Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Eagles credit innovative drill for improved secondary play

It's called the ladder drill, but there isn't any climbing involved. In fact, the point of Cory Undlin's drill for the Eagles' defensive backs is for them to keep their feet on the ground. They start out with each foot in the middle of two ladder squares laid out on the ground. Their feet should be spread shoulder-width and they should be in their stance for press coverage.

It's called the ladder drill, but there isn't any climbing involved.

In fact, the point of Cory Undlin's drill for the Eagles' defensive backs is for them to keep their feet on the ground. They start out with each foot in the middle of two ladder squares laid out on the ground. Their feet should be spread shoulder-width and they should be in their stance for press coverage.

When the drill starts, the defensive backs take lateral steps back and forth, back and forth. And that's it.

"All we work on doing is taking the lead step and the trail step, so when you move laterally your feet should still be in the middle of those boxes," safety Malcolm Jenkins said. "Literally, that's all we do. It seems like really elementary and kind of stupid sometimes."

But it's working, the Eagles said. It's a muscle-memory drill that is designed to keep the defensive backs, in particular the cornerbacks, from crossing their legs or bunching their feet when a receiver makes his initial move. And it allows them to either get their hands on the receiver or transition more easily when the route is run.

"We can feel when we transition onto the field, and we're in front of a guy in our first steps and our feet are still in the ground," Jenkins said. "That's all it takes is just being square long enough to where that release is now a little bit further left or right, or you can get your hands on him and you can get a bigger piece, and it throws off the timing of the offense."

Undlin brought the drill, among others, to the Eagles this year, his first as defensive backs coach. They have practiced it for months. And despite the tedium of the exercise, Jenkins and cornerbacks Nolan Carroll and Eric Rowe cited it as their favorite of Undlin's technique drills.

"For us, it's to get our feet to work independently," Carroll said. "It's getting our mind trained . . . so that when you're out on the field you're not really thinking about it."

The Eagles are only three games into the season, so the sample is small, but the pass defense has been notably better than it was the last two years. In particular, the Eagles have cut down on the "X" plays - over 20 yards - that crippled them in 2013 and '14.

And the number they've allowed has decreased each week. The Eagles gave up five 20-yard pass plays vs. the Falcons, three against the Cowboys, and only one last week at the Jets.

"I've seen improvement from Game 1 to Game 2 to Game 3, so we just need to continue," coach Chip Kelly said. "[The Jets] took a couple shots. Eric Rowe made a nice play on a breakup, and then Rowe had an interception. And they took a shot on Nolan, and I thought Nolan made a really nice play on the deep ball to Brandon Marshall."

Only eight other defenses have permitted a fewer percentage of "X" plays through the air. The Eagles have allowed only nine on 126 pass attempts (7.1 percent). Last season, they were last in the NFL at 12.2 percent (72 of 591). They were also last in the league in 40-yard pass plays at 3 percent (18 of 591).

Three of those 40-yarders came against the Redskins. DeSean Jackson burned the Eagles for an 81-yard touchdown in the first meeting and 55- and 51-yard catches in the second. Jackson has been ruled out for Sunday's game with a hamstring injury, but the damage he did partly led to a change in personnel and coaching.

Byron Maxwell was the centerpiece acquisition in the offseason. He has actually struggled more than anyone else in a starting secondary that also includes safety Walter Thurmond. But what he said he saw from the Eagles against Jackson last season was a group of players not on the same page.

"When guys are running free it's probably just people weren't communicating or not getting the call right between them," Maxwell said.

But communication doesn't matter if the players aren't there to make the plays. And they can't be in the proper position if their technique isn't sound. Linebacker DeMeco Ryans said the entire defense has more confidence as a result of the improvement in the secondary. There isn't as much of an ominous feeling when a ball is thrown deep.

It didn't seem as if the changes paid off in the opener. Maxwell let receiver Julio Jones get beyond him twice. Defensive coordinator Bill Davis' scheme will often leave outside cornerbacks in one-on-one situations. But technique, the Eagles said, was the reason Maxwell was beat and the reason for the two-game turnaround.

"I don't think our scheme has changed that much," Jenkins said. "A lot of times when people have challenged us down the field it's been with a single-high [safety]. You got pretty much one-on-one matchups, and guys have done a really good job at the line of scrimmage and then the field once the ball is in the air. Nobody is like panicking or leaning or locating the ball."

Undlin continues to add elements to the ladder drill. He'll add a receiver to defend, or he'll take the ladder away and place a bag behind the defensive back.

The receiver will "do a release and we have to stay lateral or step back and you trip over the bag," Jenkins said. "It makes you move your feet like you were in the ladder, but now you've got a guy in front of you, and you've got to stay parallel to the line of scrimmage."

Just don't try to climb the ladder. Or you'll fall.

jmclane@phillynews.com

@Jeff_McLane