The Chip Wagon

EXTRA! EXTRA! 'Read' All About It: Losing Contain

Last week we wrote about how the Eagles defense would get a big test against the Seahawks dynamic read-option. Billy Davis commented that the Eagles would be well prepared for the read-option given the number of college coaches on the staff who had seen it all and based on the fact that the Eagles defense faces that look every day in practice. We also talked about some of the keys to stopping the read option. 

As expected, the Seahawks brought their read-option attack with them to Philadelphia and while the Eagles defense did a good job for the most part, one big play stood out about the rest. 

Behind Enemy Lines- Defending the Read Option

Yesterday I covered one of the strengths of the Seattle Seahawks offense, the read-option. They have been running it better than anyone in the NFL this year thanks to the excellent mobility of Russell Wilson and the power running of Marshawn Lynch. Of course the Eagles are not strangers to the read-option. They train against it every day in practice however Kelly suggested in his press conference yesterday that they have no one to simulate what they will face against Wilson and Lynch. That being said, Billy Davis' defense has had a fair amount of experience against the read option in the last 2 seasons against the likes of RGIII, Terrelle Pryor, Cam Newton. By and large they have faired really well thanks to good discipline and game planning along with excellent play from the defensive line. Let's have a look. 

Finding a Pass Rush- A Follow-Up Post

Back in August, I posted some hypotheses on where exactly the Eagles might be able to find a pass rush in the 2014 season. Through most of the offseason, much of the discussion was around the absence of a premier edge rusher on the Eagles roster. Chip and Howie chose to address that position with our 1st round pick Marcus Smith but it has been pretty obvious that they were not expecting him to have an immediate impact nor replace Connor Barwin or Trent Cole at the outside linebacker position. 

In that post we spoke a lot about how Billy Davis tries to scheme pressure and most notably tries to put his pass rushers in the best position to make plays. Billy Davis likes to do this with various defensive line techniques to try and create one-on-one pass rushing opportunities. The Eagles defensive line personnel do not play clearly defined techniques. In one game, you might see Trent Cole at 9-technique, 7-technique, 5-technique, 3-technique, 1-technique and even 0 technique. This is not unique to Trent Cole. Everyone along the defensive line is playing different positions but Cole might be the one showing the most diversity. 

Scheming Pressure

In my opinion, the 2 biggest keys to 2014 defensive success depends on two things:

1) Billy Davis' ability to scheme pressure

2) The DLs ability to hold gaps and keep the LBs clean to make plays against the run

I talked about #1 a few weeks back and I have to say, following week 1, Billy Davis deserves as a passing grade for continuing to find ways to give his defensive players good playmaking opportunities. 

One thing we know for sure. The 2014 Eagles defense is not blessed with an elite pass rusher. We have some good pass rushers, but none of them will be mistaken for the dominant player that the offense has to build their gameplan around. The Eagles did not dramatically upgrade this position, and their one notable acquisition, 1st round pick Marcus Smith didn't even play a snap on Sunday. As a result, the big challenge for Billy Davis is to find creative ways to scheme defensive players into favorable positions to make plays in the pass game (We'll take a look at the run D a little later). Let's take a look at how he did this on Sunday vs. the Jaguars. 

Searching for a Pass Rush

I've been meaning to write this post for a long time, but am now glad I waited until after the first preseason game against the Bears last week as it gave me a few more plays to illustrate my point. 

Before getting to that, let me continue to make a plug for the 2014 edition of the Eagles Almanac that you can pre-order right now here. I was honored to be invited to provide a piece to this years Almanac after reading it the last few years. If you haven't read it before, why not also pick up the 2013 version, as there are some great pieces from Eagles bloggers who made some uncanny predictions about how the 2013 season might unfold. 

As an example, Derek Sarley and Sheil Kapadia wrote a great piece about the transition from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense citing many quotes about Billy Davis' philosophy. Here's a few excerpts that are relevant to my post today: