Man Up: What went wrong with the Eagles' D?
Here's a player-by-player look at how the Eagles' defense performed in the team's 35-32 win over the Lions on Sunday.
Man Up: What went wrong with the Eagles' D?
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Here's a player-by-player look at how the Eagles' defense performed in the team's 35-32 win over the Lions on Sunday.
Brandon Graham- Graham was more active than Week 1, picking up the first sack of his career, but he looked vulnerable at times against the run. Graham played outside on about 69 percent of their snaps as the Eagles stuck with their base defense more than they did against the Packers. Graham's sack came from the inside. As a pass-rusher, he also got a good hit on Shaun Hill during the final minutes of the first half. Like the rest of the D-line, Graham got pushed around at times against the run. A big hole opened up between him and Mike Patterson on a 5-yard Maurice Morris run. Graham was blocked pretty soundly by a tight end on a 13-yard Jahvid Best run, which went to his side. He was also blocked on a 5-yard Aaron Brown run and was caught upfield on a 7-yard Brown run. On a positive note, Graham got in the backfield, helping to force a 3-yard Best loss in the third. And he showed good hustle, coming from the opposite side of the field to bring Best down on a screen pass. He left the game in the second half with a right shoulder injury.
Mike Patterson- It's rare to see him get manhandled the way he did on the Lions' six-play, 76-yard touchdown drive in the first that was all running plays. Patterson was blocked on several runs, including a 13-yard scamper by Best and the 14-yard touchdown run. The Lions' interior linemen really controlled him on that drive. Patterson was better in the second half, combining with Gaither to drop Best for a 3-yard loss in the third and stopping Morris after a gain of 2.
Brodrick Bunkley- Sean McDermott rotated Antonio Dixon in quite a bit for him. Bunkley played 28 of 72 snaps (39 percent). The 33-yard Best run was to his side. Bunkley did a good job on a Best run in the second, stopping him for no gain, but didn't really stand out overall after his impressive Week 1 performance.
Trent Cole- As usual, he was the Eagles' best defensive player. Cole didn't have a sack, but he caused havoc, specifically on third down. On 3rd-and-14, with the Lions backed up near their own goal line, he got good pressure on Hill. On 3rd-and-7 in the second, Cole batted a ball down at the line of scrimmage. And on 3rd-and-11 in the third, he knocked Hill down, forcing an incompletion. Against the run, he got caught inside on a 33-yard Best run to his side, but other than that, was very good. Cole dropped Best for a 1-yard loss in the second. During the series where the Eagles stopped the Lions on 3rd-and-1 and 4th-and-1, Cole played a critical role. On the 2nd-and-2 play, he stopped Brown after a gain of 1. And it looked like he got his hands on Brown on the third-down play. Cole was once again asked to drop back into coverage more than any other lineman - four times.
Antwan Barnes- He was on the field at left defensive end for one-third of the Eagles' defensive snaps. Barnes got good pressure on a couple plays - one being the play where Hill escaped and flipped it to Best for a big gain in the first - but was otherwise quiet.
Trevor Laws- Laws played over half the snaps as an inside pass rusher. He got good push on a couple plays, nearly coming up with a sack at Hill's feet on a third down in the second. Overall, though, not a consistent factor.
Juqua Parker- He played 32 of 72 snaps and was once again a factor, picking up his team-leading third sack of the season. Parker's pressure from the left defensive end position forced Hill to step up on the play where Graham picked up a sack. McDermott used him in some different ways against Detroit. Parker lined up at right defensive end at times, spelling Cole. He slammed Hill to the ground on an incompletion from that spot in the third. His sack and forced fumble came from rushing inside.
Antonio Dixon - He played more than he did in Week 1, but didn't have much of an impact. Dixon was blocked at right defensive tackle on one of Best's touchdown runs. Interesting to note though that McDermott had him on the field on the final Lions' drive with the game on the line.
