Chris Polk: The Answer?

With the departure of LeSean McCoy, there seems to be a gaping hole at running back. Or, in all reality, is it actually a very manageable deficit?

The thinking here is that Chip has enough trust in his offensive scheme, that all he requires is a running back, or two, that can read a zone blocking scheme and attack the correct hole. This isn't a particularly tall order to fill. Among all running blocking schemes, the zone blocking scheme is notorious for being easy to adapt to as a runner.

One argument made over the last few years was that for every awesome juke LeSean pulled out of his pocket, he left behind consistent yards on inside zone running plays game in and game out. Take, for instance, this past year. Think back to how many times we ran inside zone on first down. Now, if you watched enough film, it should be clear how many times LeSean was stonewalled at the line of scrimmage, or just past it, and would try to cut back. The unblocked end on the weakside, a fundamental weakspot of the inside zone, would end up corralling LeSean from the backside for a loss of a few yards.

The blur offense would benefit exponentially more from a 3 yard gain on first, rather than a 3 yard loss. Well, any offense would, for that matter. But the point sticks out with the blur more than anything. If the offense doesn't sustain drives, the defense spends around 40 minutes of gametime on the field. This is not sustainable or healthy for any defense, even great ones. And the key to sustaining drives, as we saw this past season, is starting fast. LeSean has a lot of strengths, but squaring up his shoulders and running between the hips of the center and guard was never one of them.

Is there somebody on the roster who has a tendency to square his shoulders up and hit the hole, even if the hole isn't wide enough to drive a truck through? Why, yes, yes there is. Is there somebody on the roster who has shown a tendency, in an albeit small sample size, to follow his assignment wholeheartedly even in the face of other options? Once again, yes.

In the following play, I'll highlight Chris Polk's unrelenting tendency to follow his blockers through a play. This play is an example of the 'sweep-read', combining elements of the old school sweep play, with a read element, freezing a defensive player. The sweep read can either freeze a weakside defensive end, the nose tackle, or a linebacker, it just depends on how the defense lines up. On this play the weakside defensive end is read.

Polk initially lines up to the right of the quarterback, but Sanchez waves his to the playside just before the snap adding an element of confusion to the defense. The strength and movement of the defense may very well depend on the running backs alignment, and shifting it pre-play adds a bit more thought to the defense. The old adage goes: when you're thinking, you're not reacting, and you're not playing. Make the defense think and you'll have them beat 9 times out of 10.

At the snap, Peters, Tobin, and Johnson all downblock a player, effectively sealing them off from the play. Kelce and Gardner pull from their spots at center and guard. Worth noting; Celek takes on J.J. Watt and handles his own. Polk's assignment is to follow out his blockers almost in the form of an outside zone play with the desired running lane being well outside the tackle box.

At this point, we can see the excellent job that the downblocking linemen have done. Johnson has pushed his guy so far back that there is an inside lane, highlighted in red, just begging for Polk to take. Any layman with two eyes would say that Polk is crazy to not take this, right? Watt reacts to the huge hole being developed and tries a swim move to the inside of Celek.

Note the blitzing slot corner that came in who would ruin most sweep plays, but Gardner quickly addressed him with a devastating cut block.

Rewarded for his patience and dedication to the play, look at the lane Polk is presented with. Celek understands where the run lane is, so he is perfectly content with Watt swimming to the inside. By letting him inside and then sealing him off, he's effectively left a one on one with Kelce and the linebacker. Providing Kelce doesn't wiff his block, Polk has quite a bit of yardage to deal with. I've highlighted Watt and Andre Hal, both taken out of the play with perfectly executed blocks. To top it all off, Polk ends the play in a savagely brutal manner I wouldn't mind getting used to.

Beautiful.

Next, we'll go over Polk's adeptness at squaring his shoulders and getting a few tough yards. The following screengrabs are from the second Cowboys game, in which Polk had 2 touchdowns, both within the 5 yard line. Poor redzone efficiency plagued the last few years of the Andy Reid era, and carried right over into the Kelly regime. Polk having a nose for the endzone could be a very good sign for Eagles fans.

The offense is lined up in a heavy set, with Celek and Ertz lining up on the same side as Polk. If Sanchez were under center, this would be a stereotypical goalline formation. The Cowboys combat with a 9 man box, respecting the pass very little. This makes sense, having Polk in near the goal line is more often than not going to lead to a run play.

At the start of the play, Mathis and Peters double team the noseguard, and one of them is scheduled to peel off and take care of Rolando McClain. Ertz and Celek do a good job of getting on the outside shoulder of their men, sealing them off from the play. Kelce, Gardner, and Johnson all have straight forward blocking assignments in driving their men down the line of scrimmage or into the backfield. Either way, away from the play.

At this point, Polk has the ball and has to make a decision. There isn't much of a gap where he is assigned to run, and it's closing with every passing millisecond as Celek is getting driven backwards. A slight gap to the right is making itself clear, between Mathis and Kelce. However, this is not where the play is designed to go. By doing his best to get skinny, Polk aims his shoulders between Peters and Celek.

I circled S J.J. Wilcox, as he is unblocked and could prove worrisome to a runner trying to squeeze right up the middle.

Understanding the blocking assignment, Mathis manhandles McClain into the gap that looked quite charming in the previous screengrab, and Peters drives upfield against the nose tackle, both highlighted in the orange boxes. Celek maintains a bit of leverage, and it appears Polk made the right choice by sticking with the assigned play and lowering his shoulders. Also note Ertz has driven his man backwards enough to cloud Wilcox's view of the play. This gives Polk the extra split second he needs to dash into the end zone.

Many have posited that help may be brought in from the outside for the running back position, and this may very well be true. Mark Ingram has been mentioned, as has C.J. Spiller. Personally, I would be very content with putting a good bit of stock in Chris Polk. Help will probably appear via the draft or free agency, but don't underestimate our current stable of backs.