“Stout” Run Game

Heavy rain forced the Philadelphia Eagles to switch up their script and lean on the run game in the team’s 29-21 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars

On the latest episode of “Q&A” on Inside The Birds, former Eagles Jason Avant and Quintin Mikell discuss important factors behind the team’s latest win.

The Eagles offensive line was unstoppable, blocking for a run game that went for over 200 yards.

Bad Weather

Mikell: “The snow isn’t as bad, but the rain and mud are absolutely terrible. I went to high school in Oregon, so I’m used to playing in the rain and I hate it. As a DB, you’re already at a disadvantage. You don’t know the route that you’re going to face, you don’t know what the offense is going to do, so you’re running backwards full speed. You have to plant and make a decision at the split of a dime. The amount of time it takes you to get used to the weather and the footwork, it’s just terrible.”

Avant: “In high school, I loved playing in the rain, because the rain soaked into the ball so it didn’t matter. When you get to college, the football doesn’t soak the same, it makes it ice basically. Catching the ball in the rain is extremely hard in the pros. It was a terrible game to watch as far as the receivers were concerned.”

Jeff Stoutland

Mikell: “Couch Stout is amazing. They definitely have some talent on that o-line, but talent doesn’t always trump everything. When you have a coach that can figure out the pieces when someone goes down and can figure out where to put people in, can figure out and coordinate the game in a way that’s effective and also mold it around what your team has and what they are able to do, it’s just phenomenal.”

Run Game

Avant: “There’s a question about whether it was mainly Miles Sanders or the o-line, I’m definitely going to say that it’s a combination of both. The o-line is creating so much movement and also the run scheme is very confusing.”

Mikell: “For a defense, the toughest thing is making that defensive end make a decision. It slows a defense down and makes you play assignment football. That’s why this offense is so potent. If you have threats that can get down the field and throw and run the ball, it makes it so much harder. It takes the guys that can take over the game on the defensive side of the ball out of the game.”

Avant: “They can overpower you, they can outsmart you, they can confuse you, and then they can pull with the best of them. What weakness in the run game do they have? This team is as complete as a running team as anybody else in the league.”

Turnover Ratio

Avant: “It’s the number one correlation between wins and losses. If you want to judge any stat that determines wins and losses the most, it’s going to be turnover ratio. Whoever wins the turnover battle, most of the time they’re going to win the football game, especially if your turnovers are in scoring position. The Jaguars were turning the ball over in our territory which leads to easy points. If we continue this at a high rate with guys getting strip sacks and (James) Bradberry reading a play and making an interception like that, who’s going to stop us?”

– Benjamin Paul is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com

Listen to the latest “Q&A” podcast featuring former Eagles standouts Quintin Mikell and Jason Avant:

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