We wrote on Monday about the 2024 Eagles defense, which finished #1 in the NFL by allowing only 4,732 yards this season. They were the only team to concede fewer than 5,000 yards, and finished 2nd in points allowed per game (17.8) while giving up the fewest big plays to opponents.

Vic Fangio’s defense will go into the record books as one of the best Eagles units of all time, right up there with Jim Johnson’s 2004, Jim Schwartz’s 2017, and Jonathan Gannon’s 2022. The 1991 defense will likely never be replicated, and remains at the top of the arbitrary list.

Coincidentally, the Eagles also had elite run games during most of these seasons, pounding the ball with Saquon Barkley, Miles Sanders, Jalen Hurts, the LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi combo, and somewhat with the great Brian Westbrook in ’04, depending how much you subscribe to the “short passing game is an extension of the run game” philosophy.

What’s funny is that there’s this stereotype about a certain portion of Eagles fans who want to see two things. They want to see hard-nosed defense and a downhill running game. If you’re one of those people, then 2024 was your year, because not only did the Birds finish #1 defensively, but they finished #2 as a rushing offense, putting up the following stats:

  • 3,084 rushing yards (2nd)
  • 4.91 yards per carry (5th)
  • 29 rushing touchdowns (tied 2nd)
  • 55.7% rushing rate (1st)
  • 621 rushing attempts (1st)
  • 76 runs of 10+ yards (1st)
  • 54 broken tackles (8th)
  • 36.23% of runs against eight-man boxes (most in NFL)

That last number in particular is really interesting. Nobody ran against stacked boxes more than the Eagles, a rate that certainly trends higher because of tush push attempts, but even if you adjust the number to account for that, putting up more than 3,000 rushing yards vs. a high rate of eight-man (or higher) boxes is wild.


Out of curiosity, I went back through the data to see if I could find other seasons in which the Eagles were a top 3 defense and top 3 running team at the same time. Since those labels are generic and can be debated, I ran the filters by defensive total yards conceded and offensive total rushing yards gained.

This is what I found:

  • The 2017 Super Bowl team just missed the cut. Doug Pederson’s team finished 3rd in rushing yards and 4th in defensive yards allowed.
  • Chip Kelly’s 2013 team finished #1 in rushing yards behind Shady McCoy, but the defense allowed the fourth-MOST yards.
  • The 1995 Eagles finished fourth in rushing yards and fourth in total defense. That was a 10-6 Ray Rhodes team with Rodney Peete, Ricky Watters, William Fuller, and Andy Harmon.
  • In 1992, they were the second-best running team and conceded the 6th-fewest yards.
  • The 1991 team had the best defense by far. Why wasn’t the run game as good? Because they didn’t get Herschel Walker until the following season, and because Randall Cunningham injured his knee and the offense could never get it together during what should have been special year.
  • The 1990 squad was #1 in rushing but the defense allowed the 12th-most yards.
  • The 1981 Eagles finished 4th with 2,509 rushing yards and 1st with 4,447 defensive yards conceded. Wilbert Montgomery’s second-best NFL campaign.

I stopped at 1974, so combing through 50 years of data I could not find any other instance of the Eagles finishing in the top 3 in both offensive rushing yards and total yards conceded by the defense.

That means that this was it. 2024 was the “run the ball and play defense” season, and it was somewhat ironic for two reasons.

One, on the offensive side, they had two elite receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. They could have thrown for 4,000 yards if they wanted to shift away from the run game.

And two, on the defensive side, you’ve got this stereotype, fair or not, that the old-school fan wants the Buddy Ryan 46 defense, where guys are getting downhill and going after the quarterback and laying the wood and putting people in bodybags, figuratively. This Eagles defense actually blitzed and pressured the quarterback at rates of less than 20%, which were bottom-five across the entire league. So they stuffed opposing teams, they just did it in a modern way. They controlled the line of scrimmage with Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, mitigated the run, and forced passing situations where the back 5 + Zack Baun thrived. The outside corners were incredible and the linebacker play was just as good as anything we’ve seen over the last 20 seasons. They suffocated teams by keeping everything in front and limiting explosives.

For the footnote portion of the crowd, this Eagles squad did play and defeat enough quality teams. They beat Jordan Love in Brazil, Lamar Jackson in Baltimore, and Matt Stafford in LA. They beat Joe Burrow on the road and Russell Wilson and Jayden Daniels at home. This team swept the AFC North and probably would have gone 6-0 against the division if not for the Jalen Hurts concussion.

We joke about the “Buddy Ryan uncle,” but there are many fans out there who believe you win in Philadelphia by running the football and playing tough defense.

Congratulations, because they played your type of game in 2024. This was it.