Eagles' demolish Giants with running game ... again

[time2rock]

Eagles' demolish Giants with running game ... again

 

 

 

Reuben Frank

EAGLES INSIDER

When Shane Steichen smells blood, he will finish you off.

And the more success the Eagles had running the ball down the Giants’ throats Saturday night, the more the Eagles' offensive coordinator dialed up the running attack.

When the smoke had settled, the Eagles had rushed for 268 yards and three touchdowns in their 38-7 demolition of the Giants in their NFC semifinal game at the Linc.

They kept doing it and the Giants couldn’t stop it. By the end of the night, the Giants weren’t even trying.

"The running backs were hitting the hole and getting downhill hard,” Dallas Goedert said. "It was fun to be out there.”

In the first half, it was all Miles Sanders. He ran 13 times for 75 yards before halftime. The second half, it was all Kenny Gainwell. He ran nine times for 90 yards after halftime.

Gainwell recorded his first career 100-yard performance with 112 yards on just 12 carries – that’s the 4th-most rushing yards ever by a running back in a playoff game on 12 or fewer carries – and Sanders was 17-for-90 with just four carries in the second half. Boston Scott added 6-for-32 and a touchdown.

Talk about a three-headed monster.

"That’s a 1-2-3 punch right there,” Gainwell said. "Just go out there and handle business. We work extremely hard in practice and it’s all paying off.”

Gainwell is only the fifth Eagles running back with 100 yards in the playoffs, joining Steve Van Buren, Wilbert Montgomery, Heath Sherman and Brian Westbrook.

The Eagles’ 268 rushing yards are second-most in Eagles postseason history. They ran for 274 against the Rams when they won the 1949 NFL Championship at L.A. Coliseum. It’s also 16th-most by any team in playoff history.

It’s also the most rushing yards ever against the Giants in the postseason, breaking the record of 246 set by the Lions in the 1935 NFL Championship Game at University of Detroit Stadium.

Nothing like breaking an 87-year-old record.

In the first 89 years of the Eagles-Giants rivalry, the Eagles ran for 250 yards five times against the Giants. They’ve now done it twice in the last seven weeks. In their 48-22 win in December, the Eagles ran for 253 yards and four TDs.

In all, the Eagles rushed for 656 yards and eight touchdowns in their three wins over the Giants this year, and they had a different leading rusher in each game – Sanders in the 48-22 win in December, Scott two weeks ago and Gainwell Saturday night.

Ask any of the backs the key to the success of the running game and they’ll give you the same answer.

"The (o-line), first and foremost,” Sanders said. "I come up here and say the same stuff, but the stuff that they do throughout the week and prepare with coach Stout is amazing to me. … When we know we’re going to get a chance to run the ball, the (line) and running backs take it upon ourselves to just make a statement every time.”

The Eagles became only the eighth team in NFL history to have two players rush for 90 or more yards and average 5.0 per carry in a playoff game and the fourth team with three players averaging 5.0 yards per carry on six or more carries.

Gainwell’s 35-yard TD with two minutes left is the 4th-longest TD run in Eagles postseason history, behind Wilbert Montgomery’s 42-yarder in the 1980 NFC Championship Game win over the Cowboys at the Vet and two Brian Westbrook runs six days apart in 2006 – 49 yards against the Giants at the Linc and 62 yards against the Saints at the Superdome.

"Everybody knows I’m the 3rd-down back, but every opportunity I get to help the team out I’m grateful for,” Gainwell said. "I know my role and I play my role to the best ability I can.”

Gainwell is only the sixth 5th-round pick in history to rush for 112 yards in a playoff game, and the first since one-time Eagle Dorsey Levens of the Packers ran for 116 yards against the 49ers in a 1999 conference semifinal loss at Candlestick.

Thanks in great part to the running attack, the Eagles had an 11 ½-minute time-of-possession edge. Their three rushing TDs tied the franchise record set in the 1980 win over the Vikings.

Their 6.1 average is 5th-highest all-time in the postseason by a team running the ball at least 44 times and the highest in 25 years.

The Eagles earned a trip to their seventh NFC Championship Game since 2001. They’ll host the winner of the Cowboys-49ers game in Santa Clara on Sunday.

"It’s a win-or-go-home mentality,” Sanders said. "Everybody knows what’s at stake for these types of games. We’ve just got to play our best ball, and that’s what we’ve been trying to preach and do each and every game this whole season.

"We still think we haven’t played our best ball. Just happy to get this ‘W.’ Still hungry, and we’re not done.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-unstoppable-running-game-demolishes-giants

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Sometimes doing the obvious is the right thing to do. Don't get smart with it, don't get cute with it, don't try to outsmart the opposition. If a team struggles to stop a particular thing then go after that. There will be a good reason why they struggle. And if they manage to adjust and protect against that weakness then you can be damn sure they'll have left themselves exposed somewhere else. 

[Procus]

I think the Eagles have been in 7 NFCCG total, not just since 2001