With the Eagles on a rough road stretch, it would be nice to unleash the beast that is Jordan Howard and with a beast of an offensive line, the sky is the limit. Howard proved that he was the lead back. Now that he is getting most of the touches its time for the offensive line to block for the run as they did against the Green Bay Packers.
You could see the Eagles line just dominating the Green Bay defense. That led Howard to a season-high 87-yards with two touchdowns despite splitting touches with Miles Sanders, who also managed a career-high of 72-yards. If the Eagles can play as they did in Green bay the running game will be more productive and more importantly, help Carson Wentz from having to throw the ball all night against the Dallas Cowboys.
This offensive line has greatness behind it. Most are playing at a pro-bowl caliber level. Yeah, I'm talking to you Brandon Brooks (who is so underrated). In that Green Bay game, everything was in sync.
Since then Howard has been great but he has a chance to be a leading rusher if the Eagles can unleash the offensive line like they did in Green Bay. Howard has been getting met at the line of scrimmage almost every run play and has still managed to have reasonable success. He will drag three players and somehow manage to get 5 yards when it most likely would have been for a loss. Imagine what he could do with consistent holes to hit.
When he went up against the New York Jets he had 62 yards on the ground with an average of 4.8 yards per carry. Then against the Minnesota Vikings Howard has managed 49 yards with an average of 3.8 yards per carry. His yards per carry average in Green Bay was his all-time high of five-point eight. Howard is the lead back, there is no doubt about that. But the offensive line needs to win their matchups to create gaps so Howard can be the playmaker the Eagles were expecting when they signed him this season.
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