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Brian Johnson Says Pass/Run Ratio from Jets Loss was “Fine”
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The box score shows a 45 to 22 pass/run split from the Eagles loss in New York this past Sunday. It was the most pass-heavy ratio the Eagles have posted all year.
Of course, there are always caveats to consider. Jalen Hurts scrambled several times in this game. There are option plays that can turn into runs or passes, depending on the defender read. There are designed quarterback runs as well.
Brian Johnson touched on that when the topic was broached at his midweek press conference:
Q.When you step back and look at the run pass ratio, are you okay with the way it went?(Dave Zangaro)
BRIAN JOHNSON: Yeah, that was fine. I think we have really good players at a bunch of different spots, and sometimes you look at some of these runs or some of these passes or extensions of the run game, when you start to add in some of the RPOs and the bubbles and the swing passes and things like that, it’s just space touches. A lot of times, those are extensions of the run game.
So, when you look at a stat sheet and you see it’s 45 passes or however many passes it is, but I think that varies when you talk about that type of pass and the drop back pass.
Fair enough, but the bottom line is that the Eagles were pounding the ball with D’Andre Swift in weeks two and three, and they’ve gotten away from that a bit in recent weeks. Swift carried the ball 44 times against the Vikings and Bucs for 305 yards and a touchdown, and against the Rams and Jets he got 27 carries for 88 yards and no scores. He did find the end zone on a reception, and curiously, has been targeted 16 times in the passing game in the past two weeks while his running touches have dwindled.
Maybe it was part of the game plan to attack a Jets secondary with some injury absences, or maybe the Eagles felt like they weren’t going to be able to run on a stout Jets defensive front, but saying that “space touches” can be “extensions of the run game” is a little bit of an eye roller. Throwing a fucking bubble screen to Quez Watkins is not the same as running inside zone behind Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, and Jason Kelce. The offensive line has always been a huge strength, which the Eagles leaned on in the early going. Instead, they came out in this game with a pass-heavy routine, lost Lane Johnson, and continued to throw even as Jack Driscoll struggled, left on an island at right tackle.
It’s tough to ask these guys to pass block on upward of 65% of the offensive snaps. Jalen Hurts was under more duress than he had been all season. And yeah, it sounds like a WIP caller complaint, asking the team to run the ball more, but we’ve seen how good the Eagles are at pounding the rock over these last two seasons, and the ancillary gains the run game produces. It helps them control the clock. It allows them to keep Hurts upright. It reduces interception possibilities and the overall turnover count. It’s a huge part of their identity but they’ve steadily upped their passing attempts from Week 2 through Week 5:
We can’t be naive to think the Eagles are going to run for 200 yards every game. Of course they’re not going to do that, but the Birds looked one-dimensional on Sunday. If you can’t run the ball, and need to throw instead, so be it. That’s fine. But I’m not sure they made a reasonable effort to establish the run, which they should in every first quarter of every single game. Why? Because they’re good at it. They’re one of the best in the league at it, and the numbers back it up.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com