Loving the Eagles Lines

Every NFC East team has won a Super Bowl. The teams that won titles all had one thing in common: good play by the offensive and defensive lines. That was certainly true of the Eagles in 2017. The OL was outstanding the DL was arguably the most feared group in the league.

PFF had some praise for the Eagles OL. They had the Eagles rated as the league’s top OL heading into 2017. They rated the line as the best for the 2017 season and now have the Eagles at the top of their 2018 preseason rankings.

There is a little projection here as we’re assuming nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters will return to form after tearing his ACL and MCL in October of last year. At age 36, Peters is no shoe-in to do so. If he does though, the Eagles bring back the league’s best tackle tandem along with a top-five center in Jason Kelce and top-10 guard in Brandon Brooks.

Stefen Wisniewski is the only player who isn’t in the Top 10 in the league at his position. That’s pretty impressive. Wiz has developed into a good starter. I don’t know that he’ll ever be a Pro Bowl player, but he’s coming off the best year of his career and it will be interesting to see how he plays in 2018.

There won’t be any mysteries this year. Isaac Seumalo was the projected LG last summer. That didn’t work out and Wiz took over as the starter in Game 3 of the regular season. Continuity is a big part of OL success. Getting Peters back and having Wiz start from the get-go should help the Eagles line to play at a high level.

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Now for the fellas on the other side of the ball…

The blend of size, explosiveness, power, and bend that Fletcher Cox has is probably the most special blend in the NFL. When you can win with a speed rush on one rep, then run through someone the next, it becomes a nightmare to stop. That's his 2017 season in a nutshell: pic.twitter.com/oxdYXmnljk

— Brandon Thorn (@VeteranScout) July 13, 2018

Putting a TE 1v1 on Brandon Graham on a PA-pass. Let's see how that worked out: pic.twitter.com/Of1Wh7bLfI

— Brandon Thorn (@VeteranScout) July 13, 2018

One of the better pass-rushes of the year that didn't end up in a sack. Really nice club-swim/arm over combo from Jernigan vs. KO: pic.twitter.com/HtZQ3DGMAy

— Brandon Thorn (@VeteranScout) July 13, 2018

It is so much fun to watch those guys in action.

Chris Wesseling of NFL.com wrote a piece about the deepest position groups in the league. The Eagles DL came in as the deepest group.

1) Philadelphia Eagles defensive line: Should we throw in the offensive line, as well? The Eagles dominated in the trenches en route to the Super Bowl LII title, pushing teams around on offense and sending waves of pass rushers on defense. While reigning Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald of the Rams is the cream of the crop, Philadelphia’s earth-moving Fletcher Cox isn’t far behind among interior linemen.

Cox has plenty of help in the form of Super Bowl hero Brandon Graham, run-stuffer Tim Jernigan, veteran Chris Long and second-year edge rusher Derek Barnett. To that impressive quartet, Philadelphia has added three-time Pro Bowler Michael Bennett and former All-Pro Haloti Ngata to go with athletic fourth-round pick Josh Sweat. Considering the success of coordinator Jim Schwartz’s defense, it’s no surprise that other teams have begun copying Philadelphia’s blueprint up front.

Win the line of scrimmage and you will win games.

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