The Eagles almost always are going to throw more than run.

That’s the way Andy Reid wants it.

But anomalies like their 39-to-40 pass-to-run ratio Thursday will crop up and tease fans into believing all the Eagles need to win is show a little more love to the run game.

There’s conventional balance between the run and the pass, which many teams endorse and then there’s what the suddenly communicative Reid calls “efficient balance.” Had the Eagles not been averaging 4.6 yards per rush against the Cardinals there’s no way they would have stuck with the run.

“Say you are running the football and for the first eight carries you average 1.2 yards and you’re throwing the football and averaging 10 yards per throw,” Reid explained. “To me, you’re probably going to throw the football a couple more times than you’re going to run the football. Efficient balance would be to get it up around four yards — three and a half to four yards per carry — then let’s have a good completion percentage and let’s go to work.”

The old school term for efficient balance: run it until they stop it. But you already knew that, didn’t you?