Could Genard Avery Turn Into a Situational Star?
In many ways, Sunday night in Santa Clara was for the role players as the Eagles magically went from winless to first place after 60 minutes of football produced a 25-20 victory against San Francisco.
The headliners were obvious - receiver Travis Fulgham and linebacker Alex Singleton- and made the splash plays that turned the game around over an eight-second span in the fourth quarter.
The best role player whose name typically might not roll off the tongue for Eagles fans was situational pass rusher Genard Avery.
Avery, a 2019 trade pickup from the Cleveland Browns, harrassed Niners quarterbacks Nick Mullens and CJ Beathard with a consistency rarely seen, generating five quarterback hits in just 16 defensive snaps to go along with a sack and a tackle for loss.
"That was sort of the breakout game we've been waiting for from him," defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. "He's always been a skilled pass rusher. It's just fitting him in with all the other stuff. I think he's really done a good job of refining his technique and sticking with what works best for him."
For the most part, the Philadelphia defense had been fine statistically during its 0-2-1 start, entering Sunday night top 10 in rushing defense, passing defense, third-down defense, and No. 5 overall. The one aspect that wasn't being delivered was turnovers, however, with the Eagles arriving on the West Coast as the worst in professional football with a minus-7 turnover ratio.
The defense had yet to generate anything with the lone takeaway being a TJ Edwards forced fumble on special teams.
"If you're hunting for turnovers, you're going to put yourself in a bad position and we have seen that for probably a hundred years in the NFL," said Schwartz days before heading to San Fran. "If you're going outside the scheme or you're just playing risky out there just to try to make a turnover, a lot of bad things can happen to you.
"Our philosophy is always to make the plays that come to you."
It was Avery who got the Eagles started against the 49ers by directing a play toward Rodney McLeod in centerfield.
Kyle Shanahan and his offense were understandably more concerned with the bigger names on the Eagles defensive line and called a protection scheme that doubled everyone but Avery, who was stationed as a stand-up left end.
The 250-pound Memphis product got the better of San Francisco right tackle Mike McGlinchey, a Philadelphia native and former star at William Penn Charter School who happened to be a first-round pick out of the O-Line factory that is Notre Dame, with his speed and explosion.
Avery delivered a text-book hit on Mullens, who got nothing on the football resulting in the easiest interception McLeod will likely ever have in his life.
The Eagles ultimately produced two more turnovers on the night as well, Cre'von LeBlanc's strip-sack and the pick-six by Singleton that essentially won the game in the fourth quarter.
Avery's 31.3 percent pass-rushing production rate was so gaudy and unexpected after a poor summer in which the only real news came from being carted off the field at the NovaCare Complex with a scary knee injury that turned out to be a bone bruise.
As a comparison with the other bigger-name DEs on Sunday, Brandon Graham generated one QB hit on 56 snaps, Derek Barnett had one of his best games as a pro with one-half sack and two QB hits in 43 reps, and Josh Sweat continued his productive season with a sack, a TFL and one QB hit in 27 snaps.
Many on the outside looking in wondering why it was Avery who was kept on the final 53 while practice-squad contributor Joe Ostman and even former fourth-round pick Shareef Miller, who was ultimately waived, were passed over.
Sunday night served as your answer with Avery not only showing off his potential as a situational rusher but turning a Schwartz prophecy into a self-fulfilling one.
"One of the reasons we put a lot of emphasis on our pass rush is there is a high incident of turnover when you're hitting the quarterback," Schwartz said. "Errant throws, ball security in the pocket, usually one hand on it. ... if you're playing physical football, if you're playing responsibility, if you're doing your job, and you're around the quarterback a lot, I think the turnovers will come."
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM and every Monday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SportsMap Radio. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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