Sack Attack
Posted: June 14th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 27 Comments »Blitzing has been a huge part of Eagles defense since Buddy Ryan came to town back in 1986. That changed when Jim Washburn came to town in 2011. His Wide-9 front is built on pressuring the passer with the DL. Juan Castillo mixed in some blitzes from time to time, including some good ones late in the 2011 season. It just wasn’t much of the package.
Sean McDermott did more with blitzing, but since the Eagles were a 4-3 team under him, that mean the DL was the focus.
In the last 4 seasons, Eagles DBs have a total of 6.5 sacks. The leader is Nate Allen, with 2. Both came in his rookie year.
Things will change under Bill Davis.
Davis ran the SF defense in 2005 and 2006. He ran the Cards defense in 2009 and 2010. In those 4 years, DBs totaled 17.5 sacks. That was a mixture of CBs, slot guys, and Safeties. That total is pretty balanced. He did have Adrian Wilson, a great pass rushing SS for 2 years, but Wilson only had 4 of the sacks. There were other years when he had a big total and that could have skewed the numbers, but it didn’t happen with Davis as the DC.
Should be interesting to see Davis turn the DBs loose more this year.
I’ll write more on the subject later. Just wanted to get this nugget out while it was fresh in my head.
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In case you missed it, I had a little bit of fun with the Matthew Tucker interview from PE.com. One of the things Dave Spadaro is normally great at is getting the players to relax and talk to him. Tucker stayed in formal mode, which initially annoyed me but got funnier as it went along.
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Do you want to see Jimmy Bama’s sconces? Dumb question. Of course you do.
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I’d rather just see Chung released before we get toasted on deep balls over and over.
let’s release Chung so we can count on Kurt and a rookie 5th rounder?
We won’t be releasing Chung, but there is a reason New England (and their suspect secondary) didn’t come close to matching our modest contract offer on Chung. He’s not a good football player.
he wasn’t one of my desired FA targets, but now that he is a bird I’m hoping the young man improves. It’s not like he has been playing for 6 seasons. Chung has Charecter and work ethic so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him improve. how much will he improve? Who knows..But If you Blitz Chung, you don’t have to worry about him in Coverage lol. he wasn’t my desired free agent, but fact of the matter is that he will hit someone next season, in a way that we havent seen a safety hit I. A very long time, so for that, I’m excited…
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I’m still holding my breath over Jarius Byrd. he has until July 15 to sign a long term extension, if not he can only sign the one year tender and will become a free agent next year. I’m hoping Howie ATleast inquires about trying to trade for Byrd. if you offer a juicy enough carrot, maybe they take it and cut their losses without having to deal with hold out problems. A young Stud like him to lead our secondary should increase our defense exponentially. Until that man signs a long term deal with someone, He will be stuck in the back of my brain. That kid would be such an addition. We burnt them for Peters. They got us back with Bell. It’s our turn again to fleece the Bills lol..I would give up a 2nd round pick and a safety for Byrd. kid is special, and he has been considerably healthy
Byrd can be a MAJOR target because the Bills are going to be boxed into paying him $9 mil /year or using the tag on him again in 2014. Funnily enough, CJ Spiller’s deal is also up after this season, and he’ll need to get tagged or paid $8 mil /year. Buffalo can only tag one guy. I’d bet on them not wanting to lose Spiller. I don’t see them trading Byrd, but we can pounce on him next off-season.
And I still would have preferred Glover Quinn (especially considering the middling contract he got from Detroit) to Chung.
Good point about Spiller. Ireally liked Glover as well, but I like him as a Nate Allen, centerfield replacement. Don’t think he is anything special in the box where Chung will probably be. Hopefully Earl Wolff shocks us
Amen to blitzing the DBs. JJ used to do it all the time, but McDermott of the worst red zone D in the history of the league couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag.
I’m looking forward to seeing what Davis can do, we haven’t had a real D man here since JJ passed away.
his red zone defense was so poor, it started at the 40. 3 more plays and a touchdown, was insanely fustrating
Those were some ill Ds. And to think all of the points we wasted in 2009 and 2010.
he also loved the jailhouse blitz, at the 30 like JJ, but Sean did it at both 30’s, generally with equal success.
yeah Mike, I’m with you Bruddah(in my best BJ Penn voice). I feel like I’m way more excited about Davis then the average Philadelphia fan.. the Philadelphia Eagles were probably the most predictable team in the NFL last year. I mean, everyone knew what stale plays Andy Morningweigh was going to call, and the defense was so vanilla. It had No disguise whatsoever…For me, the most exciting changes we will see next year are:
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1) Playing tough, Physical. Competing as opposed to quitting.
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2) Being unpredictable on offense, and having a defense that will finally disguise itself moving players all around formations both on offense and defenses which will make them harder to stop and cause breakdowns in protection, and coverage.
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3) Excited about our Physical conditioning as well as our mental conditioning. I don’t see how a team is practicing in a way that pushes its players in those areas more them the practice environment that chip has created. guys like Desean having to learn all the positions will give players a better understanding of the game and force them to eventually become sharper mentally. as for our defenders, practicing against an offense that is pushing a crazy tempo, and forcing you to react to a lot of pre-snap motion will really push ur guys mentally, especially our play callers Kendrick’s and Demeco. We are training our minds and bodies to Diagnose, adjust and react at a very fast pace in a chaotic loud noise environment..so when we play against teams that will huddle and take their sweet Ol’ time snapping the ball, the mental side of the game should be much easier for us. As for our Physical conditioning..an opponent might be in as good of shape, but I don’t see how anyone we could encounter will be in better shape than us..If our line stays healthy, and you have a guy like Chip who is constantly pounding you with a plethora of talented backs, and forcing you to play at a crazy tempo, we will encounter teams who we will absolutely wear down, and come the second half, we start to Trample and Stamped all over them. Especially since we no longer have a team of undersized “high motor lol” fastballs..Even our Recievers will pound you now…
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We have a long way to go as a team. gelling and transitioning to new schemes with new responsibilities doesn’t happen overnight. We still need ATleast 1 more year of offseason acquisitions and a year or two of player development to really be in a position to make a run. however after what we watched these past two seasons, how could I not be “school girl giddy” with excitement over the changes we made.
