KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Eagles brought in LeGarrette Blount late in the offseason in an attempt to solidify their rushing attack. As an established veteran, they hoped he would be the missing piece.
He's missing all right.
Blount had one touch Sunday. He didn't have a single carry (see Roob's 10 observations).
What does that mean for his role going forward?
"You gotta ask Doug," Blount said after the Eagles' 27-20 loss. "I don't know things are going to go next week. I can't really predict the future. That's something for him to answer."
Apparently, head coach Doug Pederson doesn't have a crystal ball either, even though it's his decision.
Philadelphia Eagles
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles and their NFL rivals from NBC Sports Philadelphia.
So, Doug, is this the direction things are going? Away from Blount?
"I can't stand up here and say that," Pederson said. "We just have to get the whole thing fixed. When you play good teams like we did, good defenses, you have to have the ability to run the ball. This is two weeks in a row we struggled, so it's an area we have to fix."
In the Birds' Week 1 win over Washington, Blount had 14 carries for 46 yards and a one-yard touchdown catch. His only official touch Sunday was a one-yard reception. He would have had a rushing attempt but the play was called back (see report card).
Sunday was just the fifth time in 102 career games that Blount finished a game without a rushing attempt.
Blount, 30, didn't even know when the last time was.
"Not off the top of my head," he said.
He probably should have.
The last time he didn't have a carry in a game was on Nov. 17, 2014, in his final day with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In that game, Blount actually left the field before the game ended because he was reportedly frustrated he didn't touch the ball. He was cut the next day.
Before that, his last time without a rushing attempt came in 2012.
Blount had 299 carries for the Patriots last season - the second-highest total in the NFL. The fewest rushing attempts he had in any game last season was 11 and he averaged 18.69.
Through two games with the Eagles, he's averaging 7.0 per game, with a big ol' goose egg Sunday.
"It's the way the game went," Blount said. "I can't argue with how the game is going, the flow of the game. You just have to ride the wave and whenever your number is called, it's called."
It's not like there were a ton of rushing plays to go around Sunday. In fact, the Eagles called 56 pass plays to 13 run plays. Carson Wentz ended up being the Eagles' leading rusher with four scrambles for 55 yards.
Darren Sproles led the team with 10 carries that went for 48 yards.
"You can't really argue with a future Hall of Fame being in front of you," Blount said of Sproles' carries. "You know what I'm saying?"
While Pederson said it wasn't necessarily in the game plan to go away from Blount heading into the game, he did think the Eagles had a chance to exploit the Chiefs' secondary. Blount said there were a lot of 1-on-1s in the passing game, which would seem to lend itself to Sproles instead of him.
Through two games, Blount has 14 carries for 46 yards and two catches for two yards and a touchdown. After leading the league with 18 rushing touchdowns last season, he doesn't have one yet.
In general, the Eagles' rushing attack has been extremely lackluster through two games. In fact, Wentz is their leading rusher through two games with 61 yards.
"We just have to fix some things, de-bug some things," Blount said. "There's a lot of things that play a factor. There's 11 guys out there playing football. There's 11 guys out there that have to make a play go and besides the quarterback and the ball carrier, there's nine other guys out there and they have to make sure everything is perfect to make your running game go. It isn't doing so well right now so we just have to figure it out and fix it."
