Eagles Need Ball-Hawking Turnover-Minded Defense

If the Eagles are going to win the Super Bowl, their defense is going to need to step up its play in the playoffs with quarterback Jalen Hurts ailing and the offense struggling to get in sync.   It was great to see Hurts get back into action against the Giants before the playoffs because he needed to get back in the flow in order to get the rust off before the playoffs start.  Birds fans are hoping, he will be much closer to full go, when the Birds play their first playoff game in a week and a half. 

It’s going to be very important that Jonathan Gannon’s defense does a much better job of tightening up their zone coverages, then employing man-to-man coverages and blitzes at the right time in order to keep quarterbacks guessing.  They’re capable of dominating in the playoffs.  

Yes, I agree with Gannon that they can’t make a habit of giving up big plays, but they also can’t let opposing offenses keep possession of the football for 60% of the game or the Birds will lose.  I want to see them be more aggressive and smart.  That means playing some press man coverages and not letting quarterback feast on those short routes against zone defenses. 

They’ve got to get back to forcing turnovers like they were doing September and October of 2022.  Earlier in the season, they were leading the NFL in forcing and recovering fumbles as well as forcing interceptions.  It was letting our offense play on a shortened field and that was helping the Birds get big leads quickly on opponents, but the defense have fallen off since then.   Let’s get the ball hawking back.

Gannon has got stress it to all the Birds defenders, in order for them to be more tenacious in pulling and punching the football out of the hands of ball carriers.  They also need to do a much better job of causing and catching interceptions.  In the win over the Giants, Darius Slay, T.J. Edwards and another Eagles defender all dropped interceptions.  The Birds can’t let that happen in the playoffs against teams like Dallas, Tampa Bay or San Francisco.  

Yes, this season the Eagles defense had an amazing accomplishment with four defensive linemen, Haasan Riddick, Javon Hargrave, Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham each sacking the quarterback over ten times in a season, but turnovers are much more valuable to helping them win a Super Bowl than sacks.  Every time they’re near the opposing quarterback, they must try to knock that football out of his hands.  This group has shown that they can do it, but they got to focus on it with everything on the line.  That must also include working on working on properly recovering the fumbles. 

Turnovers are the main reasons that the return of safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson is tremendously beneficial for the Eagles defense.  He’s one of the better ball hawking defensive backs in the league and they could really use some big plays on his part during the playoffs.  I would also like to see nickel corner Avante Maddox back out there because he has a nose for the football.  An interception or two at the right time could put the Birds in the Super Bowl and help them win it. 

They’re going to need Pro Bowl cornerback Slay to catch every football that touches his hands.  Their other Pro Bowl level corner James Bradberry needs to make some big plays as well.  A timely interception or two by any of these defenders could be the difference but it must be stressed because the teams that force turnovers and take care of the ball are going to win in the playoffs.

If the defense could shorten the field for the offense by forcing some turnovers, there will be another parade in Philadelphia in the near future.   I would love to see that defense playing at its best with the home crowd making so much noise the opposing can’t communicate.  A ball hawking defense along with a frenzied Philly crowd at Lincoln Financial Field is the best assurance to make sure the Birds will be celebrating in February.