The Chip Wagon

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. 

The Philosophy and Evolution of the Eagles Run Game Part 3- Bubbles and Constraint

In part 1, I covered the basic philosophy and advantages of running the football from the Shotgun. Part 2, we touched on how the dynamics of those advantages are increased if your QB is a threat to run. One way teams have adjusted to try and regain that advantage in the box is to have a force defender (usually a safety or CB) cheat in and defend the backside run from the slot position. 

 

The Philosophy and Evolution of the Eagles Run Game Part 1- Why Shotgun?

I came back for a teaser during the Super Bowl week promising a more regular return to blogging. Unfortunately, other things got in the way, but I've also been diving deep into the 2014 film to put together a rather large project to get us through the first half of the offseason. Last year I dove into the scheme and execution behind the Eagles Top 25 plays of Chip Kelly's rookie season with the Eagles. That was a fun project and we might get to it again this offseason, but first with the help of 2 full seasons of Chip Kelly's offense on tape, I wanted to try and put together a more definitive overview of the Chip Kelly Philadelphia Eagles offense. So over the course of the next few weeks (months?) we'll be taking a deep dive into the philosophy behind Chip's offense as well as how it has evolved from Oregon, to his first year with Philadelphia, and through his second year. What works, what doesn't, where we need personnel, and who that personnel might be? Finally, we'll even add some predictions/recommendations for the future based on what else is happening in the college football and NFL world. To be perfectly honest, there's a lot of content to come out and I really don't have a clear vision how I am going to lay all this out in a comprehensive way, but I'll do my best. 

We're going to start the series by taking a deep look into the Eagles run game. Quite honestly, the Eagles run offense is quite simple on the surface. We basically run 4 plays. Inside zone, outside zone, sweep and power. That's it. However, Chip does a nice job of dressing things up in different ways and also incorporating the read-option that has lead to one of the more productive rushing attacks in the NFL the last two years. 

I want to kick off this series with a post that addresses one of the more controversial aspects of Chip's run game philosophy. It's something that has bothered some Eagles fans, as well as players over the last 2 seasons. 

Why Shotgun?

Extra! Extra! 'READ' All About It: Super Bowl Edition

First of all, sorry for my long absence since the disappointing end of the season. Usually when an Eagles season ends, I need to take a bit of a break from football and let some things digest so I don't jump to quick conclusions about what went right, what went wrong, and what really needs to be fixed. We'll be diving deep into that over the course of the offseason, but for now, since it's one of the biggest weeks in the sports world, I thought I would drop in to comment on the NFC's representative for the Super Bowl this year. Once again, the Seattle Seahawks will be representing the NFC and attempting to repeat as Super Bowl champions against the New England Patriots (Cough! Cheaters! Cough!). Back in December leading up to the Eagles big game against the Seahawks, which ended up having significant playoff implications, I highlighted the Seahawks highly effective use of the read-option. Needless to say, it's no secret that I have taken exception to the announcers, sportswriters and fans who have called the read-option a silly fad and compared it to things like the wildcat. Today, we'll take a quick look at how the Seattle Seahawks rode the read-option all the way to their second Super Bowl appearance in consecutive years. 

EXTRA! EXTRA! 'Read' All About It: Losing Contain

Last week we wrote about how the Eagles defense would get a big test against the Seahawks dynamic read-option. Billy Davis commented that the Eagles would be well prepared for the read-option given the number of college coaches on the staff who had seen it all and based on the fact that the Eagles defense faces that look every day in practice. We also talked about some of the keys to stopping the read option. 

As expected, the Seahawks brought their read-option attack with them to Philadelphia and while the Eagles defense did a good job for the most part, one big play stood out about the rest.