Eagles need to get back to the thing that has worked all season

With no Jalen Hurts, the Philadelphia Eagles run game hasn't been nearly as effective as it was for most of the season. Against the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia needs to get back to the run game. It's what carried the team through most of the season. Against the Dallas Cowboys, turnovers marooned the Eagles' chances […]

Ian Kayanja

Dec 29, 2022 3:33 PM EST

With no Jalen Hurts, the Philadelphia Eagles run game hasn't been nearly as effective as it was for most of the season.

Against the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia needs to get back to the run game. It's what carried the team through most of the season. Against the Dallas Cowboys, turnovers marooned the Eagles' chances at winning. Getting back to the run game will limit those turnovers moving forward.

“This is a sort of a get-it-right game," Jonny Page, a special guest on The EPA podcast, said. "The offensive line needs to be able to run without a mobile quarterback. You can’t just rely on [Jalen] Hurts running, when he does come back who knows if the Eagles will want him taking 15-10 hits with a bad shoulder anyway.”

Against the Washington Commanders in Week 10, the Eagles' only other loss on the season, turnovers were the bugaboo there — four of them to be exact.

To clinch the No. 1 seed, Philadelphia needs to run the ball, and run it well. Miles Sanders needs to look like the running back he's been for most of the season, as opposed to the version of himself he's been in recent weeks.

Eagles' success resides in running the ball, limiting turnovers, and Sanders looking like a premier running back in the NFL.

Clinching the No. 1 seed should be a priority because it will buy Philadelphia more time to get Jalen Hurts to 100 percent and Lane Johnson back from a core muscle injury. That journey starts this Sunday against New Orleans.