Throughout NFL history, having a strong running offense and a dominant pass defense has been a recipe for success. But the 2022 Eagles are currently doing something that hasn’t been done in 40 or 45 years, depending on your view of the 1982 strike season. Through 13 games, the Eagles have one of the top running games in the NFL. Powered by quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Miles Sanders, Philadelphia is tied for 2nd in the NFL in rushing yards and leads the NFL in rushing first downs. The Eagles are also averaging 4.87 yards per carry, good enough for 5th best. Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s pass defense has been phenomenal. Even ignoring the NFL-best 15 interceptions (and NFL-best 3.4% interception rate), Eagles opponents are averaging just 4.80 net yards per pass attempt, the top rate in the league.
Yes, that means the Eagles gain more yards per rush than their opponents average per pass. Which is pretty ridiculous!
It’s not unusual for teams to come pretty close here: the Buffalo Bills nearly pulled this one off last season with very similar numbers. Buffalo averaged 4.79 yards per carry and allowed 4.84 net yards per attempt in 2021.
The 2019 Ravens with MVP Lamar Jackson were pretty close, too: they averaged 5.53 yards per carry and allowed just 5.71 NY/A. In fact, the ’20 Ravens were even closer, at 5.53 and 5.57, respectively.
But the closest team of the last 20 years was another Baltimore team: the ’03 squad, with its typical dominant defense and when Jamal Lewis hit the 2,000-yard mark. That year, the Ravens averaged 4.84 yards per carry and allowed 4.85 net yards per pass attempt.
The best team of the ’90s was more of a one-man show: it came in 1997, when Barry Sanders rushed for 2,000 yards and Detroit averaged 5.51 YPC and allowed 5.56 net yards per pass.
The famous ’85 and ’86 Bears got close, too. In ’85, with Walter Payton still in his prime, Chicago averaged 4.53 yards per carry and allowed 4.81 net yards pass; in ’86, it was 4.46 and 4.64. Those would be the two best differentials from 1983 to 1996.
But the last team to actually pull this feat off was the 1982 Dolphins, powered by the Killer Bees (and a small sample size). With fullback Andra Franklin and quarterback David Woodley (5.3 yards per carry on 36 carries), the Dolphins averaged 4.04 yards per carry. That may not sound that impressive today, but it was good enough for 8th best in the strike-shortened, nine-game 1982 season. Meanwhile, the defense with Doug Betters, Bob Baumhower, and Kim Bokamper, plus Bob Brudzinski, Glenn Blackwood, and Lyle Blackwood in the back seven, allowed just 4.03 net yards per pass. That was easily the best in the league, and helped power Miami to the Super Bowl.
If you don’t want to give full credit to the strike-shortened season, then there has not been any team since the 1978 rules changes to have a higher yards per carry average on offense than their opponents gained on pass attempts. But it happened 12 times from 1970 to 1977 during the dead ball era, including four times by the Steelers. The most recent one? The Super Bowl champion Cowboys in 1977, who went 12-2 and allowed just 3.69 net yards per pass while rushing for 4.20 yards per carry. The most dominant performance in the Super Bowl era by this metric came from the 1973 Dolphins. The “perfect” Dolphins were of course excellent here, averaging 4.83 yards per carry and allowing 4.59 NY/A. But a year later, Miami averaged 4.97 yards per carry and allowed just 3.51 NY/A, a +1.46 differential that will likely never be seen again (the 2nd-best came from the ’74 Steelers, at +0.68).
Philadelphia is already a Super Bowl favorite by virtue of their 12-1 record. And the Eagles have the 2nd-most efficient passing offense in the NFL; even with nothing else but that and the NFL-high 23 takeaways, Philadelphia would be a Super Bowl contender. But when you combine that with a great rushing attack and an extremely efficient passing defense, Philadelphia is on its way to a truly special season.