McDermott's dilemma: To blitz or not to blitz?
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McDermott's dilemma: To blitz or not to blitz?
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
When the Eagles lost to the Cowboys earlier this season at the Linc, Sean McDermott tried to blitz Tony Romo.
And Romo burned him.
When the Eagles lost to the Cowboys on Sunday, McDermott tried to rely on his front four for pressure and disguise his blitzes by dropping linemen back into coverage.
But that didn't work either.
So McDermott's job from now until Saturday night at 8 p.m. is to figure out a new and different method for getting to Romo.
To that end, we take a closer look at the Eagles' blitz schemes from Sunday and guess where they go from here.
By my count, Romo dropped back 38 times. On 29 of those plays, the Eagles did not blitz, and Romo had a lot of success, completing 20 of 27 passes for 264 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
On the other nine plays, the Eagles did blitz, and Romo went 3-for-7 for 42 yards.
So the Eagles blitzed on 23 percent of the snaps where Romo dropped back. You can check out the blitz numbers from the first meeting against the Cowboys here. The Eagles blitzed Romo on nearly 70 percent of the passing plays that day, and he completed 16 of 23 passes for 234 yards.
Some notes on the Eagles' blitzes Sunday:
* On five of the nine blitzes, the Eagles dropped at least one lineman into coverage. This happened on three of four first-half blitzes. Only once in the first half did the Eagles send more than five defenders after Romo.
* The Eagles blitzed seven different combinations:
Will Witherspoon and Tracy White
Witherspoon and Macho Harris
Witherspoon and Moise Fokou
Witherspoon, Akeem Jordan and Harris
Jeremiah Trotter
Witherspoon, Fokou and Harris
Witherspoon and Trotter
And here's the player-by-player breakdown of how often each guy blitzed:
Witherspoon (8)
Harris (4)
Fokou (3)
Trotter (2)
White (1)
Jordan (1)
It's no surprise that Witherspoon was their most frequent blitzer. That's really been the case all season. Note that Harris is the only DB who blitzed. We did not see Joselio Hanson blitz from the slot, which had been happening quite frequently. And we did not see Quintin Mikell blitz at all either.
* The Eagles most often sent five guys (four times) after Romo wen they blitzed. They sent six guys three times, seven guys once and four guys once.
* Three of Romo's four incompletions when the Eagles blitzed were deep throws (20 yards or more) down the field. The other was an incompletion on a slant that went right through the hands of tight end Martellus Bennett.
So what's the point of breaking all this down?
To show that the question is not as simple as: To blitz or not to blitz?
The question is more: How can McDermott confuse Romo?
Because in two games, it's been as if Romo knows exactly what's coming. He's made read after read and throw after throw. The Cowboys have a big-play guy in Miles Austin and a serious matchup problem in Jason Witten. Patrick Crayton has given the Birds problems as well.
If McDermott blitzes continuously, there's a pretty good chance Romo will make big plays down the field. If McDermott holds back, there's a pretty good chance we'll see a repeat of last week's performance.
His task is to find the right mix, to choose the right spots. If the Eagles win this game, it's a safe bet that forcing Romo into tunrovers will be near the top of the list of reasons.
Of course, this only covers the Eagles' performance against Romo and the passing game. Later today, we'll take a look at defensive personnel groupings and how the Eagles might tweak their lineup to improve against the run.
Dallasrules...."elite"!!?? Yeah, sure....he's elite. That's why he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in games against Wash and GB.....give it a rest, man.....Romo is average at best. It won't matter after Sat. anyway....they're done for the year. Eagles by 10.— philly449- Jeremiah Trotter, the old man brought out of retirement??!! You gotta be kidding me, he can't cover a fly!! The next game he will be torched by Witten and Felix Jones!! I'm laughing so hard I'm about to fall off my chair, PLEASE!!!GO COWBOYS!!!!!— Ragdog
- just think if Buddy Ryan was the coach last week. Down 3 scores late, knowing you'll be facing them the following week, does anybody not think he would have bountied Romo and let a couple bit players get suspended?— theport
- The Eagles need to blitz because the front four just doesn't get sufficient pressure. Romo had all day last time. Make him throw under pressure.— p-diddy
- "Because in two games, it's been as if Romo knows exactly what's coming"... is there a mole in the club house? Patriots exactly knew with their spy recording what we were going to do.— Seed
- Remember: Romo made his name with big plays when avoiding pressure - like McNabb in his prime. He's since learned to take a sack rather than force a turnover. Good luck with the kitchen sink! If he picks up a max blitz, you'll be watching the tail lights of Austin or Crayton - or even this kid Ogletree - all the way to the endline. And if the Eagles get behind big early again, it's all over - again. So first McDermott has to do a better job of run defense to get Garrett calling slow-developing plays in long-yardage. Then zone blitzing to pick up draws or screens. And don't let Whitten get off the line clean. And let Roy Williams beat you if he can.— cowpoke
Comment removed.- You bird-heads dont get it do you, you are now dealing with an elite passer, in the top 5 of the NFL. This will be the game everybody looks at as his "coming out". Tony Romo, Jason Whitten, Miles Austin, a huge o-line, a three headed monster run attack, and thats just on offense and playing on the road in front of 106,000. You tweety birds sure have you work cut out for you. HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS!!!!!!— DallasRules
- mizzamillions. You can't rush 3 against Romo and gang and expect results, it was done last game and we all knew what happened. The way to beat Romo is "Simple" Get into his HEAD early with 300 pounds guys running to take you out. And that requires bringing the house and not just 3 rushers. That is what Eagles has done in the past that has been so effective. what i'm suprised though is how Sean McDermott backed away from that plan. I guess he's trying to create his own framework which we all know doesn't WORK.— Nagiee
