Eagles Film Review: 3 things to like about the defense and 3 things to improve

I would usually complete a review of the Eagles’ offense and defense during the bye week, but this year is a bit unusual with the Eagles’ bye week being so early in the season. I wanted to write a ‘How I would fix the Eagles’ offense and defense’ article, but I decided it felt too negative. So, instead, I will do ‘3 things I like about the Eagles’ defense and 3 things I would improve’ to speak about some of the good stuff I’ve seen so far this year! You can find the offense version here. This could include a specific player, a positional group, or a schematic thing. Any stat I use is from Pro Football Focus or Sports Info Solutions.

The Good

Zack Baun

This has been the best thing about the Eagles’ defense this year, no doubt. Although he struggled against the Falcons, I don’t even want to think about how much worse this Eagles’ defense would be without Baun. Baun is a unique athlete who can play either as an off-ball linebacker or an EDGE defender. This versatility has helped the Eagles, especially as it has enabled them to get to a 5-man front without bringing an extra defensive lineman. As a reminder, I said this about Baun’s performance vs. the Saints.

Zack Baun moved from linebacker to EDGE just before the snap over and over again. This totally changed the Eagles’ defensive front a second before the play, and the Saints could not handle it. When you change the front before the snap, you are putting a lot of pressure on an offensive line’s ability to communicate and change on the fly. I think Zack Baun has been the Eagles’ most important player on defense from a schematic purpose, but he can play various roles well. He can play at EDGE, and off-ball linebacker, and not many players can do both well.

The Eagles did this repeatedly, and it only works because of Baun’s unique versatility. If this is done well, it is so useful for a defense. Most offensive coordinators will see the Eagles in nickel and expect a 4-2-5 defense and, therefore, call plays based on that. However, the Eagles can change their front a split second before the snap, making it very tough on an offense.

It’s not just the versatility, though. Ignoring that, I still think Baun has had a good year as a traditional off-ball linebacker. This stop against Alvin Kamara stands out as an impressive play, as Kamara is an excellent short-yardage back. Although he is at EDGE here, it takes a lot of strength to make this play.

I’ve said this in previous articles, but I would try to extend Baun to a team-friendly deal as soon as possible. I expect him to have some up-and-down moments throughout the season, but I think he’s already proved that he is a player who is a great fit in the modern NFL.

Oh yeah, he can also cover receivers down the field, too, if needed. As I said, a modern NFL linebacker.

Quinyon Mitchell

Quinyon Mitchell has not been perfect by any means, but I think that cornerback is the hardest position to start as a rookie outside of quarterback. The stats show that he gets beat but he passes the eye test. He looks smooth out there. He’s only given up 1 penalty in 4 weeks which is a good sign too and he’s had at least 1 pass breakup every week.

The biggest compliment I can give Mitchell is that he looks like he did in college. I feel pretty good about my scouting report so far.

In terms of scheme fit, he is a match made in heaven for Vic Fangio’s defense. You can line him up outside and he should be able to play one-on-one coverage on isolated receivers and has the length to carry receivers vertically down the field. He will love playing off-coverage where he can show off his click-and-close speed and he shows outstanding route recognition in zone coverage already, which is something very important in this defense. What stands out about Mitchell’s game, is how comfortable he is when the ball is in the air. A lot of recent draft busts at cornerback have been because teams have overdrafted fantastic athletes who can’t compete at the catch point. Mitchell will not have this issue.

The ability to play top receivers on the outside? Check.

Click-and-close speed? Check.

Route recognition in zone coverage? Check.

The ability to play the football in the air? Check.

He’s been about a beat away from a pick-six after jumping a comeback route, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the week he gets his first interception. Cornerbacks will always get beat, and I expect Mitchell to have a few rough games, but I feel good about the Eagles’ first-round78 pick.

5-man/6-man fronts

The Eagles’ run defense has sucked this year. But the Eagles’ run defense has been really good when they use 5-man or 6-man fronts—the numbers back this up, too.

I understand the concern with pass coverage when playing a 5-man front, but there are ways you can get around this. You can drop an EDGE if necessary. You can just rush 5 and play fire zone coverage behind it. You can bring C.J. Gardner Johnson down as a nickel cornerback. You don’t have to play a 4-man front against 11 personnel.