HAHA yesssss, best laugh I had all day. Thank you, sir.
Don’t thank me, thank Matthew Tucker.
assume 2 oz shots, basically you’ll just slam 6 beers in 5 mins…YESSIR!
That’s okay as long as you get 9 hours of sleep so you’re ready for practice tomorrow.
So who would be the eagles best option to blitz out of the DB’s or, which DB has the best skill set to for the job? I know that situations and stages of the game will effect this but was just wondering your opinion w/o getting to deep into that. Yet, if it’ll ruin your future post about the subject then I can just wait for the answer.
Fletcher,Cary,Chung,Boykin…I would be confident sending any of them after the QB. The more we send Chung after the QB or keep him in the box, the less we have to worry about him in coverage..and it Bodes well for Chung because Nate is so soft in the box
Pretty much agree w/ your sentiments from your reply and earlier comments, specifically on Chung. Yet if Davis is true to his word, and that word is versatility, I don’t think Chung would be regulated (possibly to strong of a word) or limited to in the box duty while being a liability in coverage. So if he’s out there hopefully he’s able to perform both duties well. Just was wondering if Tommy already had a person(s) specifically in mind already, w/o expounding, for an “insignificant rude troll” such as myself 🙂
Remember when this site was awesome? O wait! It’s right now!!!!
you know who Tucker’s nerves reminded me of? Ertz! Ertz is like the worst interview in the world lol. THe kid gets so nervous, he starts stuttering and his voice cracks…Tucker looks and kind of talks like Adrian Peterson a little bit. Compared himself to Polk…
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Duece,Bwest,Buckhalter or Shady,Bryce,Felix,Polk?
Based on talent alone Shade, Bryce and Felix over the 3 headed monster and I also think they will outproduce them. The 3 headed monster was a little more bruising and had a great pass catcher in Westbrook, but on pure running talent Shady and Brown alone beat the other 3 and then add Felix Jones (if he is healthy)
Most fans don’t even know what a blitzes kendricks can be. Very Excited that Billy will unleash M-n-M (Meco and Mykal) and let them get after QBs..I’m also excited for Chung and some CB blitzes..
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Defense still has a long ways to go, but I could see us having a good pass rush and when you combine a pass rush with CB that Jam recievers and slow them down at the LOS, you have a chance at getting off the field on 3rd down. I really believe we can have a dirty, filthy(and I say that in the best way possible lol). defense the way we knew and loved it is dead. This is an offensive game. defense is now all about getting off the field on 3rd down, creating TO’s and holding teams to FG’s..we won’t be a top 10 defense, but I expect significant and I mean significant improvement in those 3 areas compared to the slop we saw last year..
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Kendrick’s and Cox are going to be great. Graham is the x factor. If Graham can do what he did last year, but from OLB and do it with double the snaps, then we will have a nasty LB corp. 5.5 sacks from a rookie DT is so exciting. Anyone know where I can find Cox’s 2012 pressure percentage?
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Any idea how long I have waited to se LBs as the strength of an Eagles defense. Very excited about our future under Billy Davis…
I’m 90% with except for Chung. He’s still the half-wit bum who doesn’t understand how to prevent long passes at safety.
I think you’re dead on with your other comments on players. Kendricks, Ryans, Cox, and Graham should hall have great years.
Like I said, Chung was NOT one of my desired FA targets. I don’t like Nate Allen at All in the box because he is always getting trampled, trucked, and carried for ATleast an additional 5yards by running backs. So if I can’t stomach seeing Allen in the box, naturally I would want to see him in centerfield..I agree that Chung in coverage worries me. but Chung in the box Should be able to make a positive contribution. because Allen can’t play in the box, I’m hoping it forces Chung to spend the majority of his time in the box..if that’s the case, Chung isn’t that Bad…He also is still young enough that we can expect him to improve..We can ATleast count on Chung to hit someone, and hit them hard which is something we haven’t seen out of the safety position in years
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ideally, chip wants two interchangeable safeties so QBs don’t know which will be in the box and which will be in coverage. I have a hard time feeling confident that we have that on our Roster, so I think the safety position is still a work in progress. However, because Eagles want two interchangeable safeties, I could see why they would like Earl Wolff because he has potential both in and outside the box…but we can’t just assume that a 5th round pick will be our savior at the position..
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So basically I pretty much agree with about Chung and we share the same concerns. I’m just hoping that he improves since we are stuck with him. However, when I look at the rest of the safeties on our roster, I have bigger fish To fry than Chung. At the very least we can count on him t hit someone hard, play with heart , , , ,passion and be physical..But yeah, Safety is still a weak spot for us. Hopefully we get lucky with Wolff
Re: Hard Knocks
Tommy, you wrote: “There has been speculation among Eagles fans that the team might be more open to doing Hard Knocks now that Andy Reid is gone and Chip Kelly is coach.”
And I thought: who would speculate about that?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSGgfjdemzM
There is the answer from Chippah. 🙂
Great catch. I’d seen that months ago and forgotten about it.
Re: Where is Yuri?
Off topic . . . Excellent catch on Todd Haley. Thanks for the help.