Falcons defensive tackle Tyson Jackson is a veteran of the trenches.
He was not too pleased after the Eagles rushed for 231 yards in their 24-15 victory against the Falcons on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Running back Ryan Mathews did most of the damage as he became the first back to rush for more than 100 yards against the Falcons since Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson eclipsed the mark last season, 15 games ago, on Nov. 29, 2015.
Mathews had 109 yards on 19 carries and scored two rushing touchdowns.
“They just had a really good game plan,” Jackson said. “They came out and executed very well. We didn’t do a very good job on defense. I’m speaking about the front seven. We just have to get off the field.”
Jackson seem to contend that the defensive front which has revived the team’s pass rush, may have overlooked the required toughness needed to stop the run.
“It doesn’t matter how many sacks that you get in the National Football League,” Jackson said. “People today are impressed about sacks and sacks and sacks, but if you can’t stop the run you are going to have a long day no matter what football team you are playing. We have to do a better job. We have to stop the run.”
The total was a season-high. The previous mark was the 155 yards the Falcons gave up to the Oakland Raiders in the second game of the season.
“It’s been a recipe where if you keep a team under 100 yards, your chance of winning goes up tremendously,” Jackson said. “We didn’t do that today. We have to go back to the drawing board, figure things out and continue to get better.”
The Eagles didn’t catch the Falcons off guard with any new running plays.
“We had plenty of opportunities to slow the run game down and we were unable to do that,” defensive end/linebacker Vic Beasley Jr. said. “It wasn’t anything really unique. We had practiced against all of their scheme and all of their plays this week. They were just more successful today than we were.”
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