Jim Schwartz Takes Blame for Eagles' Defensive Woes
PHILADELPHIA - Days after getting boat-raced by the Los Angeles Rams, Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz expressed the counterintuitive notion that simplifying things against the much-ballyhooed pre-snap motion, misdirection, and tempo of Sean McVay's offense was the incorrect way to handle things.
“Chase two rabbits, catch none,” is how the Eagles' defensive coordinator described it during Tuesday morning's videoconference call.
Schwartz fell on his shield for his players, many of whom were able to verbalize what was coming easily enough but fell apart when the classroom turned to the laboratory.
“I had a poor game plan," said Schwartz. "We had a very simple game plan. .. The Rams use a lot of tempo out of their huddle, a lot of different motions, and things like that.
"The whole theme was to make it as simple as we could, and we’ve had success with that in the past. But in an effort to do that, I also created a lot of conflict with what the guys were doing — it gave them a lot of stuff to look at.”
The result was "simple" morphing into difficult as the Eagles' defenders starting "chasing plays" as Rodney McLeod described it after the 37-19 setback.
“What I thought would make it easier didn’t make it easier, it made it harder," said Schwartz.
With the benefit of hindsight, Schwartz now believes a more complex game plan would have narrowed the focus for the players.
“A more complex game plan would have narrowed the focus of each individual player. It would have made it more difficult to execute, but it would have narrowed the focus," he said. ".. We went to that after about three series. We made a little rally, but it was too late, and I take that on myself."
The mid-game shift also faltered late, however, as the Rams' design focused on picking defenders.
Schwartz is staying the course on personnel changes, however, despite his defense faltering in things it has been typically been good at like red-zone stops.
Through two games the Philadelphia defense has allowed 64 points and touchdowns on 7-of-9 red-zone trips for the opposition.
"The area I’m more on high alert for is our response to adversity. ... We are failing there.”
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
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 @kracze on Twitter.
