For Eagles' defense, it's a matter of trust

"We are not where we want to be. I'm asking you to trust me even though there are not the results. But the guys know through the daily work that the techniques, it will turn. It will turn. It hasn't turned yet. It's not where we want it to be. But we'll continue to put our heads down and work, and I really believe it will turn."

- Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis on Oct. 1

TRUST ME, Bill Davis asked - pleaded? - 3 1/2 weeks ago right after his defense gave up 472 yards, 35 first downs and 52 points to the Broncos.

Trust me.

But trust is earned, and with the exception of three pretty good quarters in the Eagles' season-opening, 33-27, win over the Redskins, Davis didn't have much in the bank to barter with.

Four games in, the Birds were 1-3 and Davis' unit was at, or near, the bottom of the league in just about every pertinent defensive category.

It was allowing 34.5 points per game and was on pace to give up the most yards in league history.

From all appearances, the defense had no dominant pass-rusher, no shutdown corner, no space-eating nose tackle, no play-making safety or inside linebacker. The Eagles' transition from a wide-nine 4-3 to a 2-gap 3-4 was starting to look like it might take longer than it took Michaelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Trust me? I think not, Bill.

But here we are just 3 weeks later, and, by God, it's actually starting to turn for Davis' defense.

It has put together three straight solid performances, including an impressive effort in Sunday's 17-3 loss to the Cowboys.

The Eagles held Dallas, which entered the game with the second highest scoring offense in the league, 13 points under their season average, and cooled off the Cowboys' red-hot quarterback, Tony Romo, intercepting him twice and holding him to season-lows in passer rating (69.2) and completion percentage (59.6).

In the Eagles' last three games, they have held opponents to 19.3 points per game. Yes, two of those foes have been the Bucs and the Giants, who are ranked 31st and 27th respectively in scoring. But the Cowboys weren't chopped liver.

The Eagles' opponent passer rating, which was 107.2 in the first four games, is 69.1 in the last three. They have held their last three opponents to 3.4 yards per carry.

"All of it is a growth that is happening," Davis said yesterday. "Knowing what the strengths and weaknesses of the individual players are now that we have almost half a season under our belt. So that's growing.

"More importantly, we as a staff see the players understanding the concepts of the coverage, the techniques within the coverage, and how they work with the concept. All of that is growing.

"We just got done doing the tape evaluation of the [Dallas] game with the coaches and players together. The biggest thing we came away with is we've got to make sure that individually, we're getting better on the little things, then collectively the defense gets better. Effort to the ball has to be there. Tackling has to be there.

"Our turnovers [12 takeaways, including eight interceptions] are in a good place. We've got to continue to take the ball away. Our third down was a little better [against Dallas, 31 percent]. We've had some struggles with that. So that's improving. The red zone [62.5 percent, 28th in the league] has to get better. The points per game are at 24 right now. That's not good enough. We've got to get that lower and play really good enough defense to win the game. And last week we did."

It's probably a little too soon to give Davis' defense one of those clever nicknames like the Purple People Eaters or Gang Green or the Steel Curtain. Yeah, it's definitely way too soon for that.

But the defense's performance against the Cowboys showed that Chip Kelly's offense may not have to score 30 points to win games this season. Certainly more than three, but not 30.

"The first half, we played awesome," said cornerback Brandon Boykin, whose unit held the Cowboys to three points and Romo to 11 completions in 23 attempts in the first 30 minutes. "The second half, we played pretty good. But we knew coming in that we could stop them. It just shows that our defense is maturing and getting better. "

Boykin and the Eagles' two outside corners, Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher, all are solid cover men, especially when the officials allow them to be physical, like they were against the Cowboys.

Nate Allen is starting to play like the safety the Eagles had envisioned when they drafted him 3 years ago, and rookie Earl Wolff, who has replaced injured Patrick Chung, is improving every week.

"Earl's getting better and better as we go," Davis said. "He's one of those guys who is working hard to keep his errors down, and his play is rising as a result."

Inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans is coming off of his best games of the season, one in which he was instrumental in helping hold the Cowboys to 2.8 yards per carry, had a sack and an interception, and repeatedly knocked Cowboys receivers off their routes when they tried to come across the middle of the field.

"DeMeco is our calming force out there," Davis said. "He sets the defense up. He makes decisions. He checks us in and out of defenses. He has a lot of leeway. He's really grown as the quarterback of our defense."

The pass rush still must get better. The Eagles only have 15 sacks and rank 27th in the league in sacks per pass play. Their three rush linebackers, Connor Barwin, Trent Cole and Brandon Graham, have combined for just four of those 15 sacks (three by Barwin, one by Graham).

Up front, the versatile six-man rotation that Davis and defensive line coach Jerry Azzinaro have been using has been very effective, particularly after the light finally went on for Fletcher Cox following the Denver game.

Davis' unit is fragile. There is very little depth at linebacker or in the secondary. If something happens to Williams or Fletcher or Allen or Barwin, Davis could find himself back to square one. But that's a problem for another day.

"I think [the Cowboys game] has given us confidence," Williams said. "I think it helped us a lot. To see our potential.

"It doesn't necessarily give us the big head. We understand it's a long season and we have some tough games coming up, including a big one this weekend [against the Giants].

"We can't continue to ride the high horse and think, 'Oh yeah, we just held a team that was scoring 30 points a game to 17. We have to understand that each week is different and that we have to continue to get better and continue to work on our fundamentals and techniques and continue to perfect those things."