- Defense needs to stay off the field, that means the Birds need to sustain Offensive drives and they need to score EARLY, if we get a few 3 and outs early we are DONE! Just sayin'...— DJ
- The defense need to change up the personel to take Romo of his game! I agreee we need to rattle him but I think we should rush 3 and and have more defenders in coverage to double team Witten and Austin and make Romo beat us with dump offs to the backs on those 3rd down situations! Also more bump and run on all of there pass catchers!— mizzamillions
- Whatever they do.....somebody please notify SM what the audible "Omaha" means!!! DRAW PLAY.....— philly449
- What ever happened to that 3-4 defense that they used against that 16-1 patriots team in 2007? Not sure if this is the right matchup but I remember it was pretty effective and we've never seen it since. They need to mix it up. Fokou needs to sit. By my account, he has taken terrible penalties (15 yds a pop) in all but 1 game he played. I mean is he that much better than Gocong? He may be good in the future but he's a risk now.— sore richard
- greekeagle....agreed, send pressure and hit Romo as much as possible....even if he gets a completion. Like Dierte said, if he's standing back there comfortably, he'll relax and pick us apart. Better to hit him, hurry him or do whatever it takes to throw off his timing. Our guys can do it....they just need a fire lit under their ass_s!!! That's up to Sean M.....and maybe Sheldon Brown as well.— philly449
- Sean McDermott might be a smart guy but his defense scheme is as "STUPID" as it gets... No disguise, No adjustments No confusion. I don't how you not do that considering Eagles has always been known as the best "creative blitzer" team in the NFL right now Well i guess he's showing the sign of a rookie... Let's hope AR wakes him up and demand he gets back to Eagles defense culture— Nagiee
- Sean McDermott is a smart guy but those blitz's were predictable. Romo knew were to look and the Cowboys line knew all the angles. How about some cornerback blitz's, one-side overload, 3-4 defense, zone blitz's, and some bump-and-run coverage. The blitzing up the middle worked at the beginning of the year, but teams have adjusted. The Eagles Defense needs something new.— Tom98786
- good article since Ive been complaining of the lack of blitzes for a while. Just need to disquise some of the blitzes better. I still think Romo can be more confused than say trying to blitz Brees who will make you pay. Romo can get flustered, and we have to create that at least a little bit, then the pressure mounts. That team needs this win for the career of Romo and Phillips more, so I cant wait to see them choke yet again.— peteike
- For the Eagles to win, they need to put pressure on Romo, put enough pressure and he will make mistakes, like interceptions, etc. They did this early in his career. Also, they need to smack him around a bit, as well. In last weeks game, with a little over 2 minutes to play, he went back to pass and fell, and the Eagle defender just touched him to kill the play. This was not a slide where he was giving himself up, so he should be considered "not down by contact" and the Eagle defender had a "free shot" at him and should have rammed him good. Several years ago in the Championship game with Carolina, this happened to McNabb and he was injured and the ref said he tripped over his own man. If they get the chance, they need to ring his bell (legally of course) so that he hears footsteps or is looking for someone.— TheGuyfromPhilly
- So far, it seems like Romo is in the defensive huddle. He seems to have the right play called for each blitz. The Eagles must find a way to better disguise what they're going to do, or it's going to be a long day.— bw19121
- also, a scared or battered qb will not be making accurate throws as the game progresses. Any D player will tell you the "sweet" spots to attack a qb, his elbows and shoulders predominatly need to be hit early and often, as they are the most pivotal part of his arsenal. a good hand hit wont hurt a D either.— greekeagle
- In my humble opinion, send the dogs early and often, knock Romo down regardless and rely on our secondary to do its job with less gambling and more fundamentals. (Asante) Keep in mind, when viewing this game on TV its very very slow due to camera angles, when a 320 lb. lineman hits a QB, it hurts....every single time.— greekeagle
- Blitz for the Eagles means pressure on the quarterback. If you need to blitz the kitchen sink so be it. The Eagles cornerbacks have a much better chance of coverage when Romo has to pass quickly. Also, the Eagles need to blitz in a way that gives them a better chance to stop the run. The Eagles need to be aggressive all over the field. Yes, they will give up big plays, but the Eagles have the cornerbacks that will make big plays. And, the Eagles offense needs to get on the field, the passive defense played by the Eagles in the first half of the last game didn't allow the offense back on the field. The Eagles offense needs to be on the field to get back into sync.— Reinholds
- Comment removed.
- finally a pretty goood article... i agree with mungman. it is sooo much easier to play defense with the lead. dallas showed us that last week— GetMeToThePlateBoys
- Keep the Cows under 100 yard rushing and they will loose. Hardcore fact. Eagles offense will get enough time to be on the field.... 9 min in first HALF and 10 min in second HALF will kill us again if we can not stop their run game.— Seed
- "for the future, the team needs to find defensive players who excel against the run and pass." Easier said than done, boglke.— tampaPhillyfan
- Sounds like Hanson should be blitzing this week. He was effective in other games.— P Even
- HEY: First, the Eagles have to show up ready to play. Get the early lead and then force the cowboys to play catch up. Much easier to play defense when you have the lead.— mungman
- Comment removed.
- I really think the Eagles need to blitz Romo and try to confuse him. It doesn't mean send the kitchen sink. Secondly, for the future, the team needs to find defensive players who excel against the run and pass. This would cut down on the qb audibles at the line of scrimmage.— boglke
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