Philadelphia Eagles: Offensive line is key to recent success

The Philadelphia Eagles have to keep the momentum going with two games left. The play of the offensive line will be key to success.

The Philadelphia Eagles haven’t been facing the best opponents as of late but they will still take the wins as they come.

While there has been injury after injury to skill position players the offensive line has been able to hold it together enough to help Carson Wentz and the Eagles win games.

Even the injury to Lane Johnson hasn’t slowed down the Eagles in these past two games as they have been able to use the next man up to be able to focus and win these games to get into the playoffs.

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Games are won in the trenches. A good offensive and defensive line are keys to a team’s success. The Eagles have made sure to always draft the offensive and defensive line in the draft to keep them fresh and young.

Picks like Derek Barnett and Andre Dillard are recent examples of the team’s stressed importance in the lines. Dillard has been called on to play in games his rookie year and will eventually replace Jason Peters and Barnett is still trying to have that breakout season.

The Eagles have hit on picks from the two lines in the past and some players have become superstars. The two most namely are Johnson who was drafted in the first round in 2013 and Fletcher Cox who was drafted in the first round in 2012.

The Eagles have many household name veteran superstars that have been on the team a long time and are relied heavily upon to win games for the team. These names on the lines are Brandon Graham, Cox, Johnson, Jason Kelce, Brandon Brooks and Peters that have been guiding forces to wins.

The Eagles running game has been able to see some success from the work of the line recently. Rookie running back Miles Sanders was able to break the rookie record for scrimmage yards which was originally held by DeSean Jackson who had 1,008 yards. Sanders has 1,012 yards.

He was also able to break the record for rushing yards for an Eagles rookie that was previously held by LeSean McCoy who had 637 yards. Sanders currently has 687 yards.

The offensive line has been able to break open impressive holes for Sanders like the one against the Green Bay Packers when it was 27-27 late in the third that set up a touchdown for the Eagles to go ahead. At the time the Eagles really needed the game and they ended up getting that game.

Jordan Howard also had 87 yards rushing with two touchdowns.

Another run was the 65-yard touchdown run against the Buffalo Bills at the beginning of the third quarter that helped break the game open. Then against the Washington Redskins, the offensive line was able to open up another hole for the rookie running back early in the fourth on a third and 11 play. That play lead to a touchdown.

The offensive line also managed to give Wentz enough time to throw the ball to Greg Ward Jr. for the touchdown that was the game-winner.

The Eagles have statistically been able to be productive in the running game. They are 11th in rushing yards per game with 121.4 and they are 11th in total rushing yards with 1,700.

In the passing game, they are closer to the top half of the league even though it doesn’t seem like it and with all the injuries. They are 16th in passing yards per game with 231.5 and 16th in passing yards with 3,241.

The offensive line has been a source of leadership in this challenging season. Guard Brandon Brooks told Wentz that the losses that they had weren’t his fault.

According to NBC Philadelphia Brooks said:

“I just told him, ‘Don’t ever think that any loss we ever have as a team is solely on you,’ because it’s not,” Brooks said.

Next. Brandon Brooks deserves nothing but respect. dark

Going into a big game against the Dallas Cowboys the play and leadership of the offensive line will be one to watch.

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