Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Developing

Posted October 21st, 2024 | 3 Comments »

One of my favorite parts of football is the development we see. This can be player development, coach development and also team development. It can happen over the course of a season or even a year or two.

Think about the 2024 Eagles. We’ve seen players develop since the beginning of the season. Nolan Smith is just in his second year, but there was a lot of talk about him being a bust just a month ago. Vic Fangio said good things about Smith. Fans wanted big plays and weren’t seeing them. He has played good run defense all year. He’s gotten to the QB two games in a row. You’re seeing him grow as the year goes along.

Smith is undersized, but can generate good power with his burst and pad level. He just destroyed that LT. You love seeing that. This doesn’t mean Smith is suddenly a great player. We’re just seeing a young player start to figure things out. That has given him the ability to make plays.

Bryce Huff had a terrific season for the Jets in 2023. He was an impact player even though he wasn’t a starter. Huff had 10 sacks and 21 QB hits for one of the best defenses in the league. The Eagles paid him big money in free agency, even though they knew he needed work. Huff had to adjust to being a starter, which meant playing the run as well as going after the QB. He would have to learn OLB instead of just being a DE.

The Eagles thought this was a smart gamble because of Huff’s talent and age. That gamble looked bad after the first month. Things have changed in the last two games. Huff has improved as a run defender. That seems to have improved his overall confidence and he’s starting to be disruptive as a pass rusher.

Huff actually had half a sack against Cleveland, but he got his first full sack on Sunday. There was another play where he flew into the backfield and forced the QB to step up. Nakobe Dean flew in and got the sack on that play. It was Huff’s penetration that created the opportunity for Dean.

Huff still has more work to do. It is encouaging to see him developing into a disruptive edge presence. If you don’t get pressure from your edge rushers, your defense is going to struggle. When those guys make plays, the defense suddenly can shut people down.

Let’s shift from the players to the overall defense. Vic Fangio is a good defensive coordinator with a great track record. That doesn’t mean he can walk through the door and deliver instant results. Sometimes that happens, but other times it can take a while for a unit to gel and play good football.

The Eagles were one of the worst defenses in the league in the first month. They have now gone two straight games without allowing a TD. They have played well for 3 of the past 4 games. We are seeing this unit come together and show what they can do. It is fair to point out that the competition hasn’t been good. Still, did you realize the Eagles are now 7th in points allowed and 9th in yards allowed? That’s pretty impressive when you consider where they were a few weeks back.

Part of this is the players getting better as individuals. Josh Sweat, Huff and Smith have played their best football in recent weeks. We’re seeing a backup DL like Moro Ojomo be disruptive. Nakobe Dean just played the best game of his career. Cooper DeJean has been a revelation in his two weeks as a starter. Quinyon Mitchell continues to play good football.

We can also see the defense playing better as a unit.

Make sure you give Jonny a follow on Twitter. He does great game breakdowns every week.

The Eagles got 8 sacks in part because the back end of the defense covered well. It can take time for the back seven to figure out how to cover. That requires individuals executing their assignments, but also working together. You have to pass a receiver on to the next defender in some coverages. You need to know how to double team when that’s called. You need to all see the same things so there isn’t confusion about who should be doing what.

Finally, think about Fangio. He’s coached a lot of defenses, but they’re all different. Just because something worked for the 1996 Panthers, 2012 Niners or 2018 Bears doesn’t mean it is right for the 2024 Eagles. All of those other defenses finished Top 5 in points allowed. Fangio figured out how to get good results from different groups in different eras. That gave me faith that he would figure things out with this defense.

One of the keys to being a good coach is understanding that the NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint. You can’t panic after a bad game. If you truly believe in your system and your players, you give the defense time to develop. You fix issues each week and keep pushing the players to be better. We are seeing good results from Fangio’s unit. They need to be tested by better offenses before we can get too excited, but it feels good to see them play well. Last year the defense was painfully soft no matter who they played.

I know I’ve focused on the defense so far. I also want to mention Kellen Moore and the offense. Be patient. Moore and Jalen Hurts are trying to figure things out. Injuries have affected the offense quite a bit this year so they need some time to get to the level where they need to be. Where they should be, based on the talent they have.

