirk Cousins kneel downs.
When you can’t stop the run, it’s pretty much impossible to play defense. Or win football games.
The Packers and Falcons both had success getting their backs through the line of scrimmage and into the second level with little resistance. The Eagles managed to beat the Packers, but they know they’re not going to win many games getting gashed on the ground.
The problem is two-fold: The Eagles’ defensive linemen are getting pushed around at the line of scrimmage and the linebackers and defensive backs are missing way too many tackles.
First-round picks Jalen Carter and…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/eagles-able-fix-terrible-run-133217468.html
Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2024-09-19 13:32:17
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