By Geoff Mosher
Copyright phillyvoice
Eagles defensive tackles Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter made two of the biggest plays Sunday in the Eagles’ 33-26 comeback win over the Rams, which is somewhat ironic given that both were both culprits in the porous run defense that enabled the Rams to have a 19-point lead in the second half.
The All-22 footage that we’ll look at shows that Davis and Carter were consistently moved by the Rams’ offensive line, which cleared the way for Kyren Williams and Blake Corum to combine for 147 rushing yards and average 5.25 yards per carry.
Surely, Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio will want that corrected by Sunday’s game in Tampa against the Bucs, who have struggled to run the ball effectively.
The Rams are a run-heavy team and didn’t use any trickery or guile to get their ground yards. Their bread and butter is running between the tackles, using double teams up front to execute simple inside zone schemes. Occasionally, they’ll pull a lineman or tight end – or both – in a Gap scheme run, but they basically stick to what they do best, and did against the Eagles.
Kyren Williams and Blake Corum are crafty runners who lack elite athleticism but have nifty jump-cuts and are known for getting downhill quickly and skinny through the run lanes. The Eagles prepared for the Rams’ run game all week.
Davis and Carter are frequently tasked with taking on double teams and either beating or stalemating them so that linebackers can flow downhill into the gaps to make tackles. Against the Rams, for the better part of three quarters, the two mammoth DTs were often moved.
The Rams logged 17 runs of five or more yards. Let’s take a look at some of them.
The first three are pretty basic – inside zone runs made possible by Davis and Carter getting swallowed up by double teams.
On this run, Davis and Carter were both defeated by double teams before both guards moved off their combo blocks and climbed to cover the linebackers, leaving a clear path for Williams to get five yards.
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