Blount, Smallwood revive running game
PHILADELPHIA » The Eagles established a run game.
Every bit as shocking is they did it Sunday with a committee that didn’t include Darren Sproles, who exited in the first quarter with a wrist injury.
Wendell Smallwood led the Eagles with 71 yards on 12 carries. LeGarrette Blount added 12 runs for 67 yards and his first rushing TD with the Birds, and undrafted rookie Corey Clement, from Glassboro, N.J., ran for 22 yards on six carries, including a 15-yard score.
The Eagles rushed for 193 yards in a 27-24 decision over the Giants.
“We’ve got a good stable of running backs,” Blount said. “We’ve got a lot of guys out here who can do everything they want us to do. We have to make sure we’re prepared to come out and fight battles like this. The offensive line played their tails off all the way across the board.”
The Eagles also benefitted from changes at left guard. Chance Warmack started there but was replaced by Stefen Wisniewski, who performed almost spectacularly along with center Jason Kelce. The duo crushed Giants defenders on the edges.
Eagles backs combined rushes worth 171 yards.
“It meant a lot especially coming off of last week,” Clement said. “We didn’t execute the run game at all. I think everybody wanted to see it. The front office the fans, the media, everybody. And it was kind of embarrassing. LeGarrette definitely for 33 emphasized it. Sproles emphasized it. We’re going to be this key group today. We’re going to put the team in the best position possible. So we became as one today.”
Sproles left with 11 yards on three carries.
*** Rookie kicker Jake Elliott booted field goals of 46 and 61 yards in the final 51 seconds to lift the Eagles to victory.
The 61-yarder is a franchise record as it bested barefooted Tony Franklin’s 59-yard field goal at the old Texas Stadium in 1979.
Elliott’s 61-yarder is tied for seventh-longest in the NFL. Matt Prater owns the record with a 64-yarder in 2013.
According to the Eagles, Elliott’s kick is tied for the third-longest walk-off field goal in league history, behind Tom Dempsey and Matt Bryant.
Elliott was carried off the field by Kamu Grugier-Hill and Mychal Kendricks.
“Y’all might see me on the sideline on a knee holding hands with a few of the guys,” Blount said of his vantage point for the winner. Probably me, Wendell and (Jason Peters). There was a lot of guys. Sixty-one yards is a long kick, man. It’s a really, really long kick.
“And obviously we all have confidence in him. If we didn’t, Doug (Pederson) wouldn’t have let him kick the ball. We had confidence in him and he came through in a big way. We needed this one.”
*** The Eagles lost Fletcher Cox (calf), Jordan Hicks (ankle) and Sproles (wrist).
While the extent of the injuries is unknown, Hicks and Cox were able to exit the locker room under their own power.
*** The Giants are 0-3. Since 1990, only three teams have survived such a start to reach the playoffs, the most recent being the Bills in 1998.
*** Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. can expect a league fine for celebrating the first of two TD grabs by getting on all fours, crawling to the edge of the end zone, lifting his leg and pretending he was doing what dogs do to fire hydrants.
Beckham was flagged conduct.
“We needed to make a play,” Beckham said when asked if coach Ben McAdoo addressed the penalty. “We’re down 14-0. OK, we need to make a play. We needed a spark. I don’t care if you kick from the fiveyard line on our side, we need to make a play.”
After OBJ’s second TD, he raised a fist in the air. It looked a lot like the gesture Malcolm Jenkins uses during the National Anthem.
Jenkins later grabbed OBJ around the throat while being flagged for a 28-yard pass interference penalty. It was borderline illegal.
“He made a smart play,” Beckham said. “I’m going to make a play and so he stops that. It’s football … Nothing dirty to me. It doesn’t really matter.” for unsportsmanlike
*** The Eagles scratched safety Rodney McLeod, ending his streaks of 82 straight games played, including 66 straight starts.
McLeod (hamstring) hadn’t missed a game in six professional seasons.
The games played ranked third at safety among active players. Only one active safety had made more consecutive starts.
The Eagles also deactivated safety Corey Graham, who had played in 159 straight games, tops among active safeties.
Veteran safety Chris Maragos made his third career start, all with the Eagles.
Rookie Rasul Douglas started at cornerback for the Eagles.
*** Also scratched by the Eagles: cornerback Ronald Darby (ankle), cornerback Jaylen Watkins (hamstring), wide receiver Shelton Gibson, defensive end Steven Means and defensive tackle Destiny Vaeao (wrist).
The Giants deactivated quarterback David Webb, running back Wayne Gallman Jr., linebackers J.T. Thomas and B.J. Goodson, offensive tackle Bobby Hart (ankle), tight end Matt LaCosse and defensive end Avery Moss.
Justin Pugh move from left guard to right tackle in place of Hart. Brett Jones started at left guard. Calvin Munson started at middle linebacker in place of Goodson.
*** NOTES » Eli Manning wasn’t sacked. It was the first time he wasn’t sacked since the last time he played the Eagles, last year at the Linc. Manning had been sacked eight times this season before Sunday … Rookie cornerback Rasul Douglas registered his first career interception in his first start in the first quarter. Veteran Patrick Robinson also intercepted Manning for the Eagles … Cornerback Jalen Mills led the Eagles with 12 tackles, including nine solos. He broke up two passes covering OBJ for much of the game, traveling to the side the Giants’ receiver — and former LSU teammate — lined up on.