The Eagles young defense got better as the season progressed a year ago, but they need to take the next step and consistently force turnovers, especially the linebackers.
Now that they know their assignments and understand their defensive philosophy, will they progress to the point that they know when to take chances in order to make the big play.
Stewart Bradley, Chris Gocong and Akeem Jordan must start taking more educated chances in order to make plays (create turnovers).
It means running through behind a running play the other way. Coming inside a block even though you have outside contain.
Running underneath a pass route and going for the interception rather than playing it safe and playing behind the receiver and making the tackle after they make the catch.
Going for the interception on a screen play rather than just coming up and making the tackle.
I had a long conversation with former Eagles All-Pro linebacker Seth Joyner the other day and we talked about the Eagles young defense. This is what we talked about.
It's the process that can take this defense from being a very good defense to becoming a great championship level defense.
Will any of their young defensive linemen make a big jump? I've talked about Victor Abiamiri who will hopefully turn into an enforcer on the left side.
Will Brodrick Bunkley start getting more sacks and making plays in the backfield the way the top defensive tackles in the NFL do?
These guys are going to have as much to do with the success of this team as the Donovan McNabb and the team's offense.
This young Eagles defense may have to make this progress without long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson and Pro Bowl safety Brian Dawkins.
