How D’Andre Swift and the Eagles’ run game saved the Old Men and the D (and Jalen Hurts)

The Eagles are 2-0, but the Eagles have problems.

Their quarterback is a little gun-shy, a little rusty, and a little out of sorts.

So, run the ball.

Their frontline defenders are either too old, too young, or too hurt to be counted on to win games on their own.

So, run the ball.

» READ MORE: The Eagles didn’t sign Jalen Hurts to be a bystander. Nick Sirianni and Brian Johnson must get him going.

Their first-time offensive coordinator, who calls the plays (for now), prefers to expose his $255 million quarterback too often, either to show off his play-calling ingenuity, to satisfy a demanding No. 1 receiver, or both.

The solution: Ignore the egos and run the damn ball. The Buccaneers have allowed just 108 rushing yards in their two wins this season, but those came against the Vikings and Bears, whose offensive lines are an embarrassment to the legacy of the NFC North. The Eagles have allowed 104 rushing yards, and no sane person would consider this run defense any sort of bulwark.

The Eagles’ offensive line is elite ... when the Eagles run the ball. After two weeks, left tackle Jordan Mailata ranks as the No. 2 offensive lineman in the NFL by Pro Football Focus, chiefly because he’s the No. 1 run blocker (editor’s note: PFF rankings have been known to be imprecise). Mailata’s the NFL’s 29th-rated pass blocker, but he’s the Eagles’ No. 1 pass blocker, which should tell you a little about how the Birds are protecting Jalen Hurts.

Granted, Hurts isn’t helping his line, or himself, for that matter. He’s holding on to the ball for far too long, scrambling far too often, and ignoring open receivers with alarming regularity. He threw an interception in the first quarter Thursday, deep over the middle intended for DeVonta Smith, who was covered both high and low. Meanwhile, tight end Dallas Goedert was as wide-open as the South Dakota plains on which he was raised.

Hurts has been sacked seven times. Most of them were his fault. He’s averaging 6.5 yards per passing attempt and has a 39.8 quarterback rating, both his lowest since he became the full-time starter in 2021. Teams are scheming to confuse him, to bait him, to beat him.

So, run the ball.

» READ MORE: D’Andre Swift’s touchdown celebration is a Philly thing. Of course it is.

The Vikings turned the ball over twice in the first quarter, but the Eagles scored zero points off those turnovers. Why? Because, even though the Eagles ran the ball three times and gained 24 yards, they insisted on throwing it, and their drives died.

This finally changed in the second quarter, after the Vikings took a 7-3 lead. Eagles running backs D’Andre Swift and Boston Scott ran the ball on 11 of 16 plays and gained 54 of the Eagles’ 75 yards on the touchdown drive that gave the Birds the lead for good.

The drive served a purpose almost as important as the seven-point result: the 17-minute rest for the defense.

That second-quarter drive lasted 7 minutes, 55 seconds, but, in real time, it kept the Eagles defense off the field for 17 actual minutes. That’s five minutes more than halftime.

The Vikings got the ball back for 10 real-time minutes, about half of which was actual playing time, since the other half was the two-minute warning and a timeout, before they turned the ball over (again). Then, after a review and a short Eagles drive, halftime came; so, another 12 minutes.

That meant that, in a span of about 35 minutes, the Eagles defense rested for 30.

“It feels good for us when we can do that,” said defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, who is 32.

“You have to love that, right?” said defensive end Brandon Graham, who is 35.

» READ MORE: Eagles open as road favorite over Bucs in Week 3 Monday night doubleheader

Quick, short drives are the enemy of any defense, but especially one whose most accomplished members are thirtysomethings like Cox, Graham, and 32-year-old cornerback Darius Slay.

The Eagles won the game, 34-28, because they won time of possession, 39:28 to 20:32. The other team can’t score without the ball, and the Eagles were ripe for collapse.

Cox, Graham, and Slay excelled in the season opener at New England, but on just three days’ rest, all three dropped off considerably.

The Eagles also were forced to play backups at middle linebacker, outside cornerback, and safety to start the game Thursday night, and, after halftime, they’d lost their nickel cornerback, too; so, four of 11 starters. Time of possession became ever more important as the night wore on ... a lesson almost learned too late.

Johnson got pass-happy again after No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown threw a sideline fit during the break between the third and fourth quarters, which cost the Eagles a short field-goal chance and allowed the Vikings to cut the lead to 27-21 with 7:41 to play.

The remedy? Seven runs by Swift for 63 yards, including the clinching TD — and an eight-minute rest for the Old Men and the D.

Swift had a career-high 175 rushing yards on 28 carries. Hurts had 23 pass attempts.

Love that ratio.

Do it again.