How Shaq Leonard’s acquisition affects the Eagles’ defense

A day after seeing the San Francisco 49ers succeed in moving the ball up and down the field, accumulating 456 total yards of offense and scoring touchdowns on six consecutive drives, the Eagles made an addition to help at the linebacker position, hoping for a repeat performance for the rest of the season, which could begin next Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys.

When the Eagles were struggling to run the ball a few weeks ago, Nick Sirianni dismissed concerns about the team’s running statistics.

The Eagles had averaged 3.4 yards per rush and 102 yards in their previous six games after starting out averaging 4.9 and 186 in their first three games.

During that six-game span, the Eagles were 30th in yards per attempt and 21st in yards per game.

Nobody is used to witnessing the Eagles’ rushing offense at this location.

“I know you’re just asking the question, but I don’t agree with it,” Sirianni said on Nov. 6, a day after the Eagles beat the Cowboys with an average of 3.3 yards per rush. “Because the run game is more than just what the stats show.” That is our perspective.”

After appearing to have figured out the running game the previous two weeks – 114 yards and 4.2 yards per carry in the win over the Chiefs and 5.8 yards per carry and 185 yards against the Bills – the Eagles sputtered again Sunday, averaging just 2.6 yards per carry on only 18 rushing attempts in the 42-19 loss to the 49ers.

Seven of the carries were Jalen Hurts runs, leaving the running backs with only 11 carries. D’Andre Swift, who entered the game with roughly 1,200 rushing yards and 1,500 scrimmage yards, was a non-factor. He only had seven carries and was not touched from the end of the first quarter until the beginning of the third.

Nobody is going to score 23 points in the fourth quarter anymore. However, until the final few minutes of the third quarter, this was a one-possession game.

There were possibilities. The Eagles simply did not try. Once again.

“We know we have to establish the run game and be better in the run game,” Sirianni said after the Eagles fell to 10-2. “We just have things where… we got behind the sticks a couple of times.” That doesn’t imply you can’t run in that case.

“However, we must improve as coaches in terms of devoting ourselves to the run game in order to relieve pressure on everyone.” So, certainly, as we discussed yesterday, there is no doubt that we must do that.”

This seemed like Sirianni criticizing offensive coordinator and play caller Brian Johnson, who has done a lot of wonderful things this year but has a tendency to abandon the ground strategy if the first few carries don’t generate large yards.

Swift ranks seventh in the NFL with 4.7 yards per carry, but he has had 30 touches in the Eagles’ last three games and has already had three games with 10 or fewer rushing attempts this season.

Kenny Gainwell had nine more snaps (39 to 30) and more scrimmage yards (47 to 27) than Swift on Sunday. Gainwell has had some good moments this season, but Swift ranks ninth among running backs in scrimmage yards. Gainwell is ranked 55th.

Sirianni explained that the gap exists because the Eagles prefer Gainwell in two minutes and have run their last two drives in two minutes.

“Kenny has been our two-minute back, third-down back in certain situations,” that’s what he stated. “I believe Kenny has more plays than D’Andre when it comes to those situations.” So we had a lot of such scenarios at the end, which resulted in those results.”