The Eagles defense continued their pathetic play inside the red zone, yesterday against the Green Bay Packers. Aaron Rodgers and the Pack entered the Birds red zone three times and three times they reached paydirt.
It proved to be the difference in the game, because the Eagles got inside the Packers red zone three times and scored just one touchdown on those trips. They kicked one field goal, missed another and scored a touchdown on Michael Vick’s quarterback sneak.
The problems in the red zone have the Eagles front office concerned about defensive coordinator Sean McDermott. During the season, opposing teams got into the end zone at a 77% rate, which is the worst an NFL defense has done in that category in nearly three decades. I learned that the Eagles feel McDermott has made the team’s defensive system too complicated and gimmicky.
There’s concern that too many times during the season, he has had the team’s defensive ends playing pass defense. Earlier in the week, defensive end Trent Cole pointed a finger at the coaches and the scheme. Someone asked him if he was wearing down during the season because he hadn’t come down with any sacks in a good while. Cole said he was fine, but added he was just doing what the coaches wanted him to do.
They also feel McDermott has made the Eagles secondary coverages too complicated, so young defensive backs have trouble playing in his system. There’s concern that a talented player like rookie cornerback Trevard Lindley wasn’t able to play because of the complexity of the system.
I was told that defensive line coach, Rory Segrest won’t benefit from the fact that Eagles castoffs, Jason Babin and Chris Clemons both tallied more sacks in the season than any of the Eagles defensive linemen. Babin is headed to the Pro Bowl after coming down with 13 sacks for the Tennessee Titans. Clemons is still in the playoffs with the Seattle Seahawks after leading them in quarterback sacks with 11.
There’s concern that Segrest isn’t a top quality coach, so he may not be the guy to get the best out of the talent they have drafted.
What else is new??? this football team cant get out of their own way…every year its the same thing, drop passes penalties, cant stop the run, always looking for the big play, not even making a serious effort to run the football. #36 was right whe he said this team is not not trying to win a championship, all they care about is revenue. I have said this all along the Eagles will not ever win a super bowl as long as AR is the head coach. GB ran the ball and that is what killed the Eagles. Bill Cowher help us please!!!
Find somebody who knows buddy ryans 46 defense inside and out.
Hey G, what do you think of hiring Mike Singletary as Defensive Coordintaor and bringing back Dawkins to help coach the secondary in the same way that Staley has helped the running backs?? Also, assuming it happens, who are some attractive free agents for the Eagles??
Here we go let all the blame go on everyone but the only constant in all these losses. Reid. 12 called runs.
It may be scheme, but the tallent sucks too.
G, you have to believe the Eagles will do everything possible to get Nnamdi Asomugha now that he will be an UFA. Teaming him with Samuel would be amazing…what do you think??
why run the ball against a team who had issues stopping the run all season when you have two solid running backs.
What does it take for the Eagles see that a coaching change is needed. How many more times do we need to hear how they need to do a better job, WE KNOW THIS. McDermott is not the answer either, lousy job. Sure, some personal (players) also need to be improved , but do we want the same guy’s picking them again. They have been lucky picking some players, but for the most part, not so good. Vick was a lucky move, not just AR being that smart. The same results in the playoffs year after year, how long will this go on? I hope we are not seeing the last of David Akers, the wind was tough yesterday, plus it should not have come down to that. What’s the answers G, what do they need to do?
Segrest will no doubt and be the fall guy and get canned & maybe LB Coach Shuey too,
I believe McDermott has 1 more Season to turn things around, but I expect the Secondary Coach Dick Jauron may have more imput on Defensive Game plans and Schemes too…
We have all said many times that McDermott seems to want to drop the DE’s in pass-zone coverage too often, Let your rushers go after the QB
The Eagles Secondary and D/Line played as well as they can yesterday only yielding 21 points
to a very good and balanced Packers Offense, they kept Rodgers and thier WR’s to minimum big plays, but they were bad once in the Red-Zone (as the Eagles have been for 2 Season)
The LB play in coverage was poor as it has been most of the season, for SIms looks lost and has all season long and Chaney was exposed and Fokou is good at the Line of scrimmage,but not so in pass coverage
Anyone notice how many TD Passes are thrown on Samuels side once in the Red-Zone.. he plays too far off and is not physical enough once in the Red-Zone, never has and probably never will..