Ernie Sims- Ups and downs for Sims. Let's start with the good. He got a hit in on Nate Burleson on the Lions' first offensive play of the game. Sims came on a blitz in the first, hitting Hill, but not before he flipped the ball to Best for a 19-yard gain and a first down. Sims brought Hill down after he scrambled for a short gain on a third down in the second. And he came on a blitz on the Hobbs interception. Now, the bad. He was blocked and taken out of the play on a 33-yard Best run. Sims failed to make a play on a 14-yard Best run. And he really struggled in coverage down the stretch. Sims was beat on completions of 21, 17 and 12 yards to Best - all in the fourth quarter, as the Lions staged a frantic comeback attempt. Of Hill's 335 yards passing, 277 were to running backs or tight ends.
Omar Gaither- His stat line is a classic case of the numbers not telling the story. Gaither had a game-high 11 tackles. However, eight of those 11 came after completed passes. Gaither was pushed around on the 76-yard touchdown drive that was all runs. He was blocked on a 10-yard Best run and a 13-yard Best run. Gaither was nowhere near the ball on the 33-yard Best run and did not look good on the Brown 7-yard carry. Once the guard got his hands on Gaither, he looked like he was running in quicksand on the Best 14-yard touchodwn. In the second half, Best ran right by him on the 75-yard screen play. Gaither did have some good moments. He combined with Patterson to drop Best for a 3-yard loss in the second. And he stopped Best for a 2-yard loss on a screen in the fourth. In coverage, Gaither was beat on a 19-yard toss to tight end Brandon Pettigrew. And he looked extremely slow (or winded) on a 35-yard throw to Pettigrew in the fourth. When the Lions mounted their comeback, they took advantage of matchups in coverage with Gaither and Sims.
Akeem Jordan- Not used to seeing such quiet games from Jordan. He was nowhere to be found in the run game, getting blocked on several plays, including the 14-yard Best touchdown run. He only caught my eye with a positive play once, when Jordan ran Best out of bounds after a gain of 1 in the second.
Moise Fokou - If you blinked, you missed him. Fokou came in for one play when Sims appeared to have an equipment problem. Just want to make sure you know I actually do re-watch every snap!
Asante Samuel- It's a tired story by now, but Samuel gave zero effort on the 75-yard touchdown pass to Best on the screen. If you have a chance to re-watch it, take a look. He barely pushes Calvin Johnson, who was blocking him and then jogs casually a few yards as the rest of his teammates sprinted after Best. In coverage, Samuel was good, and for the second week in a row, the opposing quarterback hasn't thrown at him much. Samuel was beat by Johnson on an 18-yard gain in the fourth and played way off him on the 2-point conversion.
Ellis Hobbs- Good game by Hobbs. He made a nice play in run support, dropping Best for no gain in the first. And Hobbs came up with an interception in the third. The Lions completed just six passes for 58 yards to their wide receivers.
Joselio Hanson- Hanson broke up the final pass of the game, securing the win for the Eagles. He blitzed from the slot twice - both on third downs. And he had good coverage on Pettigrew in the third. It looked like Hanson slipped on the 75-yard screen play to Best. He played a little more than half the snaps.
Dimitri Patterson- He came in as the sixth defensive back on a few snaps. On one, Patterson was called for defensive holding on a third down, extending the Lions' drive.
Quintin Mikell- He was a playmaker. Mikell leaped up with Johnson to break up what was almost a spectacular catch on a third down in the second. He also nearly had an interception over the middle on a throw intended for Pettigrew in the third. Mikell broke up a pass on the Lions' final drive too. It's hard to tell whether the Johnson TD in the fourth was his fault. Against the run, he dropped Best for a 4-yard loss in the second. On the 75-yard Best screen, Mikell could not get off Pettigrew's block.
Nate Allen- Two interceptions in his first two starts? I think the Eagles will take that. Good things happen when Allen blitzes. He was coming after Hill on the Hobbs interception.
