Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Getting Better

Posted December 22nd, 2025 | No Comments »

We overuse the word great. This team is great. That player is great. Jimmy Bama’s article is great. Most of the time we mean good or really good. Great is something special. Vic Fangio is a great defensive coordinator. Truly great.

Coming into the season I hoped the defense might be a Top 10 unit, but wasn’t sure. They lost a lot of talent in the offseason.

Josh Sweat
Milton Williams
Brandon Graham
Oren Burks
CJ Gardner-Johnson
Darius Slay
Isaiah Gardner

That group alone is the foundation of a pretty good defense. Losing all those guys and replacing them with rookies and role players made for some challenges. Last season the Eagles defense took a month to go from solid to juggernaut. This season it took a bit longer. After 15 games the defense is one of the best in the league.

3rd in points allowed
12th in yards allowed
1st in TD passes allowed
1st in opponent completion percentage
2nd in opponent passer rating
2nd in 4th down defense
4th in red zone defense
5th in defensive EPA

Those are impressive numbers when you think about the difficulty of the schedule this year. The Eagles have shut down some star QBs and really good offenses.

It took a while for this group to come together. Part of this was due to youth. You had rookie Drew Mukuba playing a key role. He had some struggles early on that led to blown coverages and big plays. Rookie Jihaad Campbell was starting because Nakobe Dean was working his way back from injury. Jalyx Hunt had to adjust to having a bigger role on defense.

There were also some key players to replace. CB2 was a question mark. The replacements for Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham weren’t as productive as hoped. Remember when Za’Darius Smith retired out of the blue? Milton Williams left in free agency. Moro Ojomo was ready to replace him, but did have adjust to becoming a key player and occasional starter.

Injuries are a problem for all 32 teams. The Eagles defense had their share. Nolan Smith got hurt and missed five weeks. Jalen Carter hasn’t been 100 percent for most of the year. Adoree Jackson missed a couple of games. Marcus Epps spent time on IR.

Vic Fangio got the most out of his unit. The Eagles were winning, even if the stats weren’t good. Over time the defense started to improve. The young guys got better and cut down on mistakes. Adoree Jackson started playing like the CB they expected. The front office traded for Jaelan Phillips. They talked Brandon Graham into coming back. Nolan Smith returned from IR. The defense of December looks a lot better than the group from September.

This group is becoming quite a juggernaut. If the offense does a better job of sustaining drives, this team is going to be dangerous in the playoffs. As we saw in the Bears game, the defense can’t shut people down forever. The offense has to do their part. When there is balance, the defense makes life challenging for opponents.

Fangio has been masterful this year. When his pass rush wasn’t good enough, he blitzed more. He played more man coverage for part of the year. He had Quinyon Mitchell travel with the best receiver for a while. Fangio has been patient with his players when they needed it. He never gave up on Adoree Jackson. He gave Mukuba time to learn. It took a while for Hunt to become consistently disruptive.

Phillips came to town in a trade and Fangio used him right away. Phillips was an instant impact player. BG has played more DT in recent weeks and has 3 sacks in the past two games. Fangio had to deal with the absence of Carter, his best defensive player.

I’m sure Fangio would credit DL coach Clint Hurtt and the players, but I think the old man deserves credit for knowing how/when to use his guys. He has done a good job of building their confidence while also being tough on them. Jordan Davis has gone from underachiever to possible Pro Bowl player. Davis doesn’t get there without tough love from Uncle Vic.

Fangio is special because he understands players and schemes. Think about the vision he had for Zack Baun. He took a role player edge rusher and turned him into an All Pro LB. Cooper DeJean was an outside CB at Iowa. Some thought he might be best at safety. Fangio put Coop in the slot and he’s become an elite player. As for scheme, he’s brilliant at taking simple ideas and getting his players to execute them at a high level.

Eagles fans don’t need to look any further than Jonathan Gannon. His scheme and ideas were based on Fangio’s philosophy. The problem is that Gannon wasn’t able to disguise coverages so QBs had a lot of success when the pass rush didn’t get home. Fangio gets his guys to do creative things and cover at a high level.

The Eagles have had some of the best defensive minds in NFL history running their defense. Buddy Ryan, Bud Carson and Jim Johnson are all legends. Fangio deserves to be mentioned right there with those guys.

I’m curious to see how this defense will do in the postseason. They might be peaking at that point. If so, that will be bad news for anyone they go up against.

_