There’s a fatal flaw in the Eagles zone coverages. In both two deep coverages and three deep coverages, they don’t ask their cornerbacks to jam the receivers when they’re in a press technique. The Patriots on the other hand jam those receivers.
They're one of the few teams in the league who consistently jam those receivers. I learned this as a freshman at USC. The game of football is all about split seconds. If Sheldon Brown had jammed Muhsin Muhammad on that last play, the Bears wouldn't have been able to complete that pass. The same thing happened last year to Michael Lewis and eventually caused him to leave here and go to San Francisco.
Jamming the receivers, especially wide receivers, especially inside wide receivers, so that they can’t run unimpeded downfield and get one on one against the safeties is something I was taught throughout my football career. If the receiver is jammed it delays the route and denies him the ability to get one on one with the safety. Those split seconds will allow the pass rush to put pressure on the quarterback. It's a detail point that is extremely important. I learned as an 18 year old that you should never move up into a press technique if you're not going to jam the receiver. It makes no sense. This is Defensive Football 101. Some where the Eagles defensive staff missed that lesson.
On the scoring play, Muhsin Muhammad was lined up in the slot. The Eagles were in a zone coverage but they foolishly don’t jam the inside receivers when they’re in a zone. I’ve been saying this for years. If you notice a team like the Patriots, they jam receivers every chance they get, but for some reason many of the other teams in the league don’t make it a point to jam receivers when they get the chance. It’s a rule that you can’t let receivers run unimpeded down the middle of your zone coverages. It’s a rule I’ve been taught by all the coaches I’ve played for through the years. I like a lot of things Jim Johnson does in his defenses but this one area is a blatant error.
It makes no sense because their best coverage people, corners Sheldon Brown and Lito Sheppard play the short areas and don’t jam the receivers. They are being wasted on these plays. Not jamming the receivers allows them to run right by the corners and get one on one with their poorer coverage teammates in secondary, the safeties. As I said, Jim Johnson is a good defensive coordinator but he and many other defensive coordinators in the league don’t stress to their defensive backs to jam receivers in zone coverages when they’re up in press technique. Bill Belichick has always stressed this and it allows a pass rush a split second more to the QB.
In man to man coverages the defensive backs always jam the receivers but when they get in zone, they allow the receivers to run right by them and get one on one with the safeties. This is the reason Michael Lewis was beaten last year by Joe Horn in the Saints game. This ultimately led to Lewis’ demotion to a backup position and Sean Considine’s promotion to a starter. It wasn’t Lewis inability that was at fault, it was the poor design of the Eagles zone defenses.
If you don’t jam the receivers they have a field day when they can get one on one with the safeties who aren’t very good cover guys when they’re left one on one with receivers. The reason they’re playing safety and not corner is because they’re not as good at one on one coverage as the cornerbacks. Sheldon Brown was lined up in Muhsin Muhammad’s face but he allowed him to run right by him without jamming him and get one on one with safety Sean Considine. Muhammad will beat Considine 4 out of 5 times he gets him one on one. You’ve got to jam those receivers who they will always beat the safety.