Draft, we need to draft OT, DT and a damn linebacker, eagles have a mental block from signing a stud linebacker. Bradley hasnt been doing much even when healthy. Bottom line is akers hits the 2 field goals and we win this game. But truth be told, they say the battle is won up front. Well in this case we didnt win it upfront. Our o-line and d-line just havent been there for the second half of the season.
dt and de are one in the same for me
I would like D?B Rob Ryan hired.. get a little spark back on the defense and get some size back
this JJ/SM of small and fast doesn’t cut it for me .. Not for an Eagle team that used to pride itself on having a big,mean,nasty Defense.,.They have become softer and softer as the entire team has
the last 4-5-6 seasons under Coach AR and company..
Fire all of the D coaches except MAYBE Dick J. Yes they should/could have run more but what stat do people need to see to show you this little red isa the problem here. Yes… we need to run more… yes akers needs to hit those BUT from day 1 of camp this D has done nothing impressive. Ok Ok… we know they wont have talent at LB… thats a given, we never do. We know that the “high motor” guys will wear down late… thats a given. But Now we have no depth at CB?? that used to be our #2 priority on this team behind qb.
In the draft they should sign the best avail at either RG,C,CB. Stock pile this D in the draft for the new D cord. and for the love of God…. if MCD is back next year as DC i dot know what ill do.
I’m concerned about LB, SS, CB, and C. We need a game changer in at least 2 of these positions.
Also we need an offensive and defensive coordinator. Play calling is the worst I’ve ever seen, for any team. All this offensive talent and you depend on gadget plays. Afraid to go for a first down on 4th and 1 in the playoffs. Pathetic. This may sound bad but I’m happy with Maclin and Avant. I would trade DeSean and sign Sydney Rice. Or trade straight up.
We need players on defense, but I’m not mad at them about yesterday’s game. When it was all said and done, they held Green Bay to 21 and gave us the ball with more than 2:00 remaining. I don’t know enough about defensive schemes to know whether McDermott is a scapegoat, but I do know that we’re just too small in certain areas and that linebacker play has been an issue for years.
obviously the defense has cost us big this year, and up until now I was just blaming personelle but maybe it is the coaches. I believe that we need a lot of key additions this offseason on defense and maybe a new coordinator because we are small on defense and apparently the schemes aren’t working to well either.
Food for thought- If our D was as it should have been, we would not even had to play this week. and the D was not good at all agaist this pack team. Btw,… how does Q not realize he is laying on a fumble???
Big opportunity missed by Mickell.. the ball was rolling around his belly and chest area..
There are some Free-agensts out there
Eagles really missed a golden opportunity in 2010 to make a serious run for the Championship..
There are many good young teams with lots of up and coming teams that are built to win in future years.. I look at Atlanta,Tampa Bay, St Louis, Detroit all have young talent and are building up talent and depth the right way and should be godo for the next 3-5 years
Then you have the Vikings,Giants,Cowboys,49ers who most likely will be better next year
The Eagles have lots of their own free-agents to decide on first and then need to start filling in the holes at CB/DE/OL/OLB.
McDermott may not be the defensive coach for this team but the biggest problem is with the person that picks the personnel, i.e. Andy Reid. He keeps trading down and drafting “high motor”, UNDERSIZED, defensive lineman. UNDERSIZED linebackers who are fast but still can’t cover. Mediocre secondary players. The biggest issue is personnel. I don’t care what anyone says. This team cannot draft quality defensive players. We constantly trade down to get more lower round picks and ignore impact free agents. They rather draft 13 players where the bulk of them came rounds 5-7 than draft 7 players where you get more in the top 4 rounds. The problem with this team is personnel and Andy is in charge of personnel.
And every year we go into the offseason knowing what the needs are. And instead of them getting some impact free agent players who can instantly upgrade the defense, they pass on them, save money and attempt to address everything in the draft. I’m sorry, but what has this team done in the past 10 years to ensure they can be successful at drafting defensive impact players?
All the top teams in the league has at least one pro bowl level LB. I don’t know why they ignore this position. You need someone big and nasty to lead your defense. Defense is an attitude and we have a bunch of overachieving soft players that wouldn’t crack the rosters of many teams.
