During the offseason, we cut up all of the Eagles offensive linemen's pancakes throughout the team's Super Bowl-winning 2024-2025 season. If you'd like to reminisce, you can watch Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Mekhi Becton, and Lane Johnson pushing people around here. Or, if you'd prefer, here's a quick video of my personal 10 favorites from the season:
As you're well aware, Saquon Barkley broke the all-time record for the most rushing yards (regular season plus playoffs) in a single season last year, but he had a lot of help. The Eagles were bullies upfront, and they owned the trenches, always on offense, and often on defense as well. This year? Not so much.
You can point the blame at any number of things that are wrong with the Eagles and the way they have played through the first six weeks of the season, and they're all right, but the biggest differentiator from what we've come accustomed to with this team and what they have become is that they are getting their asses kicked in the trenches.
As my friend Tommy pointed out, heading into Sunday, the Eagles ranked 26th both in rushing offense and rushing defense. They have been outgained on the ground in each of the last four games, and by a wide margin:
| Week | Eagles | Opponent | Rushing differential |
| 3 (vs. Rams) | 86 | 160 | -74 |
| 4 (at Bucs) | 88 | 104 | -16 |
| 5 (vs. Broncos) | 45 | 130 | -85 |
| 6 (at Giants) | 73 | 172 | -99 |
| TOTAL | 292 | 566 | -292 |
The Eagles have already been outgained on the ground in more games in 2025 than they were during the entire 2024 season. In 2024 they got outgained Week 1 against the Packers, by the Ravens in Week 13 (and only because Lamar Jackson had a bunch of rushing yards on scrambles in garbage time), and in the meaningless Week 18 game against the Giants.
The 2024 Eagles had a rushing yardage differential (playoffs included) of +1729 (!), or a differential of +82.3 yards per game. This year? -234, or -39.0 per game, fifth-worst in the NFL. Here's the company they are keeping in rushing yardage differential:
| Rank | Team | Rush yard differential | Record |
| 28 | Eagles | -234 | 4-2 |
| 29 | Bears | -249 | 2-2 |
| 30 | Titans | -311 | 1-5 |
| 31 | Dolphins | -463 | 1-5 |
| 32 | Bengals | -474 | 2-4 |
A bad rushing yardage differential typically correlates to a bad record, usually because teams that are behind in games abandon the run and teams that are ahead in games pound the run.
What is alarming about the Eagles' bad run game on both sides of the ball is that they have had their share of leads throughout the first six weeks of the season. In past years, if you got behind the Eagles in games, they choked you out with long, soul-crushing drives that ended games. This year, they're far more likely to go three-and-out and give the opponent continuous chances to steal the game, much like the Buccaneers almost did in Week 4 and the Broncos eventually did in Week 5.
The offense
So, why are the Eagles not running the ball well? The easy scapegoat is new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, and certainly he has done a poor job of disguising run vs. pass based on pre-snap formation. The Eagles have been a predictable offense this season. But, the bigger reason is probably more that the long 2024 season, during which the Eagles played 21 games, has taken a toll on the offensive line.
• Jordan Mailata was banged up throughout training camp.
• Landon Dickerson battled an assortment of injuries to begin the season, before an ankle injury eventually caused him to miss more substantial time. He has not looked at all like the same bully he was in 2024:
Brett Toth has had to fill in, and, well, Toth is not Landon Dickerson.
• Cam Jurgens played through a painful back injury throughout the playoffs, and was walking like Frankenstein after the Eagles' NFC Championship Game win over the Commanders:
He had a procedure to relieve nerve pain in February, and is still not yet fully healthy.
• Mekhi Becton left in free agency, and while Tyler Steen has proven so far to be a legitimate NFL starter, his strength is in pass protection. He is not the run-blocking mammoth that Becton was.
• Lane Johnson has had to come out of two games with injuries.
