I had a long conversation last night with Willie T. or William Thomas, the last Eagles outside linebacker to be an All-Pro.
He said it's about time the Eagles paid more attention to the linebacker position. He said they were getting what they were paying for with the poor play at the linebacker position, especially at outside linebacker.
Willie T. said that all of this was reflecting Jim Johnson's defensive philosophy which is to ask his defensive ends to get to the quarterback, then ask his cornerbacks to cover man to man, and his safeties especially Brian Dawkins to make big plays.
Willie T. thinks new Eagles outside linebacker Takeo Spikes is going to change the Eagles defense if the veteran still has something in the tank, because he is an attacking outside linebacker. Thomas doesn't think Spikes is going to sit and wait for things to happen like the previous season's backers have done. He's going to make plays on the other side of the ball and he will cause turnovers. It'll be a dramatic shift.
As for 2nd round pick Matt McCoy, Willie T. thinks he's too small to play the style he tries to play. The former All-Pro said McCoy plays a style which engages his blockers too much. The all-time Eagles linebacking interception leader thinks Matt should try to utilize his quickness to avoid blockers as much as possible. Thomas who played at a light weight from 225 to 230 pounds said that the only McCoy was going to make it, was by avoiding more of his blockers.
Willie had to chuckle when he thought of how a non-blocking tight end like Dallas Clark of the Indianapolis Colts was able to dominate little McCoy. Thomas said that was rather ugly. But Willie T. emphasized that it's not just because he's too small, it's because he can't get off blocks. He said McCoy stays on his blocks too long. William explained that If he were to utilize his quickness by avoiding blocks and getting the guy with the ball. For his size he spends too much time on the blockers.
Willie didn't have an answer for why they didn't play Brodrick Bunkley more a year ago. He feels that a rookie can come in and make a difference at the defensive tackle spot by simply being disruptive which Bunkley is capable of doing. Bunkley had caught his eye while he was playing for Florida State and he felt, Brodrick's quickness and powere could have made a difference a year ago. William started getting deep into how important it is that the Eagles get better play out of their defensive tackles. He explained how the dominance of Jerome Brown made things so easy for the linebackers who played behind him. Thomas said he thought Bunkley could provide some of the disruption that Brown caused if he'll get focused.
Willie couldn't understand why the Eagles would be asking their defensive line to play a two-gap technique. He didn't think a team with smallish, one-gap defensive linemen would be asking them to two-gap much bigger offensive linemen. Willie immediately got into something I've said for months and that was regarding the fact that only big defensive linemen like the ones in New England should be two-gapping. (On a two-gap technique a defensive lineman is asked to stand an offensive lineman and play both of the holes on each side of that lineman. A one gap technique involves only playing one side of the offensive lineman and firing off at the snap of the ball and getting into the offensive backfield)
He felt they did a poor job of putting Michael Lewis in position's to succeed a year ago. Willie didn't feel Lewis should have been blamed for getting beat by Joe Horn in the Saints game because he was left one on one with him while he had options to go any where on the field. Plus he faulted the Eagles lack of a pass rush on that play as the main culprit. According to Willie T., the Eagles knew he, Lewis couldn't cover man to man yet they put him in position to have to play the Saints best receiver man to man.
Willie feels Jim Johnson is going to have to change up things a bit with his defensive calls in order to be more effective. Willie thinks the Birds are becoming too predictable defensively.
Willie T. will analyze the Eagles defensive play after each game this year.
