DeVonta Smith’s targets are down as the Eagles turn into a run-first team

During the Eagles’ five-game winning streak, they have relied on Saquon Barkley and the run game to open up more opportunities on offense.

On last week’s episode of covering the birdsmembers of the offensive line shared that they were pushing for a pivot back to run-first football, and head coach Nick Sirianni followed their lead. In the four games prior to the win over the Cowboys, the Eagles ran the ball 64% of the time, compared to 36% of the passing game. Against Dallas, aided by a big lead, they ran the ball on 76% of their plays.

Of course, when you have receivers as talented as AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles want to make sure they stay involved as well and that the offense uses every weapon at its disposal.

It hurts, while mic up on the sideline against the Jaguars, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore told that “We’ve got to feed (No.) 6.” Sure enough, shortly after that, Smith caught a one-handed touchdown on third-and-22 to extend the Birds’ lead.

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On Tuesday’s episode of unCovering the Birds, Inquirer Eagles writer Jeff McLane spoke with Smith about his quest for more goals.

“I preached the same message (against the Jaguars), so maybe (Hurts) heard me tell (the coaches) and he just wanted to let them know he was on the same page,” Smith said.

Either way, it worked.

Against the Cowboys, especially early, Hurts threw plenty. He dropped back to pass 21 times in the first half and handed off the ball to Barkley just six times. But Smith was only targeted three times and the starters sat out almost the entire fourth quarter, leading to another quiet day for Smith. The fourth-year receiver saw more than nine goals per game. game before the bye, a number that has only dropped by 4.4 per game during the team’s five-game hitting streak.

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While Smith admits he wants the ball — what good wide receiver doesn’t? – he said that in the end he doesn’t mind. And not just because the team keeps winning.

“It’s tough, especially as a guy who wants the ball, guy who wants to go out there and be productive and be able to help the offense succeed,” Smith said after the Jaguars game. “It’s tough, but you can’t get down on it because at the end of the day we’re going to win. You’ve got Superman in the backfield, doing the things he does, jumping backwards, you expect them to give him the ball and it has I have no problem with.”