Eagles could use a hefty dose of the running game

If Marty Mornhinweg gets a head coaching job after this season (and he should, he's served his sentence for choosing to kick off in overtime once), there is a very good chance Andy Reid will bring his old pal Brad Childress back into the fold.

Here's an idea: Skip a couple of steps. Hire Childress right now.

Do the Eagles really need another cook in the offensive kitchen, helping Reid and Mornhinweg prepare for Sunday's playoff game? Not really. Childress is very familiar with the Green Bay Packers, having faced them twice a year during his four-plus seasons as head coach of the Vikings. But then, his record against the Pack was 3-7.

No, the reason to bring Childress back now has nothing to do with game-planning or special insight into blocking Clay Matthews. His only role would be to don a Motorola headset and remind Reid and Mornhinweg to mix the occasional running play into the offense. Childress would be a voice of reason, cutting through the Fog of War.

This is an ancient argument, but one we're obligated to make before kickoff on Sunday. The simplest and most effective way to address the most dire challenges facing the Eagles' offense in this game is to run the football. Hand the ball off to LeSean McCoy and Jerome Harrison enough and the Green Bay defense will not be nearly as disruptive. That will help the offensive line, which in turn will help free Michael Vick to make big plays.

Reid and Mornhinweg know this. It is evident from breaking down tape of the Packers. It was in their thinking as they put together a game plan early this week. It will be a priority as the team finishes its practice preparations Thursday and Friday.

And then the ball will be kicked off, the Fog of War will roll in, and the commitment to running the ball will vanish in the mist.

It has happened many times before. Even this week, when Reid was asked why Harrison hasn't gotten more carries, his answer was more revealing than he intended.

"You know," Reid said, "every week we go in and we identify the plays for him, and then he ends up with a handful during that game. You'd like to play him more. He's very worthy of it."

One reason that Harrison's number doesn't get called is that McCoy has been playing so well. It's hard to take him out of the game. But the other reason is that damnable Fog, which obscures the run side of the play chart (as well as the play clock and certain replay situations).

No one is suggesting that Reid should scrap his pass-oriented attack and go with a Bill Parcells-style power running game. That's not the point. The Eagles are built to throw the ball, and that's the way of the NFL these days. But Reid's pass/run ratios have been historically out of balance most years, and there are consequences to that: wear and tear on quarterbacks, games that slip away, inability to kill time and keep his defense off the field, etc.

You'd think Reid and Mornhinweg would at least embrace running the ball as a means to make their first love, the passing game, more effective. But time and again, when that play clock is running down and the Fog of War is thick, they turn to a pass play. It is just the way their brains are wired.

Childress' isn't. It would be an overstatement to say he is a run-oriented coach. The Eagles certainly chucked the old rock around during his time as offensive coordinator. But Childress would at least advocate for the run sometimes. And in Minnesota, with Adrian Peterson on his team, Childress ran a much more balanced attack than Reid does. Most coaches do. It is telling that Reid's former assistants, given the chance to be head coaches, have not emulated his pass-crazed offensive approach.

Childress gave Peterson somewhere around 20 carries per game. John Harbaugh's running backs have averaged nearly 450 carries a year in his three seasons in Baltimore. Sure, he was breaking in a young quarterback, Joe Flacco, but Reid didn't exactly lean on the run to take pressure off the young Donovan McNabb.

A good run game makes every quarterback better and more effective. Taking away the run is a goal of every defensive coordinator. So why do that job for the Packers, a team built to pressure quarterbacks? As we've seen against the Bears, Giants, and Vikings, Vick can be contained by aggressive, athletic defenses.

The recipe for disaster here is obvious: Matthews chasing Vick around, forcing mistakes, and creating a snowball effect that makes it even harder for the Eagles to run the ball. The antidote is just as obvious. Maybe Childress can get that message across to his old boss.