The Eagles offense had an extraordinary season last year and this season could be much greater. While several key defenders left Philadelphia this offseason, the offense only lost two key players. For Miles Sanders, the Eagles replaced him with both Rashaad Penny and D’Andre Swift. With the new dynamic in the backfield, will the run game be even better this season? This week, Brandon Graham also gave his perspective of the slippery field in Arizona and how it changed the game for the defense.
Here is the latest news and analysis for the Eagles this week:
Eagles’ rushing attack could be record-breaking in 2023
Over the last 2 years, the Philadelphia Eagles have carved a large part of their identity on the ability to run the ball. Since head coach Nick Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts took over the offense in 2021, they have run the ball more effectively than any other team in the NFL. Despite the previous successes, the Eagles’ running game can take an additional step forward in 2023 with the additions of D’Andre Swift and Rahsaad Penny.
In 2021, the Eagles led the NFL in rushing yards per game, with an average of 159.7 a contest. Jalen Hurts struggled as a passer for parts of the season, so the team shifted its offensive focus from the air to the ground. This turned their season and the franchise in general around.
After an embarrassing loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 7 that dropped their record to 2-5, they went 7-3 the rest of the season and finished with a playoff berth. While on paper they had the best rushing attack in the league, their offense was not elite because of the limitations in the passing game. Hurts was still developing, DeVonta Smith was still a rookie and Jalen Reagor was, well Jalen Reagor. If the Eagles fell behind, as they did in the playoff game against Tampa Bay, it became challenging for them to win, since defenses could just stack the box at the line of scrimmage, eliminating the run and forcing the team to throw.
Graham addresses ‘slippery’ Super Bowl
Philadelphia Eagles star Brandon Graham would never be the person to make excuses for a three-point loss in Super Bowl LVII. The Kansas City Chiefs won the trophy fair and square, thanks to masterful play-calling from Andy Reid and a virtuoso quarterbacking performance from Patrick Mahomes.
Final score: Chiefs 38, Eagles 35. Case closed. Game over. But, if someone wanted to blame something … you could blame the Tahoma 31 turf that took two years to grow and $800,000 to create and install. Players from both teams were slipping and sliding all night, including one treacherous tumble that cost Josh Sweat a sack on the opening drive.
Graham described the scene in a recent interview with Derrick Gunn of JAKIB Sports where the 35-year-old leader of the Eagles revealed his thoughts on the field conditions at State Farm Stadium in Arizona. The slick turf was getting into guy’s heads, especially on the defensive side.
“You need that traction to be able to get off the block and we was slipping a lot,” Graham told Gunn. “I don’t make excuses. I just know that that’s what we was talking about, or what was being talked about. It was us just trying to get out of our own head a little bit, too.”
