Philadelphia Eagles: Balanced Play Calling Has Been Key in Recent Success

Two weeks ago, the Philadelphia Eagles appeared to be a football team that struggled to balance out the play calling on offense—especially when it came to running the ball.

After Sunday’s 40-17 win over the New York Giants, the Eagles look like a completely different team, and it may have something to do with the play calling.

Eagles head coach Andy Reid has been criticized at times throughout his career for his lack of running the ball on offense. In the team’s 13-9 loss to the Raiders, many wondered why the Eagles failed to run the ball more against a weak Raiders rush defense.

While Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb found himself throwing the ball 46 times, the ground game saw just 14 rushing attempts the entire game.

Since then, Reid has done a better job with the Eagles offense by balancing out the number of passing and running plays each game.

The results? Two straight wins against division rivals to climb to the top of the NFC East standings with the Dallas Cowboys.

In a Monday night matchup against the Washington Redskins, the Eagles threw 26 passes while running the ball 27 times in a 27-17 win.

The following week against the New York Giants, the Eagles found similar results as McNabb threw the ball just 23 times while the ground game ran for 180 yards on 24 attempts in the key win.

Reid may prefer the pass over the run, but Sunday’s win against the Giants was a perfect example of how many weapons they can use with their running game.

Not only did running back LeSean McCoy contribute by rushing for 82 yards and a touchdown, but fullback Leonard Weaver managed to find 75 yards on the ground as well—including a 41-yard touchdown run for the first touchdown of the game.

Reid needs to continue this method not only against the Cowboys next Sunday night, but for the remainder of the season.

Dan Parzych Is the Eagles Fan Voice for NFLTouchdown.com