Skip to content
Eagles
Link copied to clipboard

Schwartz building 'attack defense' for Eagles

Jim Schwartz inherited a defense that finished at or near the bottom of the league in almost every pertinent defensive category last season.

It has nowhere to go but up. Schwartz, who was handed the keys to the Eagles' defense by new head coach Doug Pederson, has installed a new scheme. Some new, and presumably better, players have been brought in. But it's far too early for the team's new defensive lieutenant to draw any conclusions about his unit.

"We haven't put pads on yet,'' Schwartz said Tuesday. "And let's be honest, football is played with pads. You can have a guy in the right position and look good out here. But if he can't make the tackle, it doesn't mean anything.

"That's the stuff that will be determined in the next six weeks. That's the stuff that training camp is about.''

Schwartz spent about 15 minutes after Tuesday's practice answering questions about his defense and its personnel. Some of the highlights:

What kind of defense do you want to be?

"We want to be an attack defense. We want to put pressure on the quarterback.''

Why did you gravitate to a Wide 9?

"A lot of times, it just fits the personnel that we have. We've done it with a little different flavor each stop along the way.

"It looked a little bit different with Jevon Kearse and Kevin Carter [as the wide-9 ends] when I was in Tennessee. And it looked a little bit different with Kyle Vanden Bosch and Antwan Odom when we got to Detroit. It looked a little different with Cliff Avril. It looked a little different with Ziggy Ansah.

"At Buffalo [in 2014], it looked a little different with Mario Williams and a guy like Jerry Hughes. All of those guys have different skill sets. It's all about trying to put them in a position that they can execute the scheme.

"There's a lot of difference between what we're doing right now, what we did in Buffalo and what we did in Tennessee and Detroit.''

How open is the cornerback competition?

"We try not to go in with any prejudice toward anybody, whether it's an undrafted free agent or a 10-year vet. It's going to be fun to watch the corners compete.

"We have some guys who can cover. We have some guys who are going to have a great opportunity here. If they'll get up and they'll challenge receivers .. . like I've said before, you can't cover many receivers if you're not willing to challenge guys.

"This is the God's honest truth. I could play the deep ball. I'd get ... 50 yards deep and you couldn't get one over the top of me. But I couldn't cover anything else. So there's a fine line in there. The fine line is you obviously have to play the deep ball in this league. But if that's the only thing you're worried about, you're not going to cover anybody.

"With the blend of veteran players that we have, guys like Nolan Carroll and Leodis McKelvin and rookies like Jalen [Mills], who's done a nice job, Ron Brooks is going to have an opportunity.

"You have guys coming off injury like Shep [JaCorey Shepherd]. It's going to be fun watching those guys. If they show the ability to cover and they show that they will challenge guys, we'll find use for all of them.''

Do the linebackers in your scheme have to deal with more blockers than in, say, a two-gap scheme like the Eagles played last year?

"[The team scheme] is a lot different than two-gap. When you're playing two-gap, you're generally building a wall along the front and the linebackers are generally shuffling laterally more because your defensive linemen are going laterally.

"When you play an attack front, the linebackers have to go downhill. They have to plug those holes. We're probably more; we attack in levels.

"If we're going to play attack up front, the linebackers have to be tied in and the safeties have to be tied in. There's techniques within that where they have to be able to play off the guys in front of them. And when they see a hole, they need to step up and fill. Because if you don't, if you're lateral, you can create some gaps in there.

"So if our linebackers are playing well, if our safeties are filling well, you're going to see those guys attacking downhill rather than waiting and catching blocks.''

How good can Fletcher Cox be in your defense?

"His eye should be on improving every day. He fits our scheme. We'll have some things for him that will fit him well. He's a tough matchup. Tough matchup vs. guards. Tough matchup vs. some tackles.

"I like some of the stuff they did with him here last year, moving him around a little bit. They're going to know what number he wears, but sometimes it's hard to find him. It's our job to create some matchups for him.

"He's very skilled. Good run player. Great hands. He was drafted for a scheme similar to this. It will be good to get him back to that and really see what he can do. We expect great things from him.''