Terrible, Awful Defense

The Eagles defense has been awful this year. Right?

Wrong.

The Eagles are 5th in points allowed and 13th in yards allowed. The Eagles have played three teams in the Top 10 in the league in yards gained. Two of the teams are in the Top 10 in scoring.

Adam Thielen lit up the Eagles secondary. He happens to be the leading receiver in the league this season and has set an NFL record by having six consecutive 100-yard games to start the season.

I’ve written a few times already about how this is the Year of the Offense. We are seeing some amazing things done this year. We have to keep that in mind when judging the defense. I’m not excusing them for blowing the lead in the Titans game, but the defense hasn’t been nearly as bad as some would think.

The Eagles have the third best 3rd down defense in the league. They have the best Red Zone defense. What about big plays?

Sheil Kapadia had some good information on that angle.

In terms of explosive plays (runs of 10-plus yards and passes of 20-plus), the Eagles are allowing 5.5 per game. That might seem like a lot, but it’s actually the seventh fewest in the NFL. League average is 6.5 per game. And last year, the Eagles allowed 4.8 per game, fifth fewest. The lesson: Playing defense in 2018 is really hard.

Sheil’s piece has lots of good info and nuggets. He is always must-read material.

The bottom line is that the defense has been better than you think. They aren’t immune from criticism, but context and perspective tell a different story than the thoughts of angry fans after some painful losses.

The struggles of the offense have put extra pressure, and scrutiny, on the Eagles defense. If Wentz and company can get going, it will have a big impact on the whole team.

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Eagles coaches met with the media today. There were some good nuggets.

#Eagles OL coach Jeff Stoutland said that Isaac Seumalo is starting over Stefen Wisniewski because he wants to start the five best offensive linemen, and Seumalo was outperforming him in practice. He emphasized that there’s nothing more to it than that.

— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) October 15, 2018

I know Wiz doesn’t like hearing that, but Seumalo has played better than him. This isn’t about making Wiz a goat for the offenses struggles. It was just a way to improve the OL.

#Eagles OL coach on Jason Peters: “I don’t think he’s going to miss any time, personally.”

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) October 15, 2018

It would be great for Peters to say healthy. Injuries have affected him this year. Having him bounce in and out of the lineup doesn’t help anyone.

Eagles ST coordinator Dave Fipp says Darren Sproles will take back his punt returner when he returns.

— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) October 15, 2018

I’m very happy with DeAndre Carter right now, but Sproles has earned the right to get another chance as the PR. It will be interesting to see if Carter is active. His primary value is on STs. Does Sproles mean Carter now becomes a spectator?

#Eagles OC Mike Groh indicated that Mike Wallace is “progressing” and could return this season.

— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) October 15, 2018

Interesting. They could use him.

The #Eagles coaching staff LOVES Avonte Maddox. Undlin, Fipp and Hauck raved about him throughout today’s interviews.

— Mike Kaye (@mike_e_kaye) October 15, 2018

Maddox made sense to me as an Eagles target before the draft. He’s their type of player. I’m glad he’s off to a good start. It will be interesting to see if he plays FS or Nickel this week. I thought he did good things at both spots last week.

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