Eagles Defense Plays Hard, But Must EliminateThe Penalties

The Eagles defense and their defensive line in particular did a great job of playing with intensity, but they’ve got to be more disciplined.  You can’t constantly get roughing the passer and off sides penalties.  Hopefully they don’t have to dial back the intensity, but you can’t win games against good teams while committing all those penalties.

I think that’s the reason Andy Reid was blowing up at Jim Washburn and the defensive line on the sidelines.did a nice job of putting pressure on the quarterback, but they’ve got to cut down on the penalties.

I love the job that Washburn does in getting his players fired up and eager to rush the passer, but they’ve got to cut down on the penalties.  He doesn’t seem to make a big deal about them jumping offsides in practice and that seems to carry over to the games.  They’ve got to be more disciplined, while keeping up the intensity.

Defensive end Phillip Hunt is continuing to make it impossible for the Birds to release him.  He’s trying to make it impossible to get him off the field.  Hunt continues to exhibit his speed, quickness and technique in coming around the corner.  He notched another sack and a forced fumble.  Hunt also had two tackles and one assist.

Trent Cole made an impact versus the New England running game and he put pressure on Pats’ quarterbacks. Cole plays hard and he’s very physical at the point of attack.  Cole beats up on guys twice his size with his power game.

Vinny Curry was active when he got his chance

Defensive tackle Cedric Thornton has been playing well all training camp long and he continued it last night with an impressive sack and other pressures on the Patriots quarterbacks.  His athleticism fits this scheme.  Thornton had three solo tackles in addition to the sack.

Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox On one play, Cox quickly got off the ball, beat his defender but he nailed Ryan Mallett but he hit him late.  It was a foolish penalty because he’s got to have his head so that he sees the quarterback has gotten rid of the football.

Darryl Tapp had a nice pass rush on the play, when Hunt forced the fumble by Ryan Mallett and Tapp was alert enough to pick up the fumble.  Tapp also made a foolish penalty when he hit the quarterback’s legs late.

DeMeco Ryans finally made a number of plays with four solo tackles and one assist.  I must commend him for his coverage on Patriots wide receiver Jeremy Ebert.  Ebert ran the same route early in the game and beat Ryans, but dropped the ball.  When he tried it later on, Ryans jumped the route and made the tackle for a short gain.

Mychal Kendricks displayed his playmaking ability with six solo tackles.  The young man is a speedy tackling machine, who is capable of running down wide receivers, running backs or tight ends.  Kendricks and the other linebackers need to expect screens and draws all the time because that’s what offenses do against teams that rush the passer as well as the Eagles.

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie showed us why he’s the best defensive back they have.  He’s got great physical skills and has borrowed elements of Asante Samuels’ game in jumping routes and going for the big play.  Of course he picked off a pass, but it was nullified by a roughing penalty by Fletcher Cox.

Nmandi Asomugha made a couple of tackles and one assist.  He did a good job covering the receivers on his side.

Eagles safety Nate Allen got involved in seven total tackles, three were solo tackles and four were assists.  I don’t like the job Allen did on one of the tackles where he was sitting there waiting on the ball carrier rather than running through him.

Curtis Marsh did nice job in coverage a couple of times, but he’s got to be careful about putting his hands on the receivers.