A week after the Philadelphia stubbornly passed their way to a bad loss in Oakland the New York Jets illustrated for the Eagles and the rest of the NFL what teams must do to defeat the Raiders.

The first time the Jets got the ball – admittedly following a JaMarcus Russell fumble inside the five yard line – they handed the ball to Thomas Jones four times straight. It took until the fourth try before he scored the touchdown but it was no accident that the opening drive, short as it was, included no passes.

The week before, Andy Reid gave his backs, Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy, just 11 carries combined. The Jets’ combo of backs matched that total two plays into the second quarter. Leon Washington goes out with a broken leg? No problem. Shonn Greene comes in and rushes 19 times for 144 yards and two touchdowns. For the game the team romped for 316 yards on 54 carries. Not a bad day.

What a luxury it must be having a guy like Greene as your third running back – I don’t expect many games like the one he had Sunday, but he’ll be a more than serviceable complement to Jones as the season wears on and the weather gets cold.

But the bigger picture here is this: How do you beat a bad team that can’t defend the run? You pound them on the ground. Even if you don’t have backs with the skills of Jones, Washington and Greene or McCoy and Westbrook, there’s no excuse for not attempting to beat one of the bottom three teams in the NFL at defending the run without making running the ball a major part of your game plan.

Rex Ryan may be a rookie head coach in the NFL. But Reid should take a step back and learn a lesson from Ryan and his staff on successful game planning. I think the Eagles have as much talent as any of their competitors in the NFC East. But that Raiders game is going to come back to haunt them. And the players can stick the blame for that one on the coaches.