How the Eagles can defend the Bears’ Jet Motion, Trips, and RPOs

There are at least three schemes/concepts the Chicago Bears’ offense will run on Sunday: jet motion, trips formation, and RPOs. How will the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles’ defend against these tactics?

I’ve cited his work so much lately, that it would’ve been a crime to not bring on the man himself to talk about this very subject. Cody Alexander runs Match Quarters and is the author of two excellent books. Cautious Aggression: Defending Modern Football and Hybrids: The Making of a Modern Defense are great resources and highly recommended.

Looking at what the Bears’ will run against the Eagles, he’s a sneak peak at what was discussed via Alexander’s website:

Defending Jet Motion:

“To defeat any motion, the defense has to move as little as possible... The jet motion forces defenses to honor the speed of the motion. The defense has to cut the motion off in order to not get reached and beat to the outside. Rotating to the motion puts the defense in a bind away from the motion and stunting to the motion can leave the defense vulnerable to getting cut off by the O-line. The best approach to the jet motion is to stay even and don’t take the bait of the offense.”

How Do You Play Trips:

“Each coverage has its place in a defense’s repertoire and a good DC has several ways to defend Trips depending on what the offense is running out of the formation. If a defense plays just one type of coverage an offense will pick it up quickly and exploit its weaknesses. It’s important for a defense to be multiple, but not to the point that the players do not know their assignments.”

Defending RPOs:

Check the whole conversation out here by listening on the media player below, or click here if the media player doesn’t play. FLY EAGLES FLY!