In a recent article on philadelphiaeagles.com, Dave Spadaro looked into Jim Johnson's defensive philosophy.
Quotes from Johnson repeatedly emphasize the need to prevent the "big play". After last year's performance, I say to hell with the big play – this defense needs to stop the run and the short passing game that killed them last year.
On both the college and professional levels, defensive coaches continually tell their players that in order to win, they must stop the big play. Their logic goes as follows: No team will be able to clip us with 4-5 yards a pop on the ground and nickle and dime us down the field in the air more than once a game. In order to beat us, our opponents will have to have to make more than a few big plays. If they don't, we should win.
Now, that logic probably follows for most teams in the NFL. But as for teams that were hideous against the run and short passes last year, such as the Eagles, such logic could lead to another season in which Eagles fans watch their defenders imitate roadkill whenever the ball is handed off or be nibbled to death by short passes.
Last year, the Eagles gave up 4.5 yards per rushing attempt during the regular season. That stat, along with their total yards given up, placed the Bird's near the bottom of the NFL in rush defense. One team that was the absolute worst in that category, the Indianapolis Colts, shored up their run defense in the playoffs and won the Super Bowl. They finished in the top half of playoff defenses in yards per rush.
In looking at a couple of the Eagles most important losses, the two games they dropped in New Orleans, the opposing offense did exactly what it was not supposed to do — methodically march down the field multiple times. Big plays are not what killed the Eagles in those games. Sure, Joe Horn did have a long TD catch in the first game, but long passes were not the story of the day in either case.
In the first game, the Saints killed the Eagles with a mix of short passes and runs. The last drive which basically encompassed the whole fourth quarter should have put a big dent in the "big play" principle. It didn't, and the Eagles showed up completely unprepared for the Saints running game in the playoffs. The Saints gashed the Eagles at a rate of 5.6 yards per carry, with no run being over 28 yards. Heck, the longest play of the day for the Saints, run or pass, was 35 yards. Thus, the Eagles were successful against the big play in those games, but yet, the methodical way in which the opposing offense marched down the field sealed their doom.
Instead of focusing so much on the big play, which in all fairness does need to be prevented, more emphasis should be placed on the play of linebackers in the short passing game and the run defense in general.
Takeo Spikes and a promising Chris Gocong could help a lot in both areas, but in order to make this defense Super Bowl worthy, the coach needs to have the right outlook.
