NFL Roundup: Eric Moody Is Right About the Eagles Backfield, Just Not the Way You Think
Eric Moody's concern with the Philadelphia Eagles backfield got aired this week, and the fantasy reflex is already firing: find the running back, start the running back. I'll take the other side. The damning number in Philadelphia isn't attached to a back. It's attached to the five guys in front of them.
Dameon Pierce carried 11 times for 14 yards. That's 1.3 a pop, with a long of 6. Will Shipley carried 5 times for 6 yards, 1.2 a carry. Two different runners, one identical outcome. When a backfield produces that, the diagnosis writes itself: this is a blocking problem wearing a depth-chart costume. Moody's concern is real, but if you're solving it by ranking Pierce against Shipley, you're solving the wrong puzzle.
Shipley did punch in a 3-yard touchdown, and that matters more than the 6 rushing yards around it. Goal-line work is the one job the Eagles have handed out cleanly. I expect Shipley to keep it. I'd be wrong if Philadelphia goes back to Pierce at the goal line.
The receiving line is where Pierce's case gets ugly. Five targets produced 2 catches for minus-2 yards. A back who can't run and loses ground when he's thrown the ball is a back who is on the field for pass protection and nothing else, and the Eagles threw it 40 times.
Jalen Hurts went 21-of-40 for 220 yards, 1 touchdown, 5.5 per attempt, a passer rating of 77.1 and a QBR of 46.9. Forty attempts at 5.5 yards is not an offense choosing to throw. It's an offense that has given up on the run. Two Hurts fumbles, neither lost, and only 2 carries for 2 yards on his own ledger. Philadelphia asked its quarterback to be the entire offense and got a passing game that couldn't sustain a drive.
Who it helps: Shipley, narrowly, and Darius Cooper. Two catches for 71 yards with a 62-yard touchdown is the only explosive play in this distribution and the only reason to believe the Eagles can still threaten a defense vertically. Dontayvion Wicks drew 8 targets for 5 catches and 63 yards. Makai Lemon drew 7 for 5 and 43. Dallas Goedert saw 9 targets for 6 catches and 38 yards. That's a pile of targets for very little, and it tells you Philadelphia's passing game is functioning as an extension of the run game it can't run.
Who it hurts: Zach Ertz, 2 targets and no catches, and Johnny Mundt, 1 target and no catches. If the Eagles are going to throw 40 times, the No. 2 tight end is a roster spot, not a role.
One more thing the backfield noise is burying. The defense is holding up its end. Zack Baun made 11 tackles with 2 quarterback hits. Cooper DeJean made 10 tackles with 2 tackles for loss. Jalen Carter had 2 sacks and 3 tackles for loss. Quinyon Mitchell intercepted a pass and broke up 2 more. Britain Covey averaged 30.7 yards on 3 kick returns with a long of 42. You don't need a franchise back when that's what the other side of the ball is doing.
Which is the league-level read here, and it's the part nobody wants to say out loud. The Eagles don't lack a running back. They've built a team that can win on defense and special teams, and they're asking a 40-attempt passing game to cover for a ground attack that produced 1.3 and 1.2 yards a carry from two different players. That's a line and play-calling problem, and it does not get fixed by handing the ball to somebody else.
My verdict, on the record: Shipley is the only Eagles back worth a roster spot right now, and only because of the goal line. If the next game plan features 11 carries for a back averaging 1.3, then the concern Eric Moody raised was never a backfield concern at all.
