Eagles

The Eagles Can Get More Out of LeGarrette Blount

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 26th, 2017 · 9:36 PM EDT

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It feels like the topic of run/pass balance is a distant memory.

The Eagles are 6-1, the offense is rolling, and Doug Pederson is a coach of the year frontrunner.

We’ve come a long way since Week 1, but if there’s one area to build on, it’s the production of LeGarrette Blount. He carried it 14 times for 29 yards in Monday night’s win and didn’t break off a big gain until he rumbled for 21 late in the game. Take that outlier away and we’re looking at 13 carries for 8 yards with a 0.62 average.

It was a season low for Blount, depending on whether or not you count the Week 2 matchup in Kansas City where he statistically finished with zero carries. His only rush in the Birds’ only loss came on a play that was wiped out on a holding call. Blount peaked with a 136 yard effort in Los Angeles and has been trending downhill since.

I put his last three charts side by side for comparison:

 

You see some big gains running off the left tackle in Week 5, then little action in those wide areas in Weeks 6 and 7. He’s been able to pick some big yardage in under center designs that bring in extra blockers or use that bunch formation look, but he isn’t an east/west runner.

In recent weeks, the Eagles have limited those looks for Blount and given those sweep plays to Wendell Smallwood, Corey Clement, and Kenjon Barner.

Rewatching the Redskins film, only once did they run Blount out of the shotgun, and it went for a huge loss:

• (1st and 33) under center, up the middle, 2 yards
• (1st and 10) under center, up the middle, 3 yards
• (1st and goal) under center, no gap at all, 3 yard loss
• (1st and 10) under center, up the middle, 2 yards
• (1st and goal) under center, counter off right tackle, 2 yards
• (1st and 10) under center, bunch formation/TE trap, 1 yard
• (2nd and 9) shotgun, sweep left, 7 yard loss
• (1st and 10) under center, counter A-gap, 2 yards
• (2nd and 8) under center, counter guard pull, C gap 5 yards,
• (3rd and 3) under center, counter blown up in backfield, 5 yard loss
• (2nd and 14) under center, B gap, 21 yards
• (1st and 10) under center, up the middle, 4 yards
• (2nd and 6) under center, counter, A gap, 3 yards*
• (3rd and 3) under center, same play, 1 yard loss*

*running out the clock with two minutes left to play

They only ran him four times in short yardage situations and one of those attempts was on the clock-killing final drive. The shotgun play went for a seven yard loss and he was bottled up on this 3rd and goal:

Jason Kelce gets blown up by Ziggy Hood and that play goes nowhere.

On the shotgun sweep, the play is squashed in the backfield mainly because Halapoulivaati Vaitai completely whiffs on a block and allows Junior Galette to meet Blount behind the line of scrimmage:

I didn’t get a good look at the replay because the broadcast starts on a different camera shot, but it looks like there might be a run/pass option going on here. Either way, if Wentz pulls that ball out and carries it himself, he’s got D.J. Swearinger (#36, middle of screen) ready to smush him:

Blount’s most successful run was that 21 yard gain. The Eagles had all three tight ends in the game.

Watch here as Lane Johnson drops a nice block on Stacy McGee and Jason Kelce gets the better of Hood by moving him into the second level where Brandon Brooks combines to help:

They just had more blockers than defenders on that play.

I mentioned in an article a few weeks back that Blount had a top-five running back “TLOS” number, which stands for “time behind the line of scrimmage.”

He’s down to a three-way tie for 8th place in that category, spending an average of 2.65 seconds behind the line per carry. The league leaders are Javorious Allen with a 2.42 number and C.J. Anderson at 2.52. The difference is almost negligible, so Blount is still doing really well here. Tarik Cohen and Chris Thompson are near the bottom because they’re more patient runners who wait for blocks to develop. The TLOS tells us more about what type of runner a guy is, rather than how fast or how good he is.

Blount can’t wait for blocks to develop. He needs to hit the hole right away and keep on moving, as you saw in the clip above.

And it doesn’t mean it necessarily has to be some up the gut, A-gap type of run. They’ve had success running him like this, for example:

That’s just a simple, under-center run behind a bunch formation. Let Jason Peters and the wide receivers push the pile.

I think the Eagles understand that, and they tried to get him going in a downhill fashion on Monday night. They really did stay away from the east/west and shotgun stuff.

Blount adds another dimension to this already quality offense, which can be more dynamic if they continue to find more ways to give him meaningful carries.