Sitting at 4-2 in the NFC East and going up against the 5-1 Dallas Cowboys this coming Sunday night…
Relatively healthy… some dings on the regulars, cornerback Brooks out for the season…everybody on every team feeling pretty much the same aches and pains…
They told us this was a rebuilding year— the national pundits, that is… but it becomes more evident that there is no singular dominant team in the NFC. Not like New England in the AFC… I’m beginning to believe we have a shot at this!
“I think the guys just put it in their mind to play better than last week,” said Pederson after the win over Minnesota. “Obviously, it starts upfront. It starts with both sides of the ball, offensive and defensive lines, and our defensive line really came off the ball and kind of took it upon themselves just to attack the line of scrimmage and play on their side.”
“Our defense playing as well as they did down there and stopping them – again, it does start upfront and the pressure on the quarterback,” Pederson said. “I tell you what, it was fun to watch our defense. That’s the defense that we expect every week going forward.”
Welp, that is about as much of a tip-off as to what the rest of the 2016 regular season for the Eagles is all about— we are relying on opportunistic defense to set up conversion scenarios for an offense which is not perfect— but is putting together the pieces to get better each week.
“I thought Carson Wentz overall played well, played efficient,” said Pederson. “(He) made some good throws, obviously I thought he forced a few early with a couple of those picks. He really settled in and managed the game. In the run game, we had some checks for him and different things and he managed that extremely well. That’s just the type of kid he is.”
That’s the New Deal in Philly. With Chip Kelly we were told the offense would set the tone and the pace of the game. The defense was relegated to a secondary role as a clean-up crew.
But Doug gets it— the defense must be designed and equipped to provide the margin of error for your offense.
How refreshingly throwback is that thought to the Buddy Ryan/Ronald Reagan era?
Don’t forget the role of special teams. That hearkens back to Dick Vermeil’s formula of rebirth for the Eagles in the late ’70’s:
With 9:08 left in the first half, wide receiver/PR Josh Huff recorded a 98-yard punt return for a touchdown, a score that put the Eagles on the board for the first time, and they never looked back.
“They’re really beginning to click. Great blocks and Josh did a great job on the return,” said Pederson. “Dave Fipp really has those guys ready every single week and you need those things. You need special teams scores, you need defensive scores, and all that helps you especially late down the stretch. It was just great to see two weeks in a row.”
To be fair, according to Pederson, it helped the defense that it had plenty of familiarity with former Eagle Sam Bradford.
“Any time you know the quarterback on the other team, you kind of know strengths and weaknesses and things like that,” Pederson said. “(We were) just trying to give them some different looks and put some pressure on him from different areas. It was a great game plan the guys executed extremely well. Again, it starts upfront and sometimes just changing things up to help your guys be in position we benefited from that today and guys did a nice job.”
Meanwhile, lest we get carried away with the defensive profile of the 2016 Eagles, the NFL trade deadline is a little more than a week away, and rumors are heating up that the Birds are interested in bolstering their offense with smart and speedy wide receiver talent.
Sources tell ESPN’s Adam Schefter that the San Francisco 49ers are open to trading wide receiver Torrey Smith, and multiple teams have shown interest. Per Pro Football Talk, the Eagles are one of those teams, and the sides currently are discussing a deal. Smith certainly would address a need from Philadelphia’s perspective. The Eagles have been getting little production from their outside receivers, as the combination of Nelson Agholor (18 catches, 191 yards), Dorial Green-Beckham (13 catches, 139 yards) and Josh Huff (12 catches, 63 yards) has been unable to produce consistently for rookie quarterback Carson Wentz.
Doug Pederson could use a wideout to help stretch the field. In search of that type of player, the Eagles brought in Chris Givens and Rueben Randle this offseason, but neither panned out.
Smith ran a sub-4.4 ’40 coming out of the University of Maryland and has averaged 17.2 yards per reception for the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers. The six-year veteran has 13 catches for 199 yards and two touchdowns for the 1-6 49ers this season. Smith is making a base salary of $4.5 million this year. His 2017 base salary of $6.5 million becomes fully guaranteed on April 1 of ’17.
As I mentioned in a Livefyre chat last night with our late-show panelists Fields, ATV and BeanStalker, I like the character and the veteran savvy Torrey Smith could bring to to the Eagles. He’s a humble, team-oriented contributor who is money on deep patterns whether he catches the deep ball or draws a PI penalty. He’s still got it—and Carson Wentz deserves a legitimate deep threat.
He ain’t no DJax— but he’s damn close.
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