Philadelphia Eagles fans can’t stop talking about the great “Gang Green” defenses that the Birds had back in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. They didn’t win a Super Bowl title, but they intimidated quarterbacks and receivers throughout the NFL. The city seemed to enjoy those defenses and they loved the way they beat up on the Cowboys. We need to get back to some of that.
Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon will need to make the decision to be more aggressive with his calls. Birds GM Howie Roseman has acquired the talent for Gannon, so that he can play man-to-man. He can blitz because he has linebackers who can get to the quarterback and he has coverage guys who can blanket the receivers.
This Eagles current defense has tremendous potential because of their versatility upfront, at the linebacker position and in the secondary. They will be able to confuse opposing quarterbacks with many different looks and alignments. I believe the key to their success or failure will be their pass rush. If they’re able to get consistent pressure on the quarterbacks, this defense should have a great season.
I think Gannon is going to make this defense predominantly a 3-4 alignment, but you will see them in 4-3 alignments on occasion. I think they’re at their best with Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat using their speed to rush the quarterback around the corner. The Birds signed Reddick during the offseason because of his ability to rush the passer. They need him to have a big year.
Reddick and Sweat are both incredibly athletic and versatile. Gannon must keep the offense guessing about who is coming and who is dropping into pass coverage. Gannon has to call a more aggressive game this season with the abundance of talent. The Eagles depth at defensive end is amazing because they have accomplished veterans like Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett available to step in for Reddick and Sweat.
At the defensive tackle spot, I expect a good year from Fletcher Cox because the Eagles are going to force teams to single block him and they going to utilize their depth to keep him fresh. Rookie behemoth Jordan Davis will be backing up Cox, so the opposing offensive line won’t get a break when Cox takes a few plays off.
Last year, Javon Hargrave showed he could dominate and we want to see him get off to another great start, but sustain it throughout the season. His backup, Milton Williams is in his second year and I saw tremendous potential in him a year ago. He’s got to take the next step in 2022.
Cannon will also put them in a 5-2 alignment to force opposing offensive lines to have to single block all five of pass rushers. I could see them being very imposing in a 5-2 defensive front because they would force the offense tackles to single block Reddick and Sweat, the center and guards will have to handle Cox, Hargrave and Davis, all one-on-one. This will be an arduous to impossible task for even the league’s best offensive lines.
The talent on this ball club has been improved substantially with the addition of linebackers Kyzir White and rookie Nakobe Dean. They both have speed and playmaking ability. They’ll be playing along side veteran T.J. Edwards in forming the Eagles best group of linebackers in a long time.
Gannon has to be thinking about being aggressive with his coverages because of the talented man-to-man cover guys he has in his secondary. Pro Bowl left cornerback Darius “Big Play”Slay, who is gifted at reading routes and getting his hands on the football, loves to play man-to-man. Right cornerback James Bradberry, who the Eagles were able to sign thanks to the incompetent Giants making him available, is also on the Pro Bowl level and he has great size, football intelligence and consistency. Then you add one of the league’s best nickel or slot cornerbacks in Avonte Maddox and you have an outstanding array of cornerbacks.
Eagles GM Howie Roseman made things even better when he acquired another outstanding nickel or slot cornerback, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson from the New Orleans Saints. Gardner-Johnson will play safety for the Birds, but he gives them the ability to lock down four wide-receiver formations because the former Saints defensive back is comfortable walking up on wide outs and covering them man-to-man.
Gannon will be able to turn loose his defensive line or blitz the opposing offense because the Birds will be comfortable playing man-to-man with all these good one-on-one cover guys. Gardner-Johnson also has good ball skills because he had three interceptions a year ago, while playing nickel corner.
The other starter in the secondary is Marcus Epps, who is a good young safety with good tackling skills and deceptive catchup speed. We will see if he can continue to get his hands on the football during the season like he’s been doing in training camp. Hopefully he and Gardner-Johnson can develop into two ball-hawking safeties.
As for Gannon and his strategy, we don’t want to see very much of those soft “bend but don’t break” zones, that we saw him playing early last year. He has the personnel to be aggressive, so he should take advantage of it. I do understand keeping the safeties deep to prevent the big play, but they must play tighter zone coverages.
