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Schwartz brutally honest about defense's horrible performance

Four days after Jim Schwartz's defense wet the bed against the Washington Redskins, reporters finally got an opportunity to talk to him Thursday morning.

To his credit, he didn't spare the rod.

"We were bad at all three levels,'' the Eagles defensive coordinator said. "No, let's make that four levels. We were bad at defensive line. We were bad at linebacker. We were bad in the secondary.

"And we were bad at the defensive coordinator position.''

He'll get no argument from me.

The Eagles gave up 493 total yards and 26 first downs to the Redskins. They were gashed for 230 rushing yards. They didn't have any sacks. They allowed the Redskins to convert 7 of 13 third-down opportunities.

Basically, just a godawful day at the office.

"It wasn't just one thing in that game,'' Schwartz said.  "Like, they ran a crack toss. One time, we were short on the blocks and it got our edge. The next time, they ran it and everybody overran it, overplaying for that, and the ball (carrier) cut back on us.

"We missed tackles on the back end. We didn't get off blocks on the front end. We were bad with leverage at times. There's a reason it looked so bad. It's because we were so bad.''

A week earlier, the defense had a poor first half against the Lions, but Schwartz made some halftime adjustments and the Eagles stonewalled the Lions in the second half. But not Sunday.

"It's my job to put the fires out,'' Schwartz said. "And to find something, when we're not having a great day, to be able to have a changeup somewhere. Unfortunately, my changeups didn't work either.

"Our four-man pass rush wasn't effective. We didn't have any sacks in the game. That isn't us. We've got to get pressure. Our front four has to carry us. We have good players up there, and they have to do it.

"When they're not having a good day, our blitz package has to be able to come through. And we weren't successful in that either.

"Third-down percentage means a lot for us. A couple of those drives, we had them backed up in a third down and 9. Did a good job in our coverage. Got leaky in our pass rush and (quarterback Kirk Cousins) scrambled for a first down.

"Those things keep drives alive. If we're playing at our best, we're rushing the quarterback. We're getting off the field on third down. And we had some opportunities to get off the field on third down.''

You would think Schwartz's defense doesn't have to worry about giving up 230 rushing yards Sunday against the Vikings. Minnesota is last in the league in rushing (70.6 yards per game) and yards per carry (2.5).

But the Vikings still run the ball a lot. They're averaging 28.8 rushing attempts per game, sixth most in the league.

"That's a defensive coach's mentality,'' Schwartz said, referring to Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer. "With him as head coach, they've stayed committed to it. It's opened up some tight end stuff in the passing game. It's also probably helped their defense out a little bit.

"But after watching us on film (against the Redskins), they're going to test us. I don't care if they're averaging one yard a rush. You watch what we did on film last week, they're in their gameplan right now saying, 'We're going to run it 65 times.' ''