The Eagles ran the ball 16 times yesterday with their running backs. Murray had 14 carries (with one coming back because of a penalty), and both Mathews and Darren Sproles had a carry each. Of those 16 touches, the running back was hit at or before the line of scrimmage 11 times. The result? Just one run of more than 3 yards on the entire day. It doesn’t matter how you draw it up on the whiteboard or how many wrinkles you add to your scheme, if you can’t execute your blocks up front you’re not going to be able to move the ball on the ground.
Chip Kelly tried numerous ways to get things going with the run game against Dallas. Whether it was the formation (25 percent of those 16 running plays came with the quarterback under center), the run scheme (Inside Zone, Outside Zone or Sweep), the placement of the running back (they ran both to and away from the the side where the running back lined up pre-snap) or the run strength (they also ran to and away from the tight end), the Eagles had tough sledding against the Cowboys. They tried to mix up their tendencies and tried to add wrinkles to what has worked in the past, but as Kelly said in his Monday press conference, it goes back to basic fundamentals.