Philadelphia Eagles: 4 takeaways from 18-12 win over Atlanta Falcons in Week 1

2. Eagles should have used Ajayi more earlier on

With Darren Sproles finally healthy, it was obvious that Pederson was trying to get the veteran running back rolling early on in the game by giving him a majority of the carries, which was frustrating at times to see from Eagles fans. Last year, Philadelphia took a page out of the New England Patriots playbook by riding the hot hand at running back instead of sticking with a top player each week, which ended up working wonders.

LeGarrette Blount may no longer be part of the picture, but Pederson hopes to see Sproles fill in for his former teammate to provide the offense with another dangerous weapon playing alongside Jay Ajayi and Corey Clement. Speaking of Ajayi, there was some frustration early on in the game when Philadelphia only handed the football off to Ajayi three times in the first off since he is considered the top running back for a reason.

As Ajayi showed in the second half, once he started receiving more carries, the offense started to play at a much higher level, and he ended up providing both touchdowns for Philadelphia’s offense in the 18-12 win to go along with 62 rushing yards. Even if the argument can be made that Pederson and company wanted to keep Ajayi’s legs fresher for the second half, hopefully they realize the importance of using him more earlier on in games moving forward.