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Man Up: McDermott benches Patterson

Here's the player-by-player breakdown of the Eagles' defensive performance against the Vikings Tuesday night.

Here's the player-by-player breakdown of the Eagles' defensive performance against the Vikings Tuesday night.

And earlier Wednesday, I posted five things you should know about the Birds' playoff scenarios.

Note: The first three defensive plays did not record on my DVR, but I'm working on getting them. Notes on those plays, however, are not included here.

Juqua Parker- I'm guessing he had nightmares about Joe Webb last night. I counted four times where Parker had a chance to bring Webb down behind the line of scrimmage, but came up short. The Vikings ran play-action fake after play-action fake where Webb rolled to his right. Parker showed good discipline but just kept failing to bring Webb down. The most costly miss was on Webb's third-quarter touchdown run. Parker got him once, picking up his first sack since Week 10 by pushing Webb out of bounds in the third.

Mike Patterson- He played pretty well. Patterson stuffed a running lane in the first as JaMar Chaney brought Peterson down for a loss. Patterson combined with Darryl Tapp to stop Peterson after a gain of 1 in the second. And he stopped Peterson after a gain of 2 in the fourth. Only Trent Cole played more than him among defensive linemen.

Antonio Dixon- He basically split reps with Brodrick Bunkley and was pretty quiet. Dixon made a nice play to bring Peterson down after a gain of 3 in the second. He was called for an encroachment penalty in the second.

Brodrick Bunkley- He was on the field for about 45 percent of the snaps. Bunkley disrupted a Peterson run that resulted in a 1-yard loss in the fourth. And he tripped Webb up for a loss of 1 on the Vikings' final drive.

Trevor Laws- He left the game and then came back after suffering a shoulder injury and a chest injury. Laws played about 13 snaps and was quiet.

Jeff Owens- Rough go for Owens. The rookie was active for the first time all season and suffered a ruptured patella tendon. Owens only played a couple snaps while healthy and has now been placed on injured reserve.

Derrick Burgess- He was active for the first time and played four snaps by my count. Didn't notice Burgess get anywhere near the quarterback on those plays.

Darryl Tapp- He played a lot of left defensive end, rotating in with Parker. Tapp and Patterson combined to stop Peterson after a gain of 1 in the second. He stopped Peterson for a 4-yard loss from the right defensive end spot in the third and got good pressure on Webb on a rollout in the fourth. Tapp was blocked on an 18-yard Peterson run in the third.

Trent Cole- This is an example of stats not telling the story. Cole had his first sack since Week 12, but was very quiet overall. He was blocked on a play-action Webb run for 7 yards in the first. And Peterson cut back to his side on a 27-yard run in the fourth. Cole slipped on the play. Last week against the Giants, Cole did not have a sack but was very active and disruptive.

JaMar Chaney- Chaney made some plays, but looked like a rookie at times. He brought Peterson down after a loss of 1 in the first and hustled to bring Percy Harvin down from behind after an 8-yard completion. He did a nice job of turning his head around and breaking up a pass intended for tight end Visanthe Shiancoe on a third-down throw in the first. But it looked like Shiancoe was his responsibility on a 23-yard completion over the middle. Chaney had trouble catching up with Peterson on an 18-yard run in the third. And he was called for a neutral zone infraction in the red zone. On a key 3rd-and-11 play in the fourth, Joselio Hanson blitzed, and Harvin beat Chaney for 19 yards. Tough to expect him to win that matchup though.

Akeem Jordan- Remember him? Jordan saw his most significant playing time since being benched as the strong-side linebacker earlier this season. He played alongside Chaney in nickel situations and was on the field for about 12 snaps. He didn't do much.

Omar Gaither- Another surprise. Did you notice him on the field in goal-line situations? Gaither played three snaps.

Ernie Sims- Not a good showing for Sims. Harvin leveled him with a big block on a 3rd-and-2 completion that went for 11 yards in the first quarter. Sims was completely fooled on a 7-yard Webb run off play-action in the first. He missed a tackle on Peterson's 15-yard carry in the second. And Sims was blocked by the fullback on an 18-yard Peterson run in the third.

Moise Fokou- Quiet game for Fokou. The Eagles went with a formation that consisted of three down linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs at times. Fokou looked like his feet were stuck to the ground on Webb's third-quarter touchdown run.

Dimitri Patterson- Sean McDermott benched him after a disastrous series at the start of the third quarter. Patterson was beat by Harvin on a 46-yard completion; he was also called for pass interference on the play. Two plays later, he was whistled for unnecessary roughness after mixing it up with Harvin. We didn't see Patterson again as McDermott opted to go with Joselio Hanson at right cornerback instead. Earlier in the game, Patterson was beat by Harvin on completions of 12 and 17 yards. The cornerback situation has to be the biggest concern on this team going into the playoffs.

Joselio Hanson- He stepped in as the starter after Patterson was benched in the third and played relatively well. Hanson's wanted a shot to be the right corner since the Eagles traded Sheldon Brown away. He might get a chance to prove himself now.

Asante Samuel- Webb attacked him deep in the first, but Samuel broke up the pass intended for Sidney Rice. In the third, it was originally ruled that Rice caught a TD over him, but the play was overturned. I don't remember Webb throwing at Samuel other than those two occasions. Samuel was called for unnecessary roughness for his hit on Rice in the third. A fine is likely coming.

Trevard Lindley- After Patterson was benched, Lindley came in to play on the outside in nickel situations. He was on the field for five snaps.

Quintin Mikell- He had ups and downs. Mikell missed a couple tackles - one after a Harvin completion in the first and another on a Peterson 7-yard run. Mikell recovered a Peterson fumble in the second and stopped him after a 1-yard gain inside the 5 in the third.

Kurt Coleman- I thought he was excellent in run support. Coleman stopped Peterson after gains of 2 and 4 yards in the first. He might have saved a touchdown on Peterson's 18-yard run in the third. Coleman dropped Harvin for a 5-yard loss on a swing pass in the red zone in the third. There were two bad moments for him though. One was when he got caught inside in the fourth as Peterson bounced it outside for a 27-yard gain. And the second was when he got juked by Webb on the touchdown run.

Colt Anderson- Once again, the Eagles employed the 1-cornerback/3-safety personnel group with Anderson on the field. He played 12 snaps but didn't have an impact.

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