How Does this Year's Rushing Attack Compare to 2013 and 2017?

Jason Kelce tried to shed some light on the successes of this year and 2013 while saying it's going to get tougher running the ball when teams know you're going to run the ball

PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles have had some great rushing attacks since offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland came to Philadelphia in Chip Kelly’s first year of 2013.

The one on display now, though, is, according to center Jason Kelce on Thursday, “probably the best rushing attack I’ve been a part of, over at least the last seven games.”

The Eagles have been unstoppable on the ground over the past couple of months, putting up five 200-plus yard games and have a run – yes, pun intended – of seven straight games of 175 yards or more yards rushing. It’s a streak not seen since 1985 when the Walter Payton-led Chicago Bears did that in seven straight 36 years ago.

Included in that run is a 208-yard performance against the New York Giants last month. The Eagles lost that game, though, because New York said it wanted quarterback Jalen Hurts to beat them with his arm.

It was the right game plan. Hurts had three interceptions and a passer rating of 17.5.

Their plan may be the same when the two teams meet on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field (1 p.m.), though it could be tweaked.

“You can’t just Xerox the game plan from before,” said Giants coach Joe Judge on a call earlier in the week. “…Their defense is really hitting their stride. Their front is wreaking havoc with a lot of these teams and as you saw (Tuesday) night, they’re running the ball at will.”

Perhaps the Giants take some of the emphasis away from Hurts and focus on trying to shutter the run game, because, sooner or later, one would think the law of averages will catch up to the Eagles and an opponent will find a way to stop them from running.

“It’s tough to run the ball when teams know you’re going to run the ball,” said Kelce. “When you run the ball a lot, the lanes become smaller and teams really hone in on trying to stop it. It’s definitely a hard thing to do.”

MORE: Dallas Goedert Taking His Game to Next Level - Sports ...

The Eagles ran the ball at will in two previous seasons with Stoutland orchestrating the offensive line.

The first was in 2013 with LeSean McCoy the workhorse, putting up 1,607 yards all by himself as the Eagles ran for 2,566 yards on 500 rushes for a 160.4 yards per game average. That led the NFL.

“Obviously LeSean McCoy, the best running back I’ve been able to play with in terms of, so dynamic, the ability to make a big play at any second was unbelievable,” said Kelce. “I think the offensive line we had was tremendous, Jason Peters, Evan Mathis, Todd Herremans, and a very young Lane Johnson. It was a really good offensive line.

"It’s hard to compare (to this year’s team). We have some really, really good players on this team, too. We have a great offensive line again, but there’s a lot of other things too that go into it.”

Then there was 2017. 

The ground attack that year with LeGarrette Blount, Corey Clement, and, at the trade deadline, Jay Ajayi. That team ended third in the league in rushing, putting up 2,115 yards on 473 runs with an average of 132.2 yards per game. It was the year that they won the Super Bowl.

This season, the Eagles are averaging 165.5 yards per game in 14 games so far, with 2,318 yards on 453 rushes.

MORE: Examining the Eagles' Pro Bowl 'Snubs' - Sports Illustrated

“I think this year obviously we’ve stuck to it,” Kelce said. “We’ve run the ball more, just on an attempt basis more than we ever had in my career certainly. I don’t know if we ran it his much when Chip Kelly was the head coach.

“We’re really good at it. The coach trusts us. You have to give credit to Nick (Sirianni) and Shane (Steichen) and, in my opinion, especially Stout in putting some really, really good plans together.”

Kelce then singled out Jalen Hurts and said something interesting about having a dual-threat QB vs. one who is more rooted consistently in the pocket

“Having a quarterback like Jalen who can keep the ball and teams have to respect that, gives us a lot of even boxes and fair opportunities to run into rather than run into loaded boxes with a drop-back passer,” the center said. “The whole package really allows us to do what we’re doing this year and the coaches trust in it.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.