Babin glad 'Wide 9' is staying
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Babin glad 'Wide 9' is staying
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
Nobody is more relieved than Jason Babin that the Eagles are staying with the “Wide nine” alignment, and with their coaching structure from last season.
Babin tied for second in the NFL in sacks, with 18. He made the Pro Bowl for the second year in a row. He also seems to be the definition of a “system” player – Babin bounced around the NFL for six seasons after being drafted in the first round by Houston, before Jim Washburn put him in the Wide 9 for Tennessee in 2010. After defensive line coach Washburn moved to the Eagles last offseason, Babin signed here for five years and more than $27 million.
“The sooner we got some clarity on those situations, the sooner we could move forward,” Babin said today during a photo shoot at a Pitman, N.J., gym on behalf of a nutritional supplement company through which he hopes to market a protein bar.
Washburn indicated at the Senior Bowl a few weeks back that he was hugely frustrated to see his Wide Nine blamed for much of the Eagles’ defensive struggles in 2011. Babin is just as weary of jousting with reporters and fans, after the Birds tied for the NFL lead in sacks with 50, but somehow still managed to rank 30th in red zone defense, and 24th in touchdown passes allowed.
“When something isn’t working, and you have a new component, what’s the first thing people look at? The new component,” Babin said. “It’s human nature. If we would have won, what’s the first thing (analysts) would have looked at? The Wide Nine.”
Read more from Babin in tomorrow's Daily News.
Comment removed.
Wow only one other comment, this article just isn't negative enough to draw attention to it.— realtruth- at the beginning of the season there were big holes up the middle in the wide 9. towards the end of the season, they seemed to tighten up the spread and they started giving up less yardage (dixon helped as well). Without linebackers, I think they are going to struggle to defend the run up the middle when you spread the field in the wide 9. it leaves the middle very exposed and if you don't have two great tackles and a good middle linebacker you are going to give up yards and prop up sack totals. that's what happened last year. I never thought I'd say a guy that got 18 sacks in a season didn't play that well, but that's my feeling on babin. when you tell your opponent that you are going to go 9 on 11 if they decide to run up the middle, i think teams are going to take advantage of that. it probably doesn't help that babin goes on radio shows and mouths off about only wanting sacks and not worrying about stopping the run. he did this last year at the mid-way point and it made me sick.— Ed Ryan
- hey Babin, tackle a running back, then run your mouth. until then....— chocolatethunder
- does anyone else find it hilarious how much the Eagles players run their mouths in the off season after such a pathetic season?— chocolatethunder
- Of course Babin wants the wide 9 to stay. The only way he makes a tackle is running into the quarterback. Occasionally, however, you have to mix in a tackle of a running back...— Wiseman6