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Let's see how the defense responds when Bradley is back next week. Against Green Bay, it was the tale of 2 defenses. When he was in they looked good, out they looked real bad. I find it hard to believe that one player can have that much impact, but they just can't seem to stop the running game when he's out.— Vote for Dickie- This unit is very frustrating at this point. They play some great football and some really ugly football. Is it coaching? Youth? Lack of talent and/or depth? Tough to make that call. I got a sneeking feeling that McDermott has got too many guys moving in and out and nobody is getting into the flow of the game. Bunkley 38% of the snaps??? Now that is a question I would ask McDermott about.— craig123
Comment removed.- Ernie Sims is average.
- What's wrong with the defense? Hmmmm? Let's see: The DTs are invisible most of the game. THe toughness of this D seems to revolve around one guy, who is oft injured. Where we once had three tough CBs, now we have 1 good CB. Mikell seems to have been carried by Dawk. He now looks more like an undrafted player. They keep bringing in these 'pass specialists' on 3rd down (Clemons/Barnes) who can't apply pressure. And McDermott doesn't have the experience/knowledge to slow down teams, once they get rolling on us - we always give up TDs now. At least Allen and Graham are players, but of course, they decide to put their rookie pass rusher, who they have been searching forever, as a DT. Brilliant!— AllDawk_AllTheTime
- It's hard to tell if Mikell wasn't "at fault" on Johnson's TD catch??????? Dude made a critical mistake on that. It was easy to see and frustrating as heck. I'm not impressed with him, McDermott or this defense.
- Kevin Kolb had a better game against the Kansas City Chiefs.. Kolb threw for nearly 400 yards and two touchdowns and Kolb led the Eagles to a 34-14 win..but some morons here said that didn't count because the Chiefs were a lousy team...now those same morons are saying Vick was great becasue he beat the 2-14 AWFUL Lions...let's have a parade HA HA HA.
— Bill20 - Surprising to me that the front 7 who I was feeling pretty good about was pushed around while the DBs that I worry about did a pretty solid job. But, not as surprising as Vick having the best QB ranking in NFC East after two games. I didn't see getting to 1-1 this way.
- I knew the defense was better with Bradley in there, but it's hard to believe just how much worse they are when he's gone. The health of Bradley will dictate how the season goes for this defense, just like last year.— nosupportgroup
- I knew the defense was better with Bradley in there, but it's hard to believe just how much worse they are when he's gone. The health of Bradley will dictate how the season goes for this defense, just like last year.— nosupportgroup
- I attended the game, and the most obvious challenge was our run defense. We need Bradley back; without him we lack a physical presence and our linebackers seem to get manhandled. Having said that, we need our line to do a better job as well, as some huge holes were opening up. It is a team game, and a number of Eagles (Gaither, Patterson, even Samuel) could not get their indivdual jobs done consistently.— JohnFC
- What happened to the defense? Who ever said this defense was any good? Why is it assumed that an Eagled defense will always be a good defense. They haven't been good for a few seasons now. People are stuck in the NFC championship days with Jim Johnson and Dawkins, and Douglas, etc. Its been a good while guys. This current defense has been mediocre at its best for a few years now. I know D-tackles are supposed to run up sacks, but dont you think you'd hear the names of Bunkley and Patterson just once in a while in 4 years? The run defense stinks and has for a while. What exactly do these guys do again?— Sewellmatt
Sheil, nice play-by-player report. @DooDoo or Aristotle, whoever you are this week: off topic. ZAP! @Bill20, I'm guessing you cut/pasted your comment from another column, just to be seen? We're discussing Defense here. @SJDevil-agreed, now we see why the Lions let Sims go AND the exposed his weaknesses.- Sheil: Thank you for actual game and player analysis, instead of blind Vick hate, like your buddies on the NO CREDIBILITY/FRAUD SPORTSWRITERS LIST: Les Bowen, Howard Eskin, Paul Domowitch, RICH HOFFMAN, ANTHONY GARGANO and GLEN MACNOW, lonewolf, and John Gonzolez, who would rather see Kolb fail than Vick succeed.— brmorgen81
- Yeah, Bunkley only 38% of the time is ridiculous. He's good against the run, leave him in!— p-diddy
- This column is very well put together
Sheil..good eye.— cakes77 - Sewellmatt: Um, Dawkins and Jim Johnson were the season before last, when they were in the NFC Championship. That's 2 seasons ago.— p-diddy
- Ernie Sims, seems that he left his best moves at Lehigh hitting his own teammates. Expected better from him and the whole defense.
