I will be interested to see what Kellen Moore tries to do with the Eagles’ offense, especially around the goal line. Moore presumably will try to enhance the passing game, but they’ve got some really cool stuff they’re doing with the run in that part of the field.
The Eagles have their Tush Push, which is almost impossible to stop at the goal line, and they also run the ball really well in general when they start getting near the end zone.
Below see the stats for inside the 10. They show that the Eagles last year were the only team that ran the ball on over 70 percent of their plays when they were inside the 10-yard line. Most teams inside the 10 run the ball slightly more than they pass it; the Eagles last year went with almost 3 times as many runs as passes. That’s what Kellen Moore is walking into – how much does he want to mess with that? (Especially with the team having invested in Saquon Barkley.)
| RUNNING PLAYS INSIDE THE 10 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Run | Pass | Pct R |
| Philadelphia | 64 | 24 | 72.7% |
| Buffalo | 64 | 34 | 65.3% |
| Pittsburgh | 39 | 21 | 65.0% |
| San Francisco | 56 | 31 | 64.4% |
| Baltimore | 59 | 37 | 61.5% |
| New England | 20 | 13 | 60.6% |
| New Orleans | 55 | 37 | 59.8% |
| Detroit | 62 | 46 | 57.4% |
| Indianapolis | 47 | 35 | 57.3% |
| Cleveland | 39 | 32 | 54.9% |
| Cincinnati | 47 | 41 | 53.4% |
| Seattle | 37 | 33 | 52.9% |
| Tennessee | 32 | 29 | 52.5% |
| Arizona | 37 | 34 | 52.1% |
| Atlanta | 36 | 34 | 51.4% |
| Carolina | 28 | 27 | 50.9% |
| Miami | 54 | 53 | 50.5% |
| Houston | 44 | 44 | 50.0% |
| Chicago | 38 | 38 | 50.0% |
| LA Rams | 52 | 53 | 49.5% |
| NY Giants | 23 | 24 | 48.9% |
| Las Vegas | 37 | 39 | 48.7% |
| Jacksonville | 36 | 38 | 48.6% |
| LA Chargers | 45 | 48 | 48.4% |
| Green Bay | 36 | 42 | 46.2% |
| Dallas | 51 | 60 | 45.9% |
| Denver | 38 | 48 | 44.2% |
| Washington | 28 | 40 | 41.2% |
| Tampa Bay | 24 | 40 | 37.5% |
| Kansas City | 31 | 55 | 36.0% |
| Minnesota | 27 | 49 | 35.5% |
| NY Jets | 17 | 39 | 30.4% |
| Average | 40.7 | 38.0 | 51.7% |
In typical leagues, of course, we’re more interested not in the plays but in the result of those plays. That is, did they score? In that part of the field, the Eagles scored a league-high 72 percent of their touchdowns on running plays. Only one other team scored over two thirds of the time on runs.
In the below chart, the numbers aren’t actually touchdowns but instead touchdowns and 2-point conversions. A 2-point conversion isn’t actually considered an official play, but they’re indicative of what teams are trying to do, so I left them in there.
Kansas City had the most pass-dominated offense inside the 10 last year, with over 3 times as many scores coming on passes rather than runs.
| RUNNING SCORES INSIDE THE 10 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Run | Pass | Pct R |
| Philadelphia | 21 | 8 | 72.4% |
| Pittsburgh | 12 | 5 | 70.6% |
| Baltimore | 23 | 13 | 63.9% |
| San Francisco | 20 | 12 | 62.5% |
| Jacksonville | 14 | 9 | 60.9% |
| Cleveland | 17 | 11 | 60.7% |
| NY Giants | 9 | 6 | 60.0% |
| Chicago | 13 | 9 | 59.1% |
| Detroit | 20 | 14 | 58.8% |
| Tennessee | 10 | 7 | 58.8% |
| Buffalo | 18 | 13 | 58.1% |
| Miami | 19 | 14 | 57.6% |
| Atlanta | 11 | 9 | 55.0% |
| Indianapolis | 13 | 11 | 54.2% |
| Arizona | 14 | 13 | 51.9% |
| New England | 6 | 6 | 50.0% |
| Washington | 12 | 13 | 48.0% |
| LA Rams | 16 | 19 | 45.7% |
| Las Vegas | 9 | 11 | 45.0% |
| New Orleans | 13 | 16 | 44.8% |
| Carolina | 8 | 10 | 44.4% |
| Denver | 10 | 13 | 43.5% |
| NY Jets | 6 | 8 | 42.9% |
| Seattle | 9 | 13 | 40.9% |
| Cincinnati | 11 | 16 | 40.7% |
| Houston | 10 | 15 | 40.0% |
| LA Chargers | 9 | 14 | 39.1% |
| Dallas | 12 | 20 | 37.5% |
| Tampa Bay | 7 | 13 | 35.0% |
| Green Bay | 8 | 20 | 28.6% |
| Minnesota | 6 | 17 | 26.1% |
| Kansas City | 7 | 23 | 23.3% |
| Average | 12.3 | 12.5 | 49.5% |
—Ian Allan