The Eagles Snap Counts Against the Packers Are Out and They’re Damn Beautiful

Last night was both a season saving game and also a potential playoff preview. This morning, the snap counts for that 4 hour long anxiety attack were released and boy, were they a thing of beauty. Let’s focus solely on the offense here because no matter how many snaps Andrew Sendejo got, they were far too many:

 

 

Look at that perfect 3:2 ratio at the running back position between Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders. 33 snaps for Howard mixed with 22 snaps for Sanders. They also sprinkled in 7 snaps for Darren Sproles. Albeit, it would be nice to get Sproles more involved, it appears as though as he has a defined role as the third down, pass catching back.

 

Back to the two main running backs who are carrying the majority of the workload. When the season began, I think this is what we all expected. Jordan Howard pounding the rock on early downs, getting positive yards and putting the Eagles into third and manageable situations for Carson Wentz. Then, bring in Sanders to utilize his combination of electricity and pass catching ability. He is your big play runner with a ton of burst. We may be only a quarter of the way through the season, but Eagles fans now know what the Miles Sanders experience was like at Penn State: could be a kickoff return for a touchdown, could be thirty yard carry, could be a fumble. Depends on what’s behind the door you choose. One last thing on Sanders, he is the best kick returner on this team. Corey Clement held the role just so he had a role. That gimmick should be over.

 

 

But watching the balanced combination of power from Howard and speed from Sanders is very reminiscent of the ‘Thunder and Lightning’ combo of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in their days at Arkansas. Both were effective in their respective ways. McFadden was the workhorse, it would gas the defense trying to bring him down. Then, they’d turn around and have to chase down Felix Jones, which is like Seth Rogen chasing Michael Cera in Super Bad.

 

 

 

Of course, any great running back play starts with the offensive line paving some lanes and my God did our OLine get busy last night. They were opening holes that Octo-Mom would have been astonished with. The only people who went to their job this week angrier than the Eagles offensive line were conservative political correspondents when they found out a 16 year old Swedish girl with Autism doesn’t want the world to end.

 

Aside from Craig James clinging on for dear life on the final play, the Eagles offensive line was the key to the game. Opening running lanes like that for a balanced attack of Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders is CLEARLY a huge key going forward. Balance is bliss.

 

By Aidan Powers | September 27, 2019
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