The Eagles don’t need to run the ball more, and anyone who says they do is living in the past

If you were up early enough Wednesday morning and happened to be driving or walking in the vicinity of the NovaCare Complex, you might have caught a glimpse of a strange yet perfectly unsurprising sight.

Two men, bundled against the cold, stood at the complex’s entrance and held up a sign — kelly green paint on a white placard — that read, “RUN THE BALL.” As they pulled their cars into the parking lot and arrived for their workday, Eagles coaches and players could nod or wave or say hello to the men, and they did. The team even sent them coffee. The only way the episode could have conformed more to Philly sports stereotypes would have been if the two men had been wearing Chuck Bednarik jerseys and identified themselves as “Eggy from Fishtown” and “Seth Joyner.”

Of all the possible reactions anyone could have to the Eagles’ 42-19 loss last Sunday to the 49ers, of all the possible recommendations anyone could make for the Eagles ahead of their game this Sunday against the Cowboys, RUN THE BALL would seem at the bottom of either list. The Eagles couldn’t cover, couldn’t tackle, and couldn’t turn their first two possessions — two sharp and promising drives — into touchdowns. They couldn’t stop the 49ers from scoring or score enough themselves to keep up. Given how one-sided the game was, noting that the Eagles rushed for just 46 yards on 18 attempts and yelling, You shoulda done more of that! doesn’t make much sense.

It makes even less sense considering who the Eagles are, who they want to be, and where the NFL is in its evolution. Every fan or pundit who, in the wake of an Eagles loss, pounds the table and demands that they run the ball more either forgets a few relevant facts and trends or refuses to acknowledge them in the first place.

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The Eagles already run the ball a lot. They rank fifth in the league in rushing attempts per game, at 30.1. The problem isn’t that, relative to other teams around the NFL, they don’t run the ball enough. It’s that they haven’t been running it well enough this season. They rank just 17th in yards per attempt, at 4.1. Last season, they were gaining 4.6 yards a carry.

The reasons for this decline are pretty straightforward. Their offensive line last season was healthy and intact for virtually the entire season. This season, Lane Johnson and Cam Jurgens have missed time, causing some upheaval and adjustment. Plus, Jalen Hurts’ bone bruise on his left knee and opposing defenses’ commitment to stopping the Eagles’ run-pass-option plays — mostly by cutting off Hurts’ running lanes — haven’t helped.

“Hey, I love our fans,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “I love their passion and their energy. That’s not the first time I’ve heard, ‘Run the ball.’ You know what? We do need to continue to try to run the ball.”

Yes, there are times and situations where running the ball is the right thing for the Eagles, or any NFL team, to do. But those situations didn’t manifest themselves against the 49ers, and they’re unlikely to arise against the Cowboys.

Take the San Francisco game. The Eagles ran the ball just seven times in the first half. Had they scored touchdowns on their first two possessions, rather than settling for field goals, they would have had a 14-point lead, and preserving that advantage would have been a higher priority, which might have led to more rushing attempts. Instead, the 49ers rallied, took a 14-6 lead by halftime, then scored on their opening possession of the second half to go up 21-6. Now running the ball frequently was no longer an option, because they had to score quickly to catch up.

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A similar scenario promises to play out Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Unless the Eagles build a big, early lead on the Cowboys, they’re probably going to come out throwing the ball. It’s what they do, and it’s what they’ve long believed in under Jeffrey Lurie: Throw early to get the lead. Run late to protect it. More, Lurie and Howie Roseman have constructed the Eagles’ roster and allocated their resources accordingly. Look at this season’s salary-cap hits on various offensive players, according to the database OverTheCap.com, and you can see what positions and players the Eagles value, and rely on, most:

Johnson: $14.7 million

Jason Kelce: $10.8 million

A.J. Brown: $8.3 million

Jordan Mailata: $7.5 million

Dallas Goedert: $6.3 million

Jalen Hurts: $6.2 million (with much bigger cap hits in the years to come)

DeVonta Smith: $5.5 million

Quez Watkins: $2.8 million

Landon Dickerson: $2.4 million

Marcus Mariota: $1.9 million

D’Andre Swift: $1.8 million.

Ten offensive players, including the backup quarterback, before you get to a running back.

This is, or should be, conventional thinking in the modern NFL, and anyone arguing otherwise is clinging to an era and image of pro football that don’t exist anymore. The NFL keeps tweaking the rules to make it easier to throw, to complete passes, to increase scoring, and that tide started rolling decades ago and won’t be stemmed. The last time an average NFL team ran the ball more than 30 times a game was in 1988. The last time an average NFL team ran the ball more than it passed the ball was in 1981. Welcome to the world.

The players themselves, Mailata said, don’t pay attention to such long-term trends. “But what we are aware of,” he added, “is that we have A.J. Brown and Smitty and Dallas. We have guys who are deep threats down the field, and we understand why we’re doing what we’re doing.” It’s time everyone else stopped standing out in the cold and understood it, too.