DeVonta Smith’s targets drop as Eagles turn into a running team: ‘It’s tough, but you can’t get down about it’

During the Eagles’ five-game win streak, they’ve relied on Saquon Barkley and the run game to open up more options on offense.

On last week’s episode of unCovering the Birds, members of the offensive line shared that they pushed for a pivot back to run-first football, and head coach Nick Sirianni followed their lead. In the four games prior to the win over the Cowboys, the Eagles ran the ball 64% of the time, compared to 36% pass plays. Against Dallas, aided by a big lead, they ran the ball on 76% of their plays.

Of course, when you have receivers as talented as A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles want to make sure they’re also staying involved and that the offense is using all the weapons at its disposal.

Hurts, while mic’d up on the sideline against the Jaguars, told offensive coordinator Kellen Moore that, “We’ve got to feed [No.] 6.” Sure enough, shortly after that, Smith caught a one-handed touchdown on third-and-22 to extend the Birds’ lead.

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On Tuesday’s episode of unCovering the Birds, Inquirer Eagles writer Jeff McLane talked to Smith about his search for more targets.

“I was preaching the same message [against the Jaguars], so maybe [Hurts] overheard me telling [the coaches], and he just wanted to let them know that he was on the same page,” Smith said.

Either way, it worked.

Against the Cowboys, especially early, Hurts threw plenty. He dropped back to pass 21 times in the first half, and handed the ball off to Barkley just six times. But Smith was only targeted three times, and the starters sat out almost the entire fourth quarter, leading to another quiet day for Smith. The fourth-year receiver was seeing more than nine targets per game before the bye, a number that’s dropped just 4.4 per game during the team’s five-game winning streak.

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While Smith admits he wants the ball — what good wide receiver doesn’t? — he said he ultimately doesn’t mind. And not just because the team keeps winning.

“It’s tough, especially as a guy that wants the ball, guy that wants to go out there and be productive and be able to help the offense succeed,” Smith said after the Jaguars game. “It’s tough, but you can’t get down about it, because at the end of the day, we’re winning. You’ve got Superman in the backfield, doing the things he does, jumping over backwards, you expect that they’re going to hand him the ball, and I have no problem with that.”