Will Eagles be able to fix terrible run defense?

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 Jordan Davis have a combined one solo tackle.

This is a problem.

“When you look at it, it was like, dang, where they were trying to attack us was in the middle,” Graham said. “So they were trying to get the cut off the backside, chop the linebacker in the middle and then hit that A gap in the middle.”

Last year, 15 percent of running plays against the Eagles went for eight or more yards. This year that figure has almost doubled to 29 percent.

“I think it always starts with us putting players in position to make plays,” Nick Sirianni said. “But after that, everything when you talk about run defense and when you talk about playing defense is going to start with: ‘Do you get off blocks? Can you play on their side of the line of scrimmage and get off blocks? And can you make the tackles when you get there?

“Regardless of what the call is, do we have to put them in different positions and try different things? Yeah. And the defense was trying to do that (Monday night). But regardless of what the call is, it’s going to be how we put our hands on people, how we knock them back, how we shed that block, whether it’s a cut block or whether it’s an up-high block, and how we tackle after that.

“We have to build on those fundamentals. … So there’s two aspects of this. It’s us as coaches putting them in position to make plays, but it’s also us teaching them how to put their hands on blocks. We’re going to make sure that we do our part as coaches and the players have to do their part of executing it when that time comes.”

Things don’t get any easier Sunday when the Eagles face the 2-0 Saints on the fast track at the Superdome.

Kamara ran just 15 times for 83 yards and a TD with a 5.5 average in the opener vs. the Panthers and 20 times for 115 yards and three TDs with a 5.8 average Sunday in the win over the Cowboys in Dallas.

He’s only the fourth player in the last 40 years with 198 rushing yards, a 5.7 average and four rushing TDs through two weeks. The others are Emmitt Smith, Terrell Davis and Adrian Peterson.

“You’ve got to be ready to play ball,” Blankenship said. “If your number’s called, you’ve got to go.”