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"If you find yourself messing up on a blitz," Eagles linebacker Chris Gocong was saying about the team's defensive coordinator after practice yesterday, "don't look his way."
The Eagles tell you now that's what happened in Dallas. A lot of mess-ups, a lot of wrong places, a lot of lost one-on-one battles. A lot of looking the other way. As the game progressed, they checked out of some blitzes, played tentatively at times in coverage. A bad day, you are told now, and one that Johnson vowed yesterday, "I'm not going to let happen again."
You believe him, too. You believe him because the other charming consistency of Johnson's 10 years as Andy Reid's right-brained man is how often and how quickly he does make things right, how weaknesses are quickly wiped away or converted into strengths.
Zero sacks against Dallas.
Nine sacks against Pittsburgh.
One week ago, big plays were a big concern around here. One week ago, sacks and pressure were, too. Johnson's preseason mantra of being a turnover-producing defense seemed more woof than bite, and the excitement over the speed of this defense had dissipated amid discussions that Brian Dawkins had slowed to a crawl.
And then came Sunday's 15-6 victory over Pittsburgh. Nine sacks, a safety, an interception. Dawkins? It was like he drank Slurpees nonstop from a fountain of youth he found between Dallas and here. A week after the Cowboys averaged 7 yards per play and converted six of 10 third downs, the Steelers averaged 3 yards a play and coverted just two of 13 third downs."I think this is the kind of defense we thought we were going to be all along," Johnson said.
The Eagles allowed three points in their first game against the woeful Rams. They allowed six against Pittsburgh. In between there was that shootout in Dallas, which takes us to this Sunday, Game 4 on a schedule that may have more tests than originally thought.
Chicago, we have been told repeatedly since Sunday night, could easily be 3-0 rather than 1-2. Since shocking Indianapolis in their opener, they have blown double-digit, second-half leads to Carolina and Tampa Bay.
Two things to ponder here. One is Bill Parcells' old saying, that you are what your record says you are. The Eagles were 2-4 after Brian Griese drove the Bears 97 yards to beat them in the final seconds last year. They could have easily have been 4-2 if not for colossal screw-ups. (See Greg Lewis.)
Turns out they finished right between the two, a .500 team at 8-8. That's the reality of the NFL. And so is this: Johnson's defense has proved supremely successful against newer, less experienced quarterbacks. Dallas' success 2 weeks ago could have been a rite of passage of sorts for Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.
In Kyle Orton, they have a Johnson kind of man. "He's made some big plays when they're in trouble, on third down," said Johnson, but assuredly he will test that mettle anytime he gets him in that spot this week. A 6-4 pocket passer, Orton will need to get rid of the ball the way Romo did, and not hold it as long as Ben Roethlisberger did. He does not have the experience of either.
"He went against some good defensive teams, especially Carolina and Tampa Bay," Johnson said. "And stayed in that pocket and made some key throws."
Quite true. The Bears also lost both games, and the offense stalled late both times. Johnson knows the real enemy this week is the same enemy from last week and the week before, and the week before that.
"You want to be aggressive," he said, "without being dumb."
He smiled like the friendly uncle. And then it went away, and the scientist spoke.
"It's like anything else," he said. "Once you have a blitz or a pressure defense, or whatever, and all of the sudden you give up a big play on that, you become nonaggressive. You have to have confidence in your players and your scheme that those guys can cover. They might get one play on us, but we're not going to pull back. That's what we try to say: 'Hey, they might get one, but
we're going to keep coming after them.' " *
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For recent columns, go to
http://go.philly.com/donnellon.
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