Looking for the ultimate defensive game plan against the Falcons Sunday night?— how about forcing them to throw more than they usually do?
At least I think that’s exactly what Andy Reid and Juan Castillo want to accomplish in their road game against Atlanta…
Geoff Mosher, who now writes for the Sporting News as well as the Wilmington News-Journal, says stopping Falcons running back Michael Turner is the defense’s No. 1 mission despite Atlanta’s weaponry in the passing game — especially after the Eagles’ unfulfilling effort against the run in the opener.
Looking back, Turner managed 45 yards on 15 carries last year against the Eagles, his third-lowest total of the season, but that game took place outside at Lincoln Financial Field— whereas this year’s matchup will take place at the Georgia Dome. A year ago, the Falcons fell behind early and had to deviate from their bread-and-butter ground game and play-action attack.
Of course, this year’s Eagles defense can’t be compared to last year’s, with new starters at all three linebacker spots and both safety positions. It’s also an entirely new scheme. Linebackers and safeties have added responsibilities in run defense, with linemen now asked to get upfield as quickly as possible in new line coach Jim Washburn’s wide-nine scheme. Defensive ends, positioned much further away from the interior, are almost completely taken out of the picture on runs up the middle or delayed handoffs. Linemen are expected to “redirect” the run on their way to the quarterbacks, and second-level defenders are in charge of swarming to the ballcarrier.
Okay… that’s the new plan… and it means, basically, the Eagles want Matt Ryan to put the ball in the air… for that will mean either the Falcons’ running game has been stymied by good linebacker and secondary play, or the Falcons are behind in the score…
“We’ve got a lot of things to work on after the Rams’ game, ” coach Andy Reid said Wednesday. “The players, I could tell by the comments they made that they were humble and they understand the situation that we’ve got to continue to get better.”
Obviously, the Eagles are hoping to put Matt Ryan in the same pressure situation to put the ball up that derailed Sam Bradford in St. Louis… this is the new Eagles M.O. for 2011… and they plan to do it without resorting to the old blitz theories that no longer apply…
Remember when the defense held its ground near the end of the third quarter in St. Louis, when a 41-yard pass interference penalty on Nnamdi Asomugha set the Rams up with a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line?… The worst red-zone defense in the NFL a year ago turned into the best, at least for Week 1, when the Rams were forced to settle for a field goal four plays later. It was at that point the Eagles convinced the Rams and Bradford they’d have to throw the ball to win…
“That was a big momentum swing for us,” safety Kurt Coleman said, “especially our confidence that we can hold people down in the red zone. We’re predicated on being physical and fast, and that defensive stand was a big one. You go back to last year, we couldn’t do that, we didn’t do that, so this is a great first couple of steps.”
Defensive end Jason Babin singled out fellow end Juqua Parker for stuffing Carnell Williams at the line of scrimmage on the first play, before a false start pushed the Rams back to the 6. “Boom!” Babin said. “He took on two adults. It was pretty impressive.”
This is not to say the Eagles have it figured out already. They’re still pretty far from that. But they did react positively to an awful start and seem able to correct shortcomings in defensing the run game, particularly gap-control deficiencies, on the fly.
“I thought in general the run defense improved as it went on,” coach Andy Reid said. “I thought, obviously we started off slow, with the first run, and then the next time they came back and tried that same run it was a 2-yard gain as opposed to a long one. …. So, you know, the thing I look at is progress, especially with young players. I thought that’s what I saw from all our young guys.”
The players know they’ll have to keep showing that this Sunday night against the more explosive Atlanta Falcons, or they’ll soon be looking at life on the other end of a long run.
“They’re a great team,” defensive end Trent Cole said. “… We have to watch out. When we go in there we have to go in there playing sound football against this team. I think [Falcons running back Michael Turner is a great back and like I said, he can run the ball. … He’s someone we have to keep control of just holding our gaps and stuff and we’ll be all right. It’s very early in the season. We’re still trying to glue together everything … but things are only going to get better.”
The best way for that to happen, according to nickel cornerback Joselio Hanson, is to force opponents to throw against the Eagles’ exotic pass coverage packages, which feature more basic but even more effective pass-rush calls.
In short, the Eagles are hoping to blitz less and enjoy it more this year.
“Teams don’t want to let us go to nickel,” Hanson said. “They know that’s our strength. It opens up our blitz package and everything. Teams will come out with one receiver and three tight ends against us. They don’t want us to get in our blitz packages. They don’t want to be third-and-7, third-and-8 against us.”
