Eagles Defense All-22 Film Review: Robert Quinn shows some juice

One final Eagles all-22 defense piece until the playoffs. As I said in the offense piece, thank you for all the views and comments this season. I really do appreciate it.

Just like the offense, this will be shorter than normal because I’m not reading too much into this game for obvious reasons. But let’s get into it.

Pass Defense

The Eagles’ defense changed quite a bit in this game. There was a lot of MOFC (single-high safety) and quite a bit more man coverage. I have absolutely no idea if this was to practice it more for the playoffs or whether it was specific to this game. Personally, I really like it on early downs because with CGJ in the slot over Scott, the secondary should be able to play a lot more man coverage.

I cannot say enough but how good Haason Reddick has been the past few weeks. He is playing at an elite level. I really liked his film in the off-season, but I said I felt he was more of a splash playmaker rather than someone who would get consistent pressure off the edge. I was wrong. He is outperforming my expectations and is simply playing so well. He rushes the passer in quite a unique way because he is undersized but he is so explosive, quick, and can win in so many different ways. He can beat you to the edge with pure speed and can counter and win with spin moves or a bull rush if you try and stop his speed on the edge. He is so good.

Someone I watched really closely in this game was Kyzir White because he hasn’t been good of late. This was his best game in a while which gave me a little bit more confidence heading into the playoffs. Whilst I have concerns about the offense and Hurts health, the defense feels pretty much near full strength heading into the playoffs. No excuses Jonathan Gannon!

Speaking of good pass-rushing performances, we saw some juice from Robert Quinn which is exciting! If he can start playing well the Eagles’ defensive line will be even better and borderline unstoppable. I really hope Josh Sweat is back for the playoffs as the Eagles may have 4 legitimate pass rushers from the edge.

The most interesting part of the game was watching the Giants test out the Eagles' communication with these late motions to 4-strong (4 receivers on one side of the field at once). The Eagles’ zone match coverage was back to being exceptional on some plays, such as this one. This is just fantastic. Watch TJ Edwards communicate the motion early on, then you see Bradberry in MEG coverage (man coverage every the receiver goes) and Bradberry play TRIX (leave his side of the field and help support the side with 4 receivers). This is just textbook coverage and I love watching this stuff.

I saw some people get on Darius Slay for this touchdown but I won’t be one of them. This is just life as an NFL cornerback. Everyone gets beat and Kenny Golladay makes a fantastic play on the ball here. This is also the danger of playing more MOFC coverage, teams will take their shots on the outside. Everyone wants the Eagles to play more man coverage (myself included - on early downs) but every coverage has risks! At the end of the day, sometimes the opposition makes a really good play. I think Slay is in a good position here but he has never been outstanding at the catch point and can get beat.

Run Defense

Milton Williams is probably going to be starting for the Eagles next year. He didn’t have a fantastic first half of the season and I was a little disappointed because I really liked him last year, but he has been excellent the past month. If you go back and read the past 5 or 6 defense articles, I am sure I have put this exact play in every single week. The quickness he has is unique and he makes offensive linemen look silly every single week.

This was a really good play to see. I was glad to see CGJ in the slot (because Blankenship is better than Scott) but CGJ did move back to safety in the Eagles' 5-2 front. Maddox is really good against the run and has quite an important job in this defense, so I am happy to see that CGJ was up to the task in this game. I feel pretty good about the Eagles’ secondary with CGJ back.

I mentioned earlier on about the schematic battle with the Giants motioning the running back to receiver. The Giants won this one. They recognized that the Eagles were running TJ Edwards out to the back (to stay 4 over 3 as this defense likes to do) which meant that there was a massive gap in the middle of the Eagles’ defense as they were keeping both safeties back. Expect other teams to watch this play and test the Eagles’ defense with a similar look in the playoffs.

That will do for the 2022 regular season! This is the first time I have ever done each week here for BGN so I hope you all found them interesting. See you in the playoffs!