And then, of course, there's Barkley. Including the playoffs, Barkley got an astronomical 482 touches in 2024. That was the third-highest number of touches in a single season since 2000. There have been 17 players who have had 430 or more touches in a single season during that span. Here are those players, with their yards per carry during their heavy workload season, and their yards per carry in their follow-up seasons:
| Year | Player – Touches | YPC | YPC – next season |
| 2014 | DeMarco Murray – 497 | 4.7 | 3.6 📉 |
| 2000 | Eddie George – 488 | 3.7 | 3.0 📉 |
| 2006 | Larry Johnson – 475 | 4.3 | 3.5 📉 |
| 2000 | Edgerrin James – 474 | 4.4 | 4.4 (same) |
| 2003 | Ahman Green – 461 | 5.3 | 4.5 📉 |
| 2012 | Arian Foster – 460 | 4.1 | 4.5 📈 |
| 2004 | Curtis Martin – 457 | 4.6 | 3.3 📉 |
| 2002 | LaDainian Tomlinson – 451 | 4.5 | 5.3 📈 |
| 2005 | Shaun Alexander – 448 | 5.1 | 3.6 📉 |
| 2000 | Jamal Lewis – 444 | 4.4 | DNP (knee) |
| 2003 | Ricky Williams – 443 | 3.5 | DNP (retired) |
| 2006 | Steven Jackson – 436 | 4.4 | 4.2 📉 |
| 2004 | Corey Dillon – 434 | 4.7 | 3.5 📉 |
| 2018 | Ezekiel Elliott – 433 | 4.7 | 4.5 📉 |
| 2017 | Le'Veon Bell – 431 | 4.0 | DNP (contract dispute) |
| 2003 | Edgerrin James – 431 | 4.1 | 4.6 📈 |
| 2002 | Ricky Williams – 430 | 4.8 | 3.5 📉 |
Of those 17 players:
• Three had an increase in yards per carry. One remained the same.
• 10 had a decrease in yards per carry. 5 decreased by at least a full yard per carry. Three more decreased by at least a half yard per carry.
• Three guys didn't even play the next season.
- MORE EAGLES
- Diagnosing the Eagles' issues after a two-game losing streak
- Game ball, three stars, and snap count analysis: Week 6, Eagles at Giants
- Bryce Huff sack tracker
Barkley had one of the best running back seasons in NFL history in 2024. Even without the extreme workload, it was always going to be nearly impossible to match what he did. But also, the heavy workload was likely to factor into his production in 2025, and so far he is averaging just 3.4 yards per carry. Though it hasn't been obvious, it's fair to wonder if he doesn't have the same explosiveness that he did a year ago. He has never had a yards per carry average over a full season this low, even when he was playing behind a terrible Giants line.
The defense
On the defensive side of the ball, the Eagles have not looked like the bad asses they were a season ago. They got whipped up from by the Giants of all teams in front of a national audience on Thursday night. Rookie RB Cam Skattebo rushed 19 times for 98 yards and 3 TDs, while Jaxson Dart slithered out of the grasp of pass rushers and made off-schedule plays for nice gains all night.
On one play, Andrew Mukuba got shoved five yards down the field, and Zack Baun got run over by Skattebo.
Skattebo is a MENACE.
PHIvsNYG on Prime Video
Also streaming on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/dfTHyKYUGm— NFL (@NFL) October 10, 2025
Jalen Carter has missed two games, one for spitting on Dak Prescott, and one because of a heel injury. He has also been hampered by a shoulder injury, and Vic Fangio has acknowledged that he isn't in the same physical shape as he was in 2024.
Carter was a terror last season. For example, the following is a cutup of his game against the Ravens offensive line, who he threw around like rag dolls.
Jalen Carter was a menace on Sunday against the Ravens. This will be a long thread… 🧵
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) December 2, 2024
Though he is still very clearly the Eagles' best defensive lineman, Carter has not been that player so far this season.
Meanwhile, Nolan Smith has missed three games. The Eagles miss his toughness, effort, and dirty work.
And while we're at it, it's probably worth noting that Nakobe Dean was a great run defender last season; and although he may have been a nuisance in the locker room, C.J. Gardner-Johnson brought toughness, swagger, and some pop to the Eagles' run defense that they seem to miss.
Is it fixable?
The easy fix is to be less predictable on offense. That would help, but it will only go so far.
Ideally, the above noted players will get healthy again, but that may not be realistic, given that many of their ailments date back to the long 2024 season. Maybe they'll feel better as the season progresses, maybe not 🤷♂️. I'm not a doctor, but my guess is that the continued wear and tear of this season is only going to compound their pain.
Maybe there's a mindset issue at play here as well, especially on defense? As in, it's a very young group of players, many of whom had a lot of success in college and already so far in the pros, and they're learning that the NFL will beat you up if you don't maintain your edge? That one is more of a theory, I guess.
The bright side is that their trench play can't get much worse, given their talent on both sides of the ball. Right? 😬
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