A couple of weeks ago (during the bye) I ran a couple of stories (1, 2)about the Eagles rushing attack.  Those stories were driven by a spreadsheet which I've been keeping.  It breaks out the running back's carries from the play by play published in the NFL Gamebooks.  I've continued updating the spreadsheet and was going to do another on Saturday, but life conspired against me and the laptop had to spend the weekend in my office.  

Would you guys like me to run down what I think the numbers in the play by play say about our rushing game one more time?  In brief - pathetic.  Given the team's current state of affairs, I'm not sure I want to look, but if I do - it'll probably be long...

The Culprits Are...?

As I noted in part 1 of this 2 part series, our running backs are pretty good. Correll Buckhalter and Brian Westbrook have seen about the same number of touches and gotten about the same results. Interestingly, outside of actual touchdowns scored, Buck has actually put up better numbers than West so far this year.  That said, we're all in agreement that Brian brings more to the table than does Correll.

This year the Eagles rushing attack has been off somewhat and has lead to a number of investigations. Marty Mornhinweg has been asked about it in his press conferences and bloggers have tried to dig into the problem too. The play by play has something to say about our travails.  I think it might just vindicate (at least to some degree) one of the more vilified players on the team and call Andy to task for a certain stubbornness in his playcalling.

After the break, I examine the problem.

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Westbrook or Buckhalter – Does it matter?

Tony Hunt was recently released. When he was drafted many fans rejoiced – finally the Birds had their Thunder to complement Westbrook's Lightening. This celebration obviously wasn't justified and this week we got to waive goodbye to a third round draft choice.

In the Eagles version of the West Coast Offense, the running game is something of an afterthought. This year, the Eagles are actually only running on 38% of plays. In a regular game that means there are 23 carries which the Birds split evenly between the first and second half. A few carries go to wide outs on end-arounds and Donovan has had a couple of scrambles which count into the attempt totals for the team. The question I'd like to examine then is: With limited carries per game who should get the ball in the running game?

After the break, a rather stat heavy take awaits.

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