Let’s also understand the offense is erratic, but not nearly as bad as some would have you believe.

They need to figure out how to get off to better starts. They need to sustain drives more consistently. But this offense has also looked really good at times. The potential is there.

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More Like It

Posted October 20th, 2024 | Comments Off on More Like It

The Eagles were expected to be one of the best teams in the league this year. They sure didn’t look like it after the 3-2 start, with all of the victories by five points or less. Things changed on Sunday. The Eagles dominated the Giants, winning 28-3. Beyond the score, the Eagles out-gained them 339-119. This was the Eagles team we’ve been waiting to see.

The story of the day was Saquon Barkley returning to the Jersey swamps to face his old team. Revenge might not have been on his mind, but he played one of the best games of his life, going 17-176-1. He added a pair of catches for 11 yards. The amazing thing about his performance is that he sat out most of the fourth quarter. He could have easily set a personal high for rushing yards (he needed 190 to set the mark). Instead Barkley told Nick Sirianni to let the backup RBs get the touches.

Barkley had runs of 55, 41 and 38 yards. The Eagles scored TDs on each of those drives. His runs brought energy to an offense that struggled at times. Once Barkley got going, the offense came alive. Kenny Gainwell also had a good game, running for 56 yards. He had some good runs that aided the TD drives.

Barkley had big runs inside and outside. He used speed and power. That is one special dude.

and

I doubt John Mara will sleep well tonight. The QB his franchise gave a ton of money to stunk and got benched. The RB they let go looked like the kind of a superstar you build a team around. Barkley finished the game with 187 yards of offense. The Giants entire team finished with 119. To quote Jimmy Bama…oof.

Big plays doomed the Giants. The Eagles had four offensive plays of 38 yards or more. Three of those were runs by Barkley and the other was a 41-yard TD pass from Jalen Hurts to AJ Brown. The Eagles defense piled up 8 sacks and kept Daniel Jones under constant pressure. Even special teams contributed. Cooper DeJean had a punt return of 28 yards that set up a TD drive.

The Eagles defense has now played well in back-to-back weeks. They’ve looked good in 3 of 4 games. The Browns and Giants are bad offenses. Still, a defense is supposed to shut down a bad offense when they meet. That’s exactly what Vic Fangio’s unit has done. They have not allowed an offensive TD in the past two games. That’s good defense.

It was fun to watch the pass rush really come alive. They had 8 sacks, but it goes beyond that. Bryce Huff got into the backfield. Daniel Jones moved up to avoid him and Jalen Carter got the sack. We saw multiple Eagles in the backfield more than a few times. This wasn’t one guy winning or one bad OL losing a lot. The entire Eagles front was disruptive. On plays when Jones wasn’t sacked, he was still pressured and harrassed. I might feel bad for him, but I’ve got 160 million reasons not to.

Giants RBs had 43 yards on the ground. The Eagles shut that down and forced Jones to throw. The Giants long play on the day was all of 14 yards. Drew Lock came in to replace Jones and struggled just as much. The Giants offense is really struggling right now. And the Eagles defense is starting to figure things out.

This wasn’t a perfect game by any stretch. Jalen Hurts went 10-14-114 as a passer. That’s efficient, but he was sacked 4 times and missed some open receivers. The passing offense still needs work. The Giants led the league in sacks entering the week and you figured their rush would be an issue with the Eagles playing a backup LT. The Eagles offense found itself in 3rd & 10 several times and had no chance in those situations. The Eagles finished 1 for 13 on third downs. The good news is that the Eagles didn’t have any turnovers.

The offense also didn’t have any first quarter points. They moved the ball at times, but a mistake would just kill a drive. There are still issues for the coaches to fix.

The defense tackled well and that was good to see. The only real complaint with them was the lack of takeaways. They did have a strip sack, but couldn’t recover the ball.

This game could be a good launching point. The Eagles showed they can be a good team. They can dominate an opponent. We haven’t really seen that since 2022. This performance should boost their confidence. The key is to build on this and not just celebrate the good stuff.

It was good to be able to enjoy a Sunday afternoon for once. No nail-biting. No screaming at the TV. We just got to enjoy the greatness of Saquon Barkley, former NY Giant.

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