Buddy's D, Kolb and Aikman
A closer look at Buddy Ryan's 46 defense, Kevin Kolb getting texts from Troy Aikman and the performance of the Eagles' offensive line in 2009.
Buddy's D, Kolb and Aikman
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden is out with a new book: Blood, Sweat and Chalk; The Ultimate Football Playbook; How the Great Coaches Built Today's Game.
One of the coaches Layden catches up with is Buddy Ryan.
SI.com has posted an excerpt about Ryan and the 46 defense on its Web site.
The 46 was a 4-3 defense, the base alignment Ryan liked best. But it was much more than a 4-3. The 46 was the first defense in modern football in which three interior linemen covered the center and two offensive guards, forcing the offensive linemen to block one-on-one and thus limiting their ability to move or help elsewhere. (Customarily, in a 4-3 defense, the center is uncovered and free to assist in double-team blocks or picking up blitzers. In a 3-4 defense, the defensive ends are usually lined up over the offensive tackles, leaving the guards uncovered.)
Layden also takes a look at Ryan's legacy.
History will hold that Ryan was a genius -- in that generous way the noun is applied to coaches -- both as a motivator and strategist. It will less likely declare him a thoughtful, engaged, defensive scientist who loved nothing more than to doodle formations on a chalkboard, an inveterate tinkerer. But that indeed was Buddy Ryan. Some of those chalkboard creations were modest, variants on the standard; others were outlandish.
AIKMAN AND KOLB
Kevin Kolb has talked about reaching out to quarterbacks like Drew Brees for advice as he prepares for his first season as a starting quarterback.
One former QB who he's been in touch with is Troy Aikman.
"I was just watching some film of him a few days ago," Kolb told ESPN.com's Matt Mosley. "His timing and accuracy was amazing. I just sat there in awe of how the ball always arrived on time. I know he's in the Hall of Fame, but quite honestly, I don't think he gets enough credit for how good he was."
THE EAGLES' O-LINE
Our Q&A with Bill Barnwell of Football Outsiders continues.
How did you evaluate Eagles tackles Winston Justice and Jason Peters - both in the pass game and the run game? Who were the Eagles’ best and worst offensive linemen?
A: Well, you can't analyze offensive linemen on a one-by-one basis. OL play is so intertwined with the players surrounding the lineman in question that judging the individual performance of a player on any given play is impossibly naive. We track some stats for offensive linemen, but they're events - things like blown blocks that directly lead to sacks, as opposed to ratings or overall performance metrics.
With that in mind, I don't think you can really say a lot about Peters' season. He struggled to stay fit, allowed six sacks - among the league leaders at left tackle - and led the team with 11 penalties for 178 yards. Ouch. Justice had three blown blocks that led to sacks, a much more palatable total.
Philly was actually best running at left tackle, where they were the third-best in the league by our Adjusted Line Yards metric. Some of the credit for that goes to Peters, but there's a lot of players that have something to do with that - blocking tight ends, pulling guards, centers, etc.
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I wonder if Kolb is watching Air Guitar film of Donovan McLindros?— Voytas- It does not make a difference if he calls Jonny Unitas, Klob will still be a dud!— lalaw9833
- Buddy coached what I believe was the best ever eagles team, the one that was robbed by an NFL hierarchy that despised him, why else would the Fog Bowl ever been allowed to go on ... that game as well as the league at the time was a sham. That game surely would not be played in those conditions today ... it all fell apart for Buddy and the team after that, beginning with the end for Jerome ...— AsValidAsYours
- I wish the Eagles would get back to 300lb. defensive ends. Sick of these puffed LBs playing end.— p-diddy
- Buddy built the best defense the team has ever had, period, no discussion needed. He also built one of the worst offenses this team has ever had. The O-Line was the worst in football and the QB was a dumb as a rock. Buddy thought if the offense could score twice a game that would be enough. It wasn't. Given more time I think Buddy would have won here, but when you insult the owner of the team in public time after time after time, you really can't expect a second chance. Buddy was an enjoyable coach to have around, a million laughts and the players loved him. He also seemed hell bent on self distruction.— craig123
- In a reasonable world Peters would have to play a really good season here before he got big money.— tacklinjoe
- Buddy was an excellent D-coach, head coach NO.— 4in5out7gone
- p-diddy I agree on the DE's even 285+ would be nice let's not forget the best version of the Eagles D (1991) was coach by Bud not Buddy, carson that is, he managed to tweak some things so the CB's were not burned nearly as often...if only Richie the K had a back-up QB who wasn't too young or a washed up Jet— SNEAKYPETE
- Buddy knew talent as well. Some of the best talent played on his D. He also knew how to pick LBs so that there was a good chance of stopping the run. Now we have 230 lb SAM & WILL linebackers, how will we stop the run?— 46 and 2
- Uh-oh, Kolb complimented Aikman. Booooo! Oh, what? It's okay for him to do so but if #5 did that, he'd be shown the door.— palmyra21
- Did Bill Barnwell just call you naive?
- I don't care if he IS from Texas, Kolb better stop talking about former Cowboys players as being anything but malodorous scum.— Bazalite
Comment removed.- about the fog bowl, quit whining about it. BOTH teams had to play in those conditions so it was not unfair. I am tired of hearing about how it was unfair. About Ryan as coach, Randall was far from dumb. The reason he failed is because we had no running back or o-line. No one appreciates how well Randall played in those conditions, running for his life half the time while still quarterbacking. And I hate to say this but how good was the Eagles D, really? I mean Baltimore's D carried them to a Super Bowl yet the Eagles D couldn't carry them past 1 playoff game. I love that team and the players: Reggie, Clyde, Jerome, Joyner, Allen, Wes and Andre...but were they that good that they won only 1 playoff game??— tremo12
- Maybe Peters can play tight end his natural position. Naw, we don't need any more tight ends. Between Buddy Ryan, Randall Cunningham, Dirty Waters and that defensive line football was totally enjoyable in philly in the early ninties. Buddy's pres conferences were heristical followed by quotes from Jerome Brown which were just as heristical. Great years, fun football and that team crushed Dallas every year.— JACK V
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