Eagles defensive notes

You’ll remember that former Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson always had some guidelines and goals for his defenses. He felt like if they hit these goals then they did their job and the Eagles should win.

He was always big on limiting big plays and clamping down in the red zone. You could go up and down the field between the 20-yard lines, but he really wanted to tighten things up and squeeze you to death in the red zone.

He also wanted to hold teams to 17 points. He felt that if he kept your team to 17 points, then the Eagles offense would score enough to win.

Well, the Eagles held a little X’s and O’s discussion with some local media members last night at the NovaCare Complex, and Sean McDermott talked about some of those guidelines. He said that they always review and update their guidelines because they’ve found that some are just not as accurate as the NFL goes through changes. He outlined the defense’s current goals:

-Hold opponents to 17 points or less. Yes, I just mentioned that, but apparently they still think it’s true. It probably is.
-Force two or more turnovers a game.
-Hold the opponent to 285 yards or less of total offense.
-Limit opponents to 44 total rushes and completions
-Hold opponents to less than or equal to 5.5 yards per pass play.
-Hold opponents to less than or equal to three big plays per game (10+ run/25+ pass).
-Limit opponents to less than or equal to 42% red zone efficiency.
-Don’t allow any points inside of two minutes in the half or end of the game.
-Don’t allow any touchdowns during a sudden change in the game (ie turnover).