Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich wants balanced offense, 'to run the ball better than we did last week'
The Eagles passed on 74 percent of their offensive plays in the preseason opener and rushed only 19 times.
The Eagles ran the ball in the preseason opener only 19 times for 47 yards, including one quarterback scramble. They attempted 54 passes and were sacked once. The run-pass imbalance, 74 percent passing, was noteworthy, even for a preseason opener, and coach Doug Pederson said after the game that they went to short passes because the run game wasn't effective.
This was only the first preseason game, so there's no reason to overreact. But Pederson's run-pass ratio is something to watch this season after Carson Wentz attempted a franchise-record 607 passes last season. Plus, even when the run game isn't effective, the preseason might be a good time to work to improve it.
So will there more of an emphasis on running Thursday against the Buffalo Bills? It depends on the defensive look.
"Everybody knows that you go into a game and when you get a so-called heavy box versus a light box … you want to run versus a light box, but you've got to be able to run versus a heavy box with extra players down in there," offensive coordinator Frank Reich said. "It just so happened in that game – a little bit unusual for a preseason game – they blitzed us on almost every play. So it was not only a heavy box — it was people crossing the line of scrimmage, which was good for us to see. There are things that you normally would do to attack that personnel-wise, game-plan-wise, that quite honestly that we didn't want to do or show once it got into it.
"But, yeah, we want to be balanced. We want to be balanced in the preseason. We want to be balanced in the regular season. But at the end of the day, each game is its own unit. Sometimes you're going to have to throw it 60 times. I'd like us to have a couple games where we run for over 200 yards and throw it for 150. I'm hoping we have a few of those. So, yeah, I'd like us to run the ball better than we did last week."
The Eagles are going to have a committee backfield this season. It will likely include LeGarrette Blount, Darren Sproles, Wendell Smallwood and Donnel Pumphrey. Sproles didn't play last week and won't play this preseason. Smallwood was out with a hamstring injury. That also limited their running options. Corey Clement and Byron Marshall are the other running backs on the team.
Reich said he feels "good" about the Eagles running game. He cited a "run efficiency" statistic last season in which the Eagles ranked fifth in the NFL. It's an internal statistic, not an official NFL stat. This is how he explained run efficiency:
"For instance, on first and 10, run efficiency is a run of 4 yards or more. When you get down inside the 10-yard line, it's half the distance. If it is second and 2 and you get a first down, that's an efficient run. So sometimes a 4-yard run is efficient, but sometimes a 2-yard run is efficient given that on a third and 1 you get a first down: that's an efficient run."
The faces are different this year in the backfield, but the Eagles should have a better offensive line with Lane Johnson in the lineup. As much attention as the run-pass ratio receives, it makes sense to run only if the team is able to run. The Eagles need to run better than they did Thursday, but Reich is unconcerned.
“It’s hard to totally evaluate until it’s live all the time,” Reich said. “You saw in the couple live practices that we’ve had out here, our running game looks better on days that it’s been live in training camp because you’ve got to bring the back to the ground and we’ve got some good runners. We didn’t run it very well against Green Bay, but I’m very confident that we will run the ball well this year.”
