Philadelphia Eagles: Week 9 could define Jordan Howard’s future

766 days.

That’s the length of time between games where Jordan Howard ran for at least 50 yards and scored two or more touchdowns.

Over that tenure, which stretched from September 26th, 2019, to October 31st, 2021, we’ve seen a presidential election, multiple Billionaires charter missions to space, and the berth of Coaty, the Delaware Blue Coats’ new blue horse mascot.

Now granted, Howard didn’t completely disappear between those two inflection points. He turned in some good games for the Philadelphia Eagles during the remainder of the 2019 NFL season and he scored a crazy number of touchdowns versus his carries during a bizarre run with the Miami Dolphins, but few expected the veteran rusher to ever recapture his early career excellence.

Will we ever see Jordan Howard in a Pro Bowl again? Probably not, but if he can put in work for the Philadelphia Eagles in their Week 9 bout against the Los Angeles Chargers, it could all but guarantee him a role with the team moving forward.

The Philadelphia Eagles should be able to run all over Brandon Staley’s defense.

Over the first eight weeks of the 2021 NFL season, the Los Angeles Chargers have allowed 1,117 total rushing yards.

Is that bad? Yes, it breaks down to roughly 159.6 yards per game and is the worst make of any team in the NFL so far this season.

Now, on paper at least, this shouldn’t be the case. The Chargers have a trio of solid defensive linemen in Linval Joseph, Jerry Tillery, and Christian Covington, who play at least 60 percent of their defensive snaps, and Brandon Staley‘s Los Angeles Rams ranked third against the run during his star-making run as their defensive coordinator in 2020.

But in practice? The Chargers have been gashed by runners like few other teams in the NFL today.

Remember how poorly the Detroit Lions were able to contain the Philadelphia Eagles’ rushing attack in Week 8? Well, what if I were to tell you the Chargers are giving up an average of 25.1 more yards per game on the ground than Dan Campbell’s squad and have surrendered more rushing touchdowns per game than their counterparts in Detroit through the first two months of the regular season.

Needless to say, if there were ever a game for Jordan Howard to dominant between the tackles, it would be this one.

From Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, to Damien Harris, Devonta Freeman, Latvians Murray, and even Antonio Gibson, the Chargers have been attacked by a number of different styles of running backs, but through it all, the constant has been allowing an average of 5.1 yards per carry.

My goodness, think about that for a moment. The Chargers are giving up about a first down’s worth of yards every two rushing attempts. If that doesn’t influence a team’s gameplan, I don’t know what would.

So Nick Sirianni, if you’re reading this, run the ball down the Los Angeles Chargers’ throats with Jordan Howard leading the way. Despite his pedigree, Brandon Staley’s club has surrendered at least 100 rushing yards in all but one of their games so far this season and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to change any time soon. And hey, if he shines, why not sign Howard onto the 53 man roster and continue to give him consistent carries even when Miles Sanders returns to the rotation?