It’s one thing to find balance between the pass and run, but Doug Pederson got it right at both the macro and micro level on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles.

Not only did the Eagles finish 51/49 in a pass/run split, but they were also very balanced in just the running game itself, utilizing all three active backs and setting them in motion from a variety of formations and angles.

We wrote a little bit last week about what the run game might look like in the post-Darren Sproles era, and the Chargers matchup played out in the way that I think most people imagined. Wendell Smallwood and Corey Clement did more of the east/west running while LeGarrette Blount was (mostly) put in positions to carry the ball downhill.

The result was 36 runs for 200 yards between the three of them. Carson Wentz added 14 more on the ground.

It’s funny to think that the “three-headed monster” idea is starting to surface now, just two weeks after the Eagles threw the ball 75% of the time in the Kansas City loss. In a strange way, the Sproles and Donnel Pumphrey injuries have added clarity to the running game, with fewer options but more defined roles for the remaining three runners on the roster (not counting Kenjon Barner, who was brought in to return punts).

Here’s how each back was used:

LeGarrette Blount

16 carries, 136 yards, 8.5 average, 68 long

shotgun: five carries, 15 yards

under center:  11 carries, 121 yards*

*take away the second half “beastmode” run and he’d still be at 10 under center carries for 53 yards (5.3 average)

It’s no surprise that Blount is much more effective when the Birds line up under center and let him run it downhill. His TLOS (time behind the line of scrimmage) number of 2.56 is still top five in the NFL. That means he’s taking the ball and hitting the hole right away.

They gave him the rock 11 times under center and five times from the shotgun, which I think is too many. But even in under center sets, horizontal starts rarely work well for him, which you saw in this toss play from the goal line in the fourth quarter:


There’s some good blocking there by the offensive line, but LA does well to make a play and Blount isn’t going to cut upfield the same way Smallwood or Clement will.

When Blount does get the ball downhill, good things happen. The Birds iced the game with a pair of back-to-back counters that saw him pick up six and 15 yards:

That clip tells me that he can cut, but he’s better doing it at the point of attack with a downhill tilt, instead of taking that sweep look and finding the right time to change momentum and get through the line.

Wendell Smallwood

10 carries, 34 yards, 3.4 average, 11 long

shotgun: seven carries, 30 yards

under center: three carries, 4 yards, 1 touchdown

Smallwood is the most obvious replacement for Sproles, with the lightest frame out of all three players (Clement is the same height, but has 12 pounds on him).

On the first play of the game, the Eagles went sweep out of the shotgun with the second-year back:

It’s just a power formation with Smallwood running behind two linemen and two tight ends. Brandon Brooks doesn’t hold his block long enough, but Smallwood breaks the tackle for a gain of 13. Blount probably breaks that tackle, too, but does he get up the field as fast as Smallwood? Probably not.

I thought this look was interesting, too:

It was third and 13 and the Eagles put Wentz under center with both Smallwood and Clement in a split back look. They ran a fake toss to Smallwood with an inside hand off to Clement, which was stuffed by an unblocked Joey Bosa. If that assignment isn’t blown, you’re looking at a 40 to 41 yard field goal attempt, instead of 45, which Jake Elliott hit on the next play anyway. This run wasn’t particularly successfully, but it was designed to set up an easier field goal and it was another personnel wrinkle that we hadn’t seen before.

Smallwood was also excellent catching the ball on Sunday with four grabs for 45 yards, including that huge gain on the fake end-around screen in the first half. All four of Smallwood’s snags came from the shotgun, which makes him an even better threat from that formation. I mentioned last week how Smallwood was used out of shotgun and pistol formations about 95% of the time in college, so he’s obviously comfortable in those sets.

Corey Clement

10 carries, 30 yards, 3.0 average, 10 long

shotgun: seven carries, 30 yards

under center: three carries, 0 yards (one was a five yard loss)

When I went back and tallied these up, I thought for sure that Clement would have had more than three carries from under center. All of his damage was done from the shotgun, including two of his three first-down conversions on the final drive. 30% of his carries actually came during that one series, which I found fascinating. They really trust him to carry the ball in those situations, even with Blount and Smallwood both healthy and available.

Can he run it horizontally? I think so, but it’s been hit or miss so far with him. Case in point, this goal line stretch play:

Granted, that’s a terrible block from Nelson Agholor and a couple of Chargers sniff out the call. Smallwood was run on another stretch that got blown up in the backfield and the Eagles haven’t had a ton of success with those looks.

But when Clement takes those shotgun sweep plays, he’s pretty damn good. Here he shows enough patience to wait for a couple of pulling blockers, then burst to get through the line of scrimmage and net positive yards:

So I think he can definitely run it horizontally, but I’d rather see Smallwood take these kinds of carries. Theoretically, Blount should be running it 85% from under center, Smallwood should be running it 85% out of the shotgun, and I’d like to see Clement in some sort of 50/50 split until we learn more about him.

Total

shotgun: 19 carries, 75 yards

under center: 17 carries, 125 yards, 1 touchdown

That’s about as balanced as you can get. If you take away a couple of those goofy east/west Blount runs, you’re looking at a 19/19 shotgun vs. under center split.

One of things I also thought they did a nice job of was mixing and matching different looks on various drives.

The first two drives, one of which is scripted, featured the following:

  • east/west sweep
  • shotgun draw
  • off-tackle counter
  • run/pass option
  • split backs, fake toss/inside handoff

And on the final drive, which was certainly not scripted, Pederson showed these looks:

  • RPO sweep
  • shotgun inside hand off
  • tight end pull/trap
  • under center counter

It was a just a solid job overall of not only getting all of the backs involved, but running them out of different sets and giving the defense more to think about. In a game where the run/pass ratio was extremely balanced, the running game itself was also balanced, sort of like a layer-on-layer football “Inception” where Doug Pederson is actually Leonardo DiCaprio.