Darius Slay Compares Eagles Defense to 2014 Detroit Lions

PHILADELPHIA – Doug Pederson better hope he’s right when he surmised that defenses could be ahead of offenses once the regular season begins in less than three weeks because that is the state of the Eagles right now following another defense-dominated practice on Monday.

Josh Sweat continues to look the part of a player who will have a big year, sharing a sack with Duke Riley during one period of 11-on-11 and getting continual pressure on whichever quarterback is trying to set up shop in the pocket.

Riley, who was acquired from the Falcons in Week 5 last year, also recorded an interception of Nate Sudfeld, who also threw one to linebacker T.J. Edwards during goal line work. Safety Jalen Mills had an interception of Carson Wentz in goal line as well.

“Duke has great speed,” said defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz prior to practice. “He's not the biggest linebacker in the world but he does have good movement skills and good speed. He's not in a situation where he's trying to learn the defense during training camp. He was learning sort of in the middle of last season.

“But you can see him sort of present his skillset a little bit more clearly when it's not the middle of the season and you're just preparing for a specific opponent and you're also trying to prepare guys that you're expecting to play in the game. He's had a good training camp so far.”

As for Sweat, Schwartz pumped the brakes a bit on the fourth-round pick from the 2018 draft class.

“Rookie year, he really didn't get a chance to be on the field very much because we had a lot of veteran players at that position," said Schwartz, "but last year he was on the field quite a bit, and like a young player, he had some inconstancies. Let's be careful about reading too much into thud practices and non-padded practices and things like that because sometimes that stuff can get a little bit skewed, and a guy can look different in practice than he's really going.

“That being said, Josh has had a good camp and I think he's a much-improved player and we look forward to him playing a big role for us this year.”

It would certainly help if Lane Johnson and Andre Dillard were available to get a better read on the offensive line, but as it was, the two starting tackles sat out Monday – Dillard with an upper body injury suffered Sunday and has him listed as day-to-day and Johnson with a lower body that has seen him miss the last two practices.

Pederson said on Sunday that he isn’t concerned about his offensive line, even as Jordan Mailata lines up at left tackle for Dillard and Matt Pryor spells Johnson. Meanwhile, the Jason Peters experience at right guard continues, with some good and some bad.

“I think that it's kind of like a baseball season where hitters are sometimes ahead of the pitchers early in the season until the pitchers get in their groove and their rhythm,” said Pederson. “Obviously with a couple of weeks of padded practices and being limited in what we can do, I think it's going to be that way, possibly early in the season.”

Darius Slay has been around the defense only for a short time after arriving in March via a trade with the Detroit and only for a couple of weeks on the field.

Already, though, the cornerback likes what he has seen.

Slay said the defense reminds him of the 2014 version of the Lions. Detroit’s unit finished second in total defense that seasons, surrendering just 300.9 yards per game.

The Lions also finished third in points per game, giving up just 17.6 points a game while leading the NFL in rushing defense, yielding just 69.3 rush yards per game, as the team went 11-5 and into the playoffs.

“You got a great D-line, a great young linebacker corps that can run and stretch the field, you got a good secondary that got great leadership with guys who have been in the league for eight years, got guys been in for 4 years, guys been in for 3; you got great leaders,” said Slay.

“You gotta keep moving forward. We know what it takes. Them boys have been to the Super Bowl. I haven’t. So, they know what it takes. Me coming from Detroit and feeling that energy they bring to practice and how they approach practice, I look forward to the season, man. Can’t wait.”

If Slay is right and the Eagles’ defense can prove to be ahead of opposing offenses as the season progress – if it is able to progress with COVID-19 still hovering – then the Eagles could be in for quite a season.

Get the latest Eagles news by joining the community. Click "Follow" at the top right of EagleMaven page. Mobile users click the notification bell. And please follow me on Twitter @kracze.