The Eagles Biggest Problem: The Run Game

Just six games into the 2025 NFL season, it feels like the Eagles’ season may be teetering.

Coming off the Super Bowl 59 victory, many had the Eagles as the favorites to repeat as champions heading into this new season. Unfortunately, that is more often easier said than done.

The Eagles lost a lot of talent in both the coaching staff and on the field this offseason. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore left for the Saints, and key players Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, and Mekhi Becton found new homes during the spring. Still, many people in Philadelphia and beyond were convinced that this team was too talented for those losses to matter.

While that still may be true, the start of the 2025 season has not been what we were expecting. The Eagles started out 4-0 with big wins against the Cowboys, Chiefs, Rams, and Buccaneers. None of these games were easy wins, but it was pretty obvious the Eagles were not playing up to the standard we have set for them. That standard is one of a team that can win Super Bowl 60. The up and down play has come to bite the Eagles this past week, as they dropped to 4-2 in a span of 5 days, losing to the Broncos and Giants.

Now, with 10 days in between games, the coaches will try to figure out why they are not playing up to their potential, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Many people have their own opinions on why the offense has struggled this season, but my number one reason is the run game.

Since Nick Sirianni took over as Eagles head coach, the run game has been this team’s bread and butter. In 2021, they turned a disaster of a season into a playoff berth by running the football. In the 2024 season, the Eagles ran their way to a Super Bowl victory with 3,048 rushing yards, which was second in the NFL. As we all know, Saquon Barkley won Offensive Player of the Year with his 2,005 rushing yards. In the 2024 regular season, Saquon ran the ball 345 times, at 5.81 yards per carry. Saquon had an all-time season that is likely unrepeatable, but that doesn’t mean Barkley and the running game should be this bad the next year.

So far throughout the first six games, Saquon has rushed the ball 95 times for 325 yards at 3.42 yards per carry. His 95 carries lead the NFL, yet his rushing yards are 13th. It is safe to assume, after the workload that he had last season, that Barkley would take a slight step back, and there are some stats that back that up.

According to ESPN.com, before the Giants game, Saquon was averaging 1.3 yards after contact, which is a career low. He was also averaging 1.9 yards before contact, which is also a career low.

While I do believe that after the workload Saquon took on last season, he is going to be a little bit diminished this year, the biggest problem with the run game is the offensive line.

The Eagles’ offensive line in the run game has been bad this year. Some of the problems with the offensive line have been injuries, most notably to Lane Johnson and Landon Dickerson, but as a whole, the unit is not playing well. The most worrisome stat is that before week 6, Saquon was only averaging 1.9 yards before contact. In 2024, he was averaging 3.9 yards before contact. While those stats are jarring, you can see it in real time. It seems like more often than not, Saquon is getting hit behind the line of scrimmage, or he just flat out has nowhere to go. Many people have been pointing to a predictable alignment for Saquon, and that is the reason for the struggles in the run game. While that may be true, I still believe the biggest problem with the run game has been the play of the offensive line.

The Eagles’ passing game has also struggled this year, but that is nothing new. The passing game has struggled for the last 3 seasons, but each and every year, it did not matter as much because the Eagles were able to run the ball whenever they wanted, and let that carry the offense. In 2023, the Eagles ranked 16th in passing, and in 2024 and 2025, they ranked 29th. Even with all the talent at receiver, it has never been good enough to carry the team. Whether you want to blame the coaches or the quarterback, it has not been good enough. Now with a non-existent run game, we are seeing the passing game get exposed for what it has been for the last three seasons: mediocre.

The biggest problem with not being able to run the ball has been the second halves. Usually, when the Eagles have a lead in the second half, they will just salt the game away with fifteen to eighteen-play drives that kill ten plus minutes of game clock that usually end in a game-sealing tush push touchdown. But this season has been much different. In their loss against the Broncos, they were unable to salt the game away running the ball, and the Broncos had a comeback win because the passing offense could not sustain a drive. It also almost came back to bite them against the Buccaneers, but luckily, the defense made a game-saving interception in the end zone.

The Eagles under Sirianni have been very good with making in-season adjustments with the run game specifically, and hopefully, during this mini bye week, he can figure something out to get it on track. If he does not, this season may be headed down a path none of us predicted.

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