If I’m looking at the positives from this season so far, it should not be hard for Fangio to improve the run defense. The answer is staring him in the face! It doesn’t require a huge amount of projection because we have seen the Eagles succeed with these heavy fronts this season. The Eagles personnel is better suited to playing with 5-man fronts. Jordan Davis is better as a straight-up nose tackle. I hope the Fangio is looking closely at his run fits and has seen the Eagles’ success this year when using these 5-man fronts.

What I would like to see

Improved run fits

OK, so I’ve already spoken about the need for more 5-man fronts. But some of the Eagles’ issues in run defense are not just about playing a 4 or 5-man front. The Eagles run fits have been really poor through two weeks and I’ve spotted two major issues.

Firstly, the Eagles have this bizarre focus on slanting their defensive tackles this year. It’s so aggressive, and when they slant the opposite way of the run, it leads to disastrous results. I would love someone in a press conference to ask Fangio what the plan is when he does this. I give coaches the benefit of the doubt a lot because they know a hell of a lot more than me. But I cannot understand how the benefit of slanting your defensive lineman outweighs the risk.

Secondly, the Eagles have frequently had a big gap between their defensive tackle and EDGE defender. You can see it in the clip above clearly. I think the EDGE defenders have been too widely positioned all season. I don’t think Josh Sweat or Bryce Huff are good run defenders, but placing them wide makes it even harder for them. It’s even worse when the defensive tackle (in the image below it’s BG) slants inside.

Personally, I would play a lot more Nolan Smith and Brandon Graham on early downs, and I would also stop playing the EDGE defenders so wide in order to make it easier for the defense to fit the run.

More split-safety zone coverage

I hate the Eagles’ single-high coverage. Opposing offenses have repeatedly shredded the Eagles when playing cover 3. It has been a disaster, repeatedly leading to poor matchups and miscommunication amongst the defensive backs.

I want to see the Eagles go back to an old-school Vic Fangio defense. It’s gotten so bad that I long for the days of the Eagles’ defensive communication under Jonathan Gannon. At least that Eagles’ defense could play quarters coverage repeatedly, and they were fantastic at distributing routes. This Eagles’ defense looks like it’s never played together at times. They don’t pass off routes well.

I want the Eagles to get back to basics and focus on playing a lot more quarters (quads/cover 4 – whatever you want to call it), as well as some cover 6 and cover 8. I’m a little sick of the single-high stuff because it hasn’t worked at all this year.

I wondered if I was being a bit too critical, so after this rant, I looked up the numbers. The numbers back me up. The Eagles have 67 snaps of MOFC coverage (single-high), which is the 18th most in the league, and they rank 27th in success rate. Conversely, they have played 53 snaps of MOFO coverage (split-safety) and rank 13th in success rate.

Oh, and the Eagles currently rank 32nd in success rate when playing man coverage and 11th when playing zone.

More aggressive coverage

People seem to think that playing more split-safety coverage means you have to be passive. You do not. If anything, having two deep safeties should enable the outside corners to get more aggressive and closer to the receivers. You just can’t win like this.

My podcast co-host Shane Haff tweeted these stats, and they have blown my mind. This is genuinely mental. How can you be this passive on defense? And the Eagles still give up explosive plays anyway!

You don’t have to play aggressive press coverage on every single snap, but you do at least need to challenge receivers. You can’t allow them to have a free release every time. I was disappointed by Vic Fangio’s answer when questioned by the media on this topic because he essentially blamed the players for their alignment. That’s nonsense. If you want your corners to be more aggressive, then tell them!

The good news for the Eagles’ defense is that many of the changes I am calling for are not radical and do not require a complete system overhaul. They require simple tweaks that should not be too hard to do. I might be in the minority, but I believe this Eagles’ defense has enough talent to be at least an average defense. It is now up to the coaching staff and Vic Fangio to create the situation for them to excel.

Thank you for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment below and ask any questions. If you enjoyed this piece, you can find more of my work and podcast here. We had BLG on this week and discussed a number of the topics in this article.