Note to Doug Pederson: You are the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Birds don't run the ball because you don't call running plays.
Firs things first. That was a valiant effort by the Birds in hanging in there against Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs. They fell 27-20 but were in it literally to the final play - a Hail Mary pass that could have tied the game.
But you have to wonder what Pederson is thinking about when it comes to running the football.
The truth is he's not thinking of it at all.
In my weekly 'Dreaded Saturday Eagles Pick' blog, I suggested this might be a game for a huge helping of free agent acquisition LeGarrette Blount, to keep the Chiefs' potent offense off the field, control the game and at the same time keep young phenom QB Carson Wentz alive.
So what happened? Blount touched the ball once - and that play was negated by a penalty. So officially Blount got zero carries.
The Eagles rushed the ball all of 17 times, while Wentz threw the ball 46 times. That's about three times more passes to rushes.
The Birds' leading rusher was Wentz, who was running for his life for the second straight week.
A staunch effort by the defense kept the Eagles in this game. If not for a missed chip shot field goal by new kicker Jake Elliott, the game would have been tied at 6 at the half.
As it was the Birds scraped their way to a lead in the third quarter. But instead of managing the game - and the clock - Pederson dialed up pass after pass.
Perhaps even more perplexing was Pederson's comments after the game, in which he consistently acknowledged the problems with the rushing game and vowed "we have to get that fixed."
Huh? Doug, you're the head coach. You are calling the plays. You have to embrace the run.
Now even players are starting to question the play-calling, with both tight end Zach Ertz and Blount wondering about all those pass plays.
And there might be something else going on here as well. It's blatantly obvious that Pederson has little or no say when it comes to player personnel on this team.
Howie Roseman went out and got Blount in the off-season. How do you think Roseman feels about seeing Blount get one carry all day yesterday.
Let's see what kind of spin Pederson manages to put on his play-calling this morning after having a chance to sleep on it.
Just one thing, Doug. This is not a 'we' question.
If you haven't noticed, you're the head coach. You have to fix it.
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