PHILADELPHIA — Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, if you spend any time around him, seems like a really good guy.
He cares about family. He likes to hang out and joke around. He loves football, has the reputation of being somewhat of a workaholic, is smart and has a hard edge to him.
With the way he wears his passion on his sleeve, he’s actually a Philly-type guy. He’s also lying to the cameras and microphones.
No one should take it personally. He’s not lying about who he is, but about his team. It’s part of his job to misdirect and keep state secrets close to the vest. Do you really want him to give away the game plan?
“I wouldn’t say we’re a running team or a passing team,” Sirianni said. “We do what’s necessary to win each game.”
Oh.
The Eagles obviously try to win every game — of course that part is true — but they do it by running the ball. Your eyes aren’t lying to you. Neither are the numbers.
Saquon Barkley, who had 159 rushing yards against Jacksonville, became just the third Eagle to run for 100-plus yards in three consecutive weeks. Hadn’t happened since Brian Westbrook did it in 2006, and prior to that, it was Wilbert Montgomery in 1978, ’79 and ’81.
Barkley averaged 147.6 rushing yards over those three games. He’s the first Eagle since LeSean McCoy in 2013 with five 100-plus yard rushing efforts through the opening eight games.
In other words, the Eagles are a committed running team, even if Sirianni doesn’t want to admit it. It is their offensive identity. It has become undeniably clear during their four-game winning streak as they prepare to head into Dallas.
Sure, they have great receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. Even Jahan Dotson, who had barely been targeted since his acquisition from Washington in August, made a magical catch on Sunday that should be up there with any highlight. It was incredible, perhaps just a notch behind Smith’s in the back of the end zone, which just happened to occur in the same game. But everything starts with running the ball.
As it should, when you have a back like Barkley, and when you have a talented and deep offensive line like the Eagles do, performing at an elite level despite injuries and the retirement of Jason Kelce. That’s why general manager Howie Roseman signed Barkley. Not only are the Eagles running a lot, since the Week 5 bye they’re running more often on early downs.
“We’re constantly trying to evaluate our rhythm throughout each and every game, and it felt like some of the run game on early downs has obviously generated some positive situations,” offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said on Tuesday. “We’ve put ourselves in more manageable third downs because of how we’ve played on first and second down.
“Obviously we’re running the football well at times, and when you do have that ability to control the line of scrimmage and our guys can just run off the ball and play physical, you definitely want to embrace that.”
Exactly. The Eagles have embraced it.
It is a good thing that they are now a running team, finally. Not only does it fit this city, it’s winning football. For all of Andy Reid’s success here, fans begged him to run the ball more.
There were flashes of it over the last couple of decades, but not enough. The Birds have had scat-backs like McCoy and Westbrook. Bruisers like LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi. But Barkley is a feature back who can do it all and thensome.
He can juke and spin around you, somehow hurdle over you backwards, or lower his shoulder and punish you as he endlessly churns up the turf.
And because defenses always have to account for him, he opens up the rest of the field for big plays in the passing game, whether it’s play-action, read-options or simply the fact Barkley is in the backfield.
“Our identity is to play physical with toughness and with detail, and our identity is to play together, and everything else changes week to week,” Sirianni said.
Fair enough. But it begins up front with Barkley and this offensive line. It inspires the rest of the team, including the defense, when he breaks free for a huge gain, bowls over somebody, or leaps tall buildings in single bound.
Just look at what some of Barkley’s teammates had to say about his reverse hurdle against the Jags, which actually came on a catch out of the backfield and made the Eagles sideline erupt.
“That might be the greatest play I’ve ever seen in football,” linebacker Cooper DeJean said. “I don’t think I’ll see it again either, unless he does it again, which wouldn’t surprise me. It was insane.”
“I ain’t going to lie, I felt like a fanboy for a quick second,” defensive end Josh Sweat said. “I had to snap back to who I was.”
“That right there, man … I don’t know, some guys are blessed,” said right guard Lane Johnson, responsible for delivering lots of Barkley’s blocks.
It was almost tragic that a Penn State kid, a Lehigh Valley kid, was drafted by a doleful team like the New York Giants, forced to toil and subject his body to unnecessary abuse behind a godawful offensive line for years — and for a franchise that didn’t appreciate him, didn’t want to pay him what he was worth and eventually showed him the door.
It is to the Eagles’ good fortune that he only went 90 minutes down the Turnpike for his next NFL stop, and to a division rival, no less. One that now … is a running team.
“Damn right, we’re a running team, definitely,” Sirianni finally said in a recent interview. “But we have the ability to do both things. And the game will dictate that, and we’ll try to dictate that. … Regardless of what level of football you play, it starts up front, and I can’t say enough of our offensive line.”
Ah, there’s some serious Sirianni honesty showing through. This offensive line, led by Johnson and buoyed by a back like Barkley, is doing the dictating.
He is finally home now, and the Eagles’ offense has found a home with him.
Christiaan DeFranco covers the Eagles for MediaNews Group. Contact him at [email protected]
