Rookie Adams provides answer for Eagles
PHILADELPHIA >> Eagles running back Josh Adams has a history with Saquon Barkley that dates to the days when they were recruited by Penn State.
Barkley, now with the New York Giants, was in the fold for Nittany Lions’ coach James Franklin when Adams made his visit after rushing for 1,623 yards and 25 touchdowns his senior year at Central Bucks South.
“I don’t know him, know him,” Adams said. “But we said, ‘what’s up,’ talked about stuff that pertains to football or whatever. He’s from Pa. I’ve known of him from high school.”
Barkley and Adams went on to become Heisman Trophy candidates, Adams at Notre Dame, and are now the focal points of the run attacks for the Giants and the Eagles.
Barkley, the second overall pick in the 2018 draft, rushed for 101 yards, including a 51-yard TD and
caught a scoring pass Sunday.
Adams, the undrafted rookie, ran for a career-high 84 yards to go with a touchdown and a two-point conversion run as the Eagles prevailed, 25-22. Adams had a 52yard scoring run in the first half nullified by a Jason Kelce hold.
Don’t think for a second either guy forgot their past when they hit the field Sunday. Adams grinned, paused, and then called time out when asked if their past gave him a little more incentive to have a good game against Barkley.
“I don’t know,” said Adams, who played 62 percent of the Eagles’ offensive snaps. “I don’t have anything for him.”
For now, Adams is 2-0 against Barkley including the Eagles’ romp over the Giants earlier this season.
In time, you can count on the duo talking about their past in pre-game.
And another thing, Adams is just the second player to get 20 or more carries in any game in the Pederson era. Adams’ 22 lugs matched Ryan Mathews, who had another 20-carry game in 2016.
Leave
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it to Doug Pederson
Philadelphia Eagles running back Josh Adams runs with the ball against New York Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins during the second half Sunday.
to take the vague way out when asked at his day-after news conference if the Eagles can sustain the groundand-pound formula they used Sunday to defeat the Giants.
“Any time we stay balanced I think as an offense, good things happen and you’re able to score points and sort of control the ball,” Pederson said. “I think you look around league, the common theme of teams that have that balance are winning games. So yeah, I think that’s a formula you can carry moving forward.”
Statistically, the Eagles are 5-0 this season with more than 24 rushes, 0-6 when they have 24 or fewer.
The long answer is the Eagles have done a poor job of establishing the run game vital to playing Pederson’s style of offense for a variety of reasons.
First and foremost, the running back position was misevaluated before the season began. The Eagles were relying on 35-year-old veteran Darren Sproles to play a regular shift, but he’s been sidelined since tearing a hamstring in the season opener. Sproles said after the game Sunday that he would play again for the Eagles, whatever that’s worth.
Adams nursed a foot injury into training camp before getting on the field and impressing the Eagles. Corey Clement was hurt.
The Eagles switched out guard Stefen Wisniewski for Isaac Seumalo, shifted from Nick Foles to Wentz at quarterback, lost deep threat Mike Wallace to a broken foot and waited forever for Alshon Jeffery to get healthy. At the midway point of the season, the Eagles traded for receiver Golden Tate.
That’s a lot of moving points to establish any type of offense.
The Eagles got the run game going almost by accident Sunday as the Giants’ defense is as injury wracked and probably more challenged to tackle than the Eagles.
The run clearly took pressure off Carson Wentz, who has hurt himself trying to play out of body. Wentz called the run game every quarterback’s best friend after the game.
The rushing attack also killed clock, which limited the opportunities of Barkley, who almost had 100 yards in the first half. And the Giants shied away from running Barkley due to penalties that put them behind in the chain, per head coach Pat Shurmur.
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The Eagles simplified the defense Sunday, and it especially helped the young secondary get on its feet after a disastrous first half.
Playing a lot of young guys left the Eagles out of position. There were other times they had too many men on the field.
It wasn’t like veteran safety Malcolm Jenkins asked coordinator Jim Schwartz if the Eagles players could draw their own scheme up on a notes board.
Jenkins said “settling down the game plan to give us an opportunity to go play fast.
“Guys in the secondary communicated more,” he said. “The front four became more of the focus. And an adjustment from Jim Schwartz to change the game plan and put us in some calls that would allow us to play fast and at least get lined up. We were having a tough time there. So, all of those things together, we were able to get back to kind of the style we like playing. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch.”
It was good enough to win, obviously.