Pederson: ‘Pound and ground’ leads to Birds win
After swapping Wisniewski for Seumalo, Eagles suddenly have found a punishing running game
PHILADELPHIA » Almost any discussion about great offensive lines begins with the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s.
No NFL unit did it better than Jerry Kramer, Forrest Gregg and Jim Ringo, among others, who with Bart Starr running the sneak behind them beat the Dallas Cowboys in the 1967 NFL championship game immortalized as the “Ice Bowl.”
In our football dreams we can still see Cowboys defensive tackle Bob Lilly scraping his heel on the frozen tundra to create an anchor that just didn’t work.
Several offensive lines have dominated the NFL through the years including the 1970s Oakland Raiders, right there with the Pack in dominance. It doesn’t get better than Gene Upshaw, Art Shell, Jim Otto and Philly import Bob Brown.
The Raiders didn’t get the publicity of the Packers, the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Washington Redskins, whose lines helped lead them to Super Bowl championship runs.
There aren’t any groups like those in modern times. But there are good lines. And the Eagles own one.
Admit it, when right tackle Lane Johnson said the Eagles could rival the Cowboys, the current gold standard in the NFL, as the top line in the NFC you were wondering if he was doing unapproved supplements again.
Eagles center Jason Kelce is built like a fullback, his 6-3, 295-pound listing in the program greatly exaggerated. He’s sort of the scholar of the Philly line, the Professor who knows everyone’s job.
Johnson is an outstanding athlete, arguably the purest O-line talent in the NFL. But come on, the next time the guy fails a urine test he’s gone for at least a year. He’s literally week to week, even when healthy.
Right guard Brandon Brooks is a huge man with surprisingly good feet. You don’t see this 340-pounder tripping over fallen bodies or somebody else’s feet. The only real question is, if he was so good, why didn’t the Houston Texans re-sign him?
Left tackle Jason Peters, who plays like he’s 29, not 35, is headed to the Hall of Fame.
Unfortunately the left guard, Isaac Seumalo, really is better suited to playing tackle. And the guard the Eagles signed in free agency, Chance Warmack, is a first-round bust.
The question the Eagles have about Stefen Wisniewski is whether he’s a guard or a center. Until the last two weeks, that is.
Let’s just say the Eagles’ coaching staff finally saw the light. They scratched Seumalo, started Wisniewski at left guard and bam, beat the Los Angeles Chargers almost exclusively on the ground. The Eagles rushed for 214 yards on 42 carries. In a two-point victory they killed every last second of the remaining 6 minute, 44 seconds, largely with the run game.
How dominant was that ground attack? LeGarrette Blount ran 68 yards through a gaping hole and didn’t need oxygen when it ended.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson called runs on eight third downs. The Eagles converted five into first downs, including three on the final possession of the day.
The big running plays, including Blount’s jaunt in the fourth quarter, were products of powerful, precision blocking. It was a combination blocking clinic put on by Peters, Wisniewski, Kelce, Brooks and Johnson. Knowing their egos, there’s no way they waited to get home to watch the replay.
The Eagles showed they could run it the previous week as well.
This may surprise readers, so you may want to take a knee, but this author is old enough to have covered some great Eagles offensive lines, like the one with Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan at tackle during the 2004 Super Bowl season, and some not so great units like the ones anchored by Ed “Holding, No. 64” George, in the mid-to-late 1970s.
This Eagles line, the way it’s equipped, looks like it’s better than any of those lines. If this offensive line keeps playing this way it will be the best in Eagles history, no disrespect to the 1948-49 or the 1960 NFL championship teams.
The Thomas-Runyan line not only was dominant, it was reliable. The tackles never took a day off. Runyan was one of the most feared at his position in the league. Jermane Mayberry was such a dominant guard that the Eagles didn’t miss a beat with Artis Hicks and center Hank Fraley.
The Eagles’ 1980 Super Bowl line was super-talented on the edges with Jerry Sisemore and Stan Walters at the tackles. Guy Morris was at the pivot and Woody Peoples and Petey Perot were the guards.
This Eagles line — even with the Warmack rotating in — can do more things than those lines. This line can play smashmouth with Peters and Brooks or it can pass protect with Johnson and Wisniewski. This line can combination block and get out on screens. Speaking of screens, the linemen almost trip over each other racing to block at the second level.
Don’t get me wrong, this Eagles’ line won’t be mistaken for Washington’s Hogs with Joe Jacoby, Russ Grimm, Mark May, George Starke and Jeff Bostic, who turned the counter-trey into household football verbiage. (Bet you didn’t know the Eagles cut Bostic.)
But this Eagles line is very good and it has the potential to be great.