The Chip Wagon

Changing of the Guard

So that was not the start we were all hoping for. Frustrating first half. The Eagles couldn't get anything going. I don't have a problem with the Eagles gameplan. Clearly they liked their matchup in the passing game but Bradford was rusty to start and the Eagles were unable to set the tone early. Obviously one of the biggest question marks of the offseason was the Eagles strategy at Offensive Guard. They let long-time veteran Todd Herremans go and then surprisingly cut Pro-Bowler Evan Mathis during a contract dispute. Enter Allen Barbre and Andrew Gardner. Both players had a strong preseason, but they both had a rough outing last night and were one of the main reasons the Eagles struggled to get their ground game moving. 

The Philosophy and Evolution of the Eagles Run Game Part 7- Stopping the Inside Zone

The inside zone is the foundation play in Chip Kelly's run offense. In 2013, the Eagles tore defenses up on the ground primarily with Lesean McCoy using this play. Naturally, over the course of the last 2 seasons, defenses have schemed and experimented with different ways to defend the play. 

Fortunately for the NFL defenses that have faced the Eagles in 2013 and 2014, they've only had to deal with a mobile QB when Michael Vick was starting. Since Vick got injured, Nick Foles, Matt Barkley and Mark Sanchez have run the Eagles offense. Adding the read-option component to the inside zone makes it an even more dangerous play, but the Eagles haven't really had that dynamic since October 2013. As a result, since we didn't have a mobile QB in 2014, we aren't going to talk much about the read-option on this post. Chris Brown did a terrific piece for Grantland a few years back that highlights some of the ways defenses have schemed to stop the read-option. Excellent reading. 

Instead, we are going to focus on the schemes and tactics that teams used to slow down our inside zone running game. 

The Philosophy and Evolution of the Eagles Run Game Part 6- Inside Zone Miscues

First and foremost, a big shout out to Todd Herremans who was released this week. Todd was one of my favorite players over the years. He played an invaluable role along the Eagles offensive line over the last 10 years. He worked hard, played whatever position was asked and was generally a warrior from week to week. As Tommy Lawlor stated well, this is one of the ugly sides of Pro Football. Hate to see a player like Todd go, but all things must pass. We'll miss him and wish him the best in the next chapter of his career

In Part 5 I highlighted what it looks like when the inside zone play works perfectly. I also mentioned how the Eagles practice this play extensively throughout training camp, practice, etc. The general philosophy here is to teach you unit to run the same play perfectly, almost so they could do it in their sleep against almost any front as opposed to coaching up a bunch of different concepts. When the game comes down to the line and you really need that yard or two, you want to know there is a play you can call that the offensive line can execute. For the Eagles, that's the inside zone. Unfortunately, after enjoying a full season in 2013 with a healthy offensive line, the Eagles got hit with the injury bug in a major way. Discontinuity along the offensive line was one of the major culprits people pointed to for the Eagles step back in 2014. This was certainly a major factor, but the Eagles did have that offensive line for the stretch run when the real collapse happened. The reality is, the offensive line didn't really settle down and gel all year long and the blame can be spread along the entire OL for a number of different reasons. 

Let's have a look at just a few of the miscues when running the inside zone this past season. 

The Philosophy and Evolution of the Eagles Run Game Part 5- Inside Zone Execution

Continuing the series we'll do a quick recap of the Eagles bread and butter running play. The inside zone. The Eagles practice this play exhaustively and it's featured extensively in their offensive attack every week. Last year, my colleague David, wrote a really nice piece on the inside zone. Be sure to go back and check it out here. I certainly won't go into that level of detail but David has certainly laid the ground work for the next couple of posts where we'll talk about execution of the inside zone, mistakes running the scheme, some tricks defenses used in 2014 to defend it, and most importantly how Chip adjusted in response to the wrinkles opposing teams threw at us. 

Let's start looking at 3 plays that perfectly illustrate how the inside zone is supposed to work. When executed properly against a favorable defensive front, it's a beautiful thing to watch. 

Welcome Back, O Line!

 

Best game of the year by far by the O line, judging not just by results, which of course were very good, but by how they played together. As a unit. Take the third play from scrimmage.

The base formation. Strong right, showing IZ to the left.  The IZ is the most basic of all our plays. You don't stop this, you don't stop anything. One little tweak by Chip: instead of Celek lining up at TE, he lines up on the wing, with two wides outside him. Dallas is pressing Cooper to the top of the screen (circle).