I think more than any other area, the Eagles run defense will decide how successful they are this year.
Here's an interesting article by Dave Spadaro of PhiladelphiaEagles.com about Jim Johnson and the Eagles run defense . The Eagles will run the football well if they choose to do so. If they run it well they will destroy teams on the ground and in the air. McNabb has an outstanding group of young recievers, who I think will turn heads this year. I've got a lot of confidence in the Eagles offense. But the defense I'm not as sure about. They will destroy teams on 3rd down with their coverage and pass rush, but they'll struggle if they can't stop the run, so I consider the run defense, the key to their season.
Jim doesn't plan on making any major changes when it comes to stopping the run. He's going to rely on bigger, better players doing a better job of executing their defensive assignments in order to stop opposing running games. Jim plans on rotating his defensive linemen and he'd better follow through with it. The run defense went into the tank when Johnson stopped rotating his smallish defensive line. If the Eagles defensive line unit gets tired, they'll get destroyed because they're undersized. Andy needs to look over Jim's shoulder and make sure he rotates that line each and every game.
I think the Eagles run defense will be successful if Brodrick Bunkley does a better job than the Birds DT's did a year ago of taking on double-teams and not giving ground. If I were Jim Johnson, I would give some responsibilty for Bunkley's progress to new Bird defensive tackle Ian Scott. In addition I would have Bunkley focus on attacking the double-teams he's going to see, rather than having him focus on sitting in his stance and stressing technique. Great technique usually comes over time, so you know he'll get better over time but the Birds need production, right now.
Bunkley's strength and explosiveness is the reason he was drafted so high. If he will just get off on the ball and be physical, he'll be alright. I would treat him like the Bears treat their defensive tackles. Ian Scott has told me that they encourage them to fire off on the ball and get into the offensive backfield. They never want them sitting in their stance on the line of scrimmage. The word they hear over and over is disrupt. I would have Bunkley write that word on his wrist. If he can get in the backfield and be disruptive the Eagles run defense will look great.
I wouldn't be surprised if Scott winds up helping the Eagles tremendously in their efforts to stop the run. I would have him on the field on all first downs and many second downs. I would rotate him with Mike Patterson, who is smaller, quicker and a better pass rusher than Scott. They've got to split up the time on the field and let these guys do what they do best.
Jim Johnson's strength is coming up with creative packages for 3rd down and long. Offensive coordinators around the league have started game planning to stay out of those 3rd and longs and that has negated much of Johnson's blitzing. One of the keys to neutralizing Johnson is to take your chances throwing the ball on 1st and second downs. Johnson gets into conservative and very predictable defensive alignments on 1st and second down and that's when you can beat him. If you wait until 3rd down, Johnson will eat up most offensive coordinators.
Throwing on first and second downs also takes advantage of Jeremiah Trotter who has become a liability versus the pass on run downs. Notice the way Sean Payton went after whomever Trot was covering on 1st and 2nd downs. The tight ends had big days when he was covering them, then Deuce McCallister scored a big touchdown when the big middle linebacker was covering him.
I still am perplexed why the Birds didn't bring defensive coordinator Ron Rivera of the NFC Champion Bears in here, when he was available. His Bears had similar personnel in that their defensive line was undersized. They were quite effective stopping the run. You'd figure Rivera who had been an Eagles linebackers coach for years, could have helped them solve the run defense problem. Would Rivera's presence have created too much pressure on Jim Johnson?