In Week 1, the Eagles didn’t even need to blitz that much to finish with five sacks and hold the Rams to 181 passing yards on 36 attempts. “The line’s making it easy, man,” Hanson said. “We just sit back and let them eat, and we cover. We’ve got some Pro Bowlers out there, so it’s going to be tough to throw on us.”
Again, I hate to beat a dead “Junior the Mule”, but JB and Leo Pizzini have been telling us this for weeks: the new “Wide Nine” scheme is more about funneling the opponent’s offensive play into a narrow area where the LB’s and DB’s can cover what’s left for dinner after the DL has already fed… It’s not about simple knock-down and drag ’em out scrimmage play anymore. It’s more about frustrating the opponent into a constant state of desperation passing and wishful thinking… in fact, daring them to throw the ball up against our ball-hawks…
Used to be you’d bring the blitz on key downs to accomplish that “welcome to the jungle” scenario for the Eagles… Now, with refined gap control on the “Wide Nine” scheme, you can get that feeling on almost every down…without resorting to the gambler’s odds of a blitz.
The success of the “make them pass” concept still depends, of course, upon the superior athleticism and game-smarts of your back-seven guys… which the Eagles have clearly endorsed as their game-breaking “ace in the hole” on defense…
Notes: Defensive end Darryl Tapp injured his pectoral muscle against the Rams, and his status is fuzzy for Sunday. If he can’t go, rookie Phillip Hunt would likely make his NFL debut. Hunt, who set the Canadian Football League’s sack record last year, showed enough potential in training camp to edge last year’s third-round pick, Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, for the fifth end spot on the roster. The compact Hunt (6-0, 248 pounds) showed tremendous burst off the line in the preseason. He had 16 sacks last year in Canada and 19 in his two seasons there after going undrafted out of Houston in 2009 and failing to make the Browns’ roster.
Meanwhile, The Atlanta Falcons injury report for today has only five names on it. Unfortunately for the Falcons, most of them are pretty important names. The preliminary injury report has Jonathan Babineaux already declared out, which makes sense given that they previously announced that the stud defensive tackle would miss three-to-five weeks. He’s the lone player who is absolutely guaranteed to miss the game. In addition, the Falcons could be without Ovie Mughelli (knee), Chris Owens (ankle), Todd McClure (also knee), and Harry Douglas (concussion, which he quietly suffered in the Bears game). If Mughelli doesn’t play, Jason Snelling will assume fullback duties. If Chris Owens doesn’t play, Dominique Franks or Kelvin Hayden are candidates to take his place at the nickel. If McClure doesn’t play, Joe Hawley will draw a second straight start. And if Harry Douglas doesn’t play, the Falcons are down a dangerous passing game weapon and will likely turn to a combination of Kerry Meier and Eric Weems to fill in.
The Atlanta Falcons did many things wrong last Sunday. Here’s a brief list, bulleted for your reading ease:
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Failing to tackle
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Failing to cover
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Failing to block defenders
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Failing to find the open man on pass routes
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Failing to run offensive plays downfield
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Failing to punt long or accurately
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Failing to return well on special teams
Now obviously, they’d all in Atlanta like to see those problems gone by the Eagles game. Realistically, though, the Falcons aren’t going to come out looking like the Football gods’ perfect team, no matter how many sacrifices they make at the altar of game planning. So the main thing the Falcons will need to improve upon in order to match up with the strengths of the Eagles is their tackling technique.
Their zone can be adjusted. Their blitzes can be changed. But if you can’t wrap up your guy and bring him to the ground, you might as well not even be on the field. How many plays have Falcons fans seen over the last three years that would have been five yard gains with good tackling, but instead became long touchdown runs? Too many for Falcons fans…
That also helps to address another major concern with the Falcons defense, namely the soft zone coverage that had guys like Dunta Robinson and Chris Owens lunging at receivers from five yards away. When your team can wrap up and bring dudes down, it allows you to play the zone effectively and keep plays in front of you. Even though I think the Falcons zone is a little too soft, better tackling can only help them keep the Eagles offense under control.
By no means am I intending to boast or gloat… I just think the Eagles are in a special analytical advantage over the Falcons right now in every phase of the game… and if Matt Ryan is throwing it up at least 40 times in this one, I’ll know the Eagles’ defensive game plan has succeeded in theory. Just let the DL feed on its Wide Nine diet…everyone else clean up on leftovers… and barring a complete letdown by the Eagles offense, I think we’ve got this thing in the bag…
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