- Good thing the rest of the NFC East D stinks— LA Mike
- @voteforDickey...the Packers had no trouble running the ball when Bradley was playing in week one. The defense is facing a long season— JSaq
- "I'm surprised that they did not give up more than 32 points without an air guitarist to keep the loose" - And trading Cliff Lee has definitely hurt the Eagles 'D' also.
— PhillyTru - Give me a break....what went wrong......no run stoppers, a weak secondary and a linebacking corps that is a joke without Bradley....Thanks Andy.....— nuggett
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Sean McDermott presides over what is currently the worst defemse in the NFL, last in point allowed and 25th in yardage. Of course he and a few sportswriters would say that you shouldn't count: 1)points scored when you're already ahead, 2) points scored when you're missing a key player 3)points when your defense is tired, 4) poiints when you're facing a backup QB, 5) points when you're D gets bad field position. So by those standards, the Eagles currently have an unscored upon best D in the league!— jimmyj - I think its safe to start Parker over Graham at this point. Let the rookie work his way up. Although starts dont matter much, more the # of snaps. Sims is average. I think our DBs look decent, prob more of a scheme problem than a player issue.— peteike
- To say that this defense is disappointing is to miss the obvious: Without Bradley, they gave up 32 points to the SECOND STRING QB of the still-bad Lions. Oh, and they were missing a starting receiver also. It was my thought that one or two upgrades in the off-season in the secondary would make us into a pretty good defense for 2011. Wrong again.— TBear
- The "D', as in downhill will never get better until the Sparrows realize that their 1st picks have been sad and that Mc D. will never come close to emulating the defensive days with his former boss.— humanist
They D always has been suspect, the only reason we realize this now is because Mcnabb is gone & Kolb is the starter. All the front office cares about is speed not size & power. Our Line Backers are bumbs except for bradley. Our D.Line is anorexic except for Cole & our Dbs can't even cover a bed. How could we not see this all these yrs....Oh yea Mcnabb was the QB- This is a different D without Bradley— dragoon6
- Send Kobb to the livestock pavillion and Dinky Sims to the next audition of Half Pint Brawlers— del ravio 100%
- With 3 and out Kold, this little defense of AR's will be worn out by week 6. 1-14-1. Now, with Michael, the other teams defense will be gassed by half. We want the best chance to win the SB now. Get it?— mccloudmj
- Three and out-Kold! That's too funny, McCloud. I passed gas and blew my Pepsi out my nose. Too funny!— ItalianSausage
The Eagles defense is a lot better with Bradley in. I don't know what it is, but they play alot better with him in. He is a monster.— ewsavage- Without Bradley, we're like the Colts sans Bob Sanders. One guy makes a HUGE difference.— NFreakinL
- Whats wrong with the D? I'll tell you what, I was just watching a clip of B-Dawk's game day entry, and I STILL get goosebumps. This D has no heart like that, never will again.— NFreakinL
- The problem with our defense is the coach. I hate to say it but the student is showing he wasn't paying close attention to his teacher. I sure do miss Jim Johnson— tucole
- bill20 biggest moron(yes that includes lone wolf) that posts on this site. Kolb would have been sacked 12 times easily sunday.— Iggles21
- Before Bradley teams ran at will up the middle. Bradley stopped that, especially inside the 20. That means our SS and S are not physical enough in the run game but is consistent with ARs philosophy that in the NFL you have to stop the pass, problem is we have too many holes in pass defense, including Samuel, Mikell, D. Patterson. Hobbs, Hanson, and Allen can defend passes LBs with the exception of Bradley and Sims stink. Get Chaney, Lindley, Colemman on the field. they can't be any worse. Also something you rarely saw under JJ, players making jestures at other players when the other team makes a big play. I think McDermutt is over his head big time. In short, defensive coaching, lack of toughness and smarts and not enough talent plagues the Eagles D, once our annual stronghold.— oldBird
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