Scorp- evry year i have said the same thing.. although this year… im not saying it this year. We need to give andy credit this year for…
1) Taking a chance on Vick.
2) Coaching Vick up or..gettting marty to coach him up.
3) Getting us LOTS of weapons to play with over the last few years,
4) Sticking with Vick even though he said Kolb was the guy.
I have not been an Andy fan for 6 years but im not calling for his head this year.
Scorp- i agree about the LB but its not a priority under this D system. We need to drop this style and start over. We cant be worse than we are now. Our O is good (get a C, RG and let the soon to be new OC Chilly call run plays and we will be GREAT).
Scorp-look at what babbin and clemons did this year.. i agree personel sucks but the Dcord has got to go. I think we agree on all of this. Dont let andy have ANY say on the D side of the ball.
It looked like Parker was responible for the TE on the touchdown that was 1st & goal play action. if that’s the case, I agree with this article 100%. That defense was a joke.
Stevo, I don’t think there is a question about Andy’s and Marty’s coaching abilities when it comes to coaching up QBs. It’s other parts of the team. And you’re right, this defensive system doesn’t place a priority on LBs and that’s the problem. And I’m not saying McDermott isn’t at least part of the problem but look at the personnel he has to trot on the field. And that’s none other than Andy Reid. He cannot draft defensive players. Jim Johnson didn’t have a say in personnel decisions either and as Ray Rhodes players started to leave this defense started to go downhill. I don’t care who the D-coordinator is, if his starters include the likes of Ernie Sims, Kurt Coleman, Dimitri Patterson, Mike Patterson, Quintin Mikell and backups are guys like Omar Gaither they wouldn’t be successful either.
The personnel and philosophy are flawed. Each year Andy adds defensive players that are fast and “high motors”. They firmly believe in passing the ball on offense and stopping the pass on defense. So they get all these quick guys. But what happens when good teams want to run the ball on you? You have no one to stop that. And that’s an Andy Reid problem. He doesn’t believe running the ball is a big factor in the NFL so he builds his offense and defense on the pass. We don’t run the ball and can’t stop it. I didn’t say I want him gone now, but sooner or later this whole thing is an Andy Reid problem and he will have to go. If we can get tired of McNabb getting us to the playoffs and losing each year, I certainly can get tired of Andy Reid doing the same. He could just be that coach that couldn’t get it done.
I hear ya man… this is the first year in a LONG while that im not calling for Andys head.
Fire Reid! make Marty the coach or bring in Chilly!
This teams talent evaluation is far too often very lacking. The most recent example is, of course, Babin and Clemons. Two players they had on the roster in practice, in games etc. for far more than enough time to see what their potential was. Knowing they’ve been that effective in creating pass pressure and the number of sacks elsewhere when the Eagles needed that skill so badly is so ridiculous it laughable. How much more effective would’ve the Birds D been if they were on the roster and got half the sacks they got elewhere. TO coin an Eskin comment, it’s a Joke.
It’s absolutely amazing to see how many holes this team has on the D and the O line knowing how many picks they’ve had in the past couple of years. As I said yesterday, Reid is great at managing the number of picks they have but horrible at using them.
I can’t take anyone seriously that thought the defense was going to be lights out. I said it all through the off-season…the Eagles organization has no respect for experience.
The LB core is the biggest culprit here (no surprises) even though there’s a lot of blame to spread around. Will Witherspoon and Tracy White would have been more effective starters at this point of the season, as they were last year, if they were still in Eagles green. Akeem Jordan would have been the better alternative at WILL given the current roster because he knows the system. Darren Howard would have been helpful off the bench because he knew the system and he had 6.5 sacks before he got sacked. (more than any Eagles tackle this year.) As maligned as Omar Gaither is around here one game to start is rather ridiculous. I liked Chaney, but it was clear that his lack of experience got exposed particularly in passing situations and later on even in running situations he just shouldn’t have been out there.
As much as a lot of people like to hate Albert Haynesworth if he could stay healthy for at least 10-12 games and the playoffs he would be the shot in the arm the defense needs.
DE Paker lost containment versus QB Rodgers on their 2nd TD play just like he did twice in the
Game versus the VIkings and future HOF QB J Webb..
Parker tries hard but just can’t finish the deal all season long…