KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Philadelphia Eagles have a balance problem, and there’s no sign of a cure in sight.

For the second straight week, the ground game was unable to get going. After averaging just 2.4 yards per carry in an opening-day win against the Washington Redskins, the Eagles' running backs ran the ball just 13 times for 52 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. The offensive line appeared to have its share of issues. Second-year guard Isaac Seumalo in particular seemed to have a rough day.

"We've just got to get the whole thing fixed," said head coach Doug Pederson. "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've struggled, so it's an area that we have to fix."

Quarterback Carson Wentz had to shoulder the load once again, following up his 39 passes in Week 1 with 46 throws Sunday, completing 25 for 333 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in a 27-20 loss. He threw a critical pick in the fourth quarter on a ball that was deflected by Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston and intercepted by defensive end Chris Jones. Wentz was sacked six times, and wound up being the leading rusher with four carries for 55 yards.

"In order to win games in this league you have to be able to run the ball unless you've got Tom Brady, guys like that," said right tackle Lane Johnson. "We have to run the ball. We have to take the pressure off of Carson, we've got to protect Carson better. We didn't do a good job today."

This was also an issue his rookie season, as he was asked to throw the ball a franchise-high 607 times in 2016.

"You can't be throwing the ball 40 times in a game," said tight end Zach Ertz. "That's not ideal. Low 30s is probably where you want him at. Thirty runs, 30 passes if you're getting 60 plays. We want to be a balanced offense."

The projected top back, LeGarrette Blount, did not have a single carry. Coach Doug Pederson instead turned to the 34-year-old Darren Sproles. While Sproles was fairly effective (10 carries, 48 yards), he can only be leaned on so much.

"That's just how the game went," said Blount. "The game wasn't going the way we wanted it to so we had to make some changes...It's more the flow of the game. You've just got to ride the wave and whenever you're number is called, it's called."

Prior to the draft, executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman deemed the running class potentially historic in terms of quality of depth. The first week of action did nothing to contradict his belief, with rookies accounting for three of the top six rushing performances. The Chief’s Kareem Hunt, a third-round pick, was tops in that category and flexed his muscles again this week with a pair of touchdowns, including a 53-yard scoring run in the third quarter.

Pederson said Hunt was “definitely someone that we had our eye on." The same could be said for Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook, among others. But they came out of the draft with fourth-round pick Donnel Pumphrey. He was firmly on the roster bubble at cut-down time and was inactive for the opener, and is now on injured reserve with a torn hamstring.

Blount was a non-factor against Kansas City, and second-year back Wendell Smallwood has been used sparingly. Despite his hopes he would see some action this week, undrafted rookie Corey Clement barely saw the field on offense and didn’t get a carry.

Sproles is not a season-long answer. Barring one of the other backs emerging, Wentz could be asked to do most of the heavy lifting throughout the season. That can be punishing work -- he has been sacked eight times through two games -- which is not ideal for a developing QB.

"Obviously more balance is usually the way to go," said Wentz, "but again, it was kind of just the nature of this game, the way they were playing some things and some things that we thought we could take advantage of that kind of led us down that route."