Sunday's 31-25 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was not the Philadelphia Eagles' most shining moment on offense.
This was a unit that went from racking up 201 yards in the first half to a disastrous -1 yards in the second half. Nothing seemed to be working from Jalen Hurts having zero completions in the second half to the number one thing everyone is talking about with this Eagles team this season: the lack of a consistent running game.
The Eagles finished with 88 yards rushing on 32 carries. Now, to address this stat, this does, including punter Braden Mann's -34-yard run he had when he ran out of the back of the end zone at the end of the game to kill the clock out. Without that play, the Eagles ran 31 times for 122 yards, averaging 3.9 yards per carry.
Some would think that's not bad, but 62 of those yards are from Jalen Hurts scrambling the ball. Saquon Barkley finished with 19 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown. Barkley's average of 2.3 yards per carry is a telling sign of the struggles with the offensive line.
For an offense that is used to being in the top five in rushing year after year, the Eagles find themselves now 16th in the NFL, averaging 113.5 yards per game. This represents a significant drop for the unit. Why the struggles all of a sudden?
Jordan Mailata provides some interesting comments into the struggles of the Eagles' running game
After the game, Eagles starting left tackle Jordan Mailata spoke with the media about why the team struggled to run the ball against the Buccaneers. While accountability was taken for being a block away from big runs, Mailata also wasn't shy about suggesting some different play calls from Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
"We have to do a better job up front. But also, if we know they're gonna load the box, let's see how we can pick them apart. Maybe we run some play actions.. Again it starts with us, but if you look at the plays, we're one block away."
"Many people are not understanding, we are one block away. You can watch the film, the all-22, we're just one block away. The lanes are there."
There won't be many Eagles fans arguing against the fact that the play calling could be different from Patullo. After calling for a lot of quick passes in the first half, Patullo never really adjusted to using more RB or WR screen passes and instead tried to stick with the run. That kind of predictable play calling is what makes third down harder on the Eagles when they have a ton of yards to get.
At the same time, the offensive line has not quite played at the level they are used to. Sunday's struggles could somewhat be attributed to the injuries that occurred. Starting right guard Tyler Steen was out for a big and right tackle Lane Johnson was knocked out of the game for most of the second half with a shoulder injury.
Read more: Jalen Hurts echoed everything Eagles fans have said about issue with offense
Blame really deserves to be sent all around to the offensive line and Patullo. They need to figure out how to get it together before facing a tough Denver Broncos defense on Sunday.