More thoughts on the Defense

by cavortingEagle on Jul 5, 2008 1:14 PM EDT in News Comment 5 comments

GCobb has a couple of notes up today about the Bird's defense. In one, he reminds us that the Eagles were last in the league in turnovers last year. In the other, he takes a look at the defensive assistants. I've spent some time considering the defense recently myself and noticed some things about Jim Johnson's defense last year compared to years past that seemed oddly incongruous.

At first glance the Eagles defense last year seemed to be pretty good. They were 9th in the league in points allowed, 10th in total yards, 7th against the run and 18th against the pass. They even were tied for 9th in the league in sacks. The thing is though, when you compare the Eagles to the rest of the league they look pretty good, but when you look back and compare the Eagles last year with Jim Johnson's defenses of years past...

Yahoo sports keeps data going back to 2001 from which I extracted the Eagles total defensive statistics for the last 8 seasons.

Things that jump out to me from this table are:

Turnovers: Not only were the Eagles last in the league last year, it was the Eagles worst performance in the last 8 seasons.
Passing Yards per Game: worst performance in 8 seasons.
Rushing Yards per Game: best performance in 8 seasons.
Tackles: 654 total tackles? 81 fewer than in 2006?...

Regarding turnovers, last year was bad as far as Eagles' defenses go, but I am fairly confident that the addition of Asante Samuel and a more aggressive linebacking corps will help with the situation. For that matter, Asante, Lito and Sheldon should help an awful lot with the passing numbers too. I expect to see the rushing yards per game numbers go up next season though. The Birds probably won't be as bad as '06 or '03, but I'll trade a few yards rushing for a better pass defense.

The tackle number is strange. I think it is actually the result of the offense. Last year the Eagles averaged almost 31 minutes of TOP per game. The easy assumption then is the D faced fewer plays because the offense was on the field longer, but it could also be that in games the Eagles were trailing, the opposing offense took more time between plays of their own.

Turnovers and a stingy pass defense have been hallmarks of this group throughout the years and last year, neither one was a component of the defense that the Birds fielded. We're pinning our hopes on a high dollar free agent and a dissatisfied and injury prone cornerback to bring back some of the secondary's respectability. The linebackers are young, but full of promise. With luck, they'll all validate the coaches trust.

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Good post. We need to keep rush yardage comparable to last year, its almost a given the secondary will be better. The LB’s should be able to drop into coverage more effectively than the last few years with their speed. I think we are looking at a top 5 defense.

by BirdBrane on Jul 5, 2008 4:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ten minutes after the end of the loss to the Saints...

...we all would have been thrilled if someone told us that the Birds were going to have their best season against the run in 8 years in 2007. What a difference a year makes!

by Cheesesteak Hoagie on Jul 7, 2008 10:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

No Doubt...

I don’t really see much of a drop against the run this coming year actually. Bradley is a bigger Mike than Gaither, and Gaither is a versatile and athletic guy – about the same as the TKO we got last year.

I think – regarding the run – the biggest question will be how does Abiamiri perform? He’s the only “prototypical” defensive end we have. Does he provide enough of a pass rushing push to discourage teams throwing on first down and can he hold the point against the run. I suppose – presuming the secondary stays intact – the only real question is can he hold the point against the run? Abiamiri is huge questionmark for this defense – much like Gocong was last year.

Give me ‘02’s rush defense and ‘01’s pass D and I think we’ll be onto something…

by cavortingEagle on Jul 7, 2008 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I can really only think of 2 games last year when the defense was responsible for the loss – against Dallas at home when they allowed 38 points and couldn’t stop the run or the pass and against Washington when they couldn’t get off the field on third down (Washington went 8/15). Other than that, they pretty much played well enough for the team to win every game.

At Green Bay, they held an explosive Packers offense to 16 points. Everybody knows what happened in the first Giants game. At Chicago they allowed that 97-yard drive but there was a ridiculous holding penalty on the final play that wasn’t called against Juqua Thomas/Parker. At New England and vs Seattle, the defense played okay but Feeley’s INTs killed them. The second Giants game was similar to the first – the offense sucked and couldn’t score in the red zone. Then right after that, the defense dominated the Cowboys, holding them to 6 points.

Considering all of that, and the fact that there are so many young players on D who are getting better and more comfortable in the system, I think the defense is going to have a huge year.

by Jack B. on Jul 7, 2008 2:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Why they'll be better

1- DL- Subtract Kearse / LuJuan Ramsey… Add Clemmons & Rooks B Smith & T Laws
2- LB’s- Here a year older = better, with youth and speed
3- Add 3 Pro-Bowlers to the pass D… Lito & B-Dawk were hurt last yr, plus Assante
4- 4th place schedule always helps
5- Depth & competition at every position… Good players’ll be cut fr/this D this preseason
6- Defense is young… many still NOT in their prime- Patterson, Bradley, Bunkley, Coles, Gaither, GoCong, Clemmons, Abiamiri… all getting better. Shepherd and Brown and Samuel and Mikell are IN their prime. Only B-Dawk, Von Olhoffen & perhaps D Howard & J Thomas-Parker are on the “downside,” but their roles may allow then to excel. And, of course, rookies Demps, Laws and perhaps Smith can be big contributors too.

by meangreenmachine on Jul 7, 2008 10:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs