Top-Ranked Pass Defense Can Be Traced to Darius Slay and James Bradberry
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PHILADELPHIA - Of the NFL’s top 25 passers this season, the worst completion percentage belongs to Atlanta’s Marcus Mariota at 61.3%. Thirteen of the top 25 connect at a 65.0% rate or above with Seattle’s Geno Smith pacing everyone at 72.7%.
Those numbers are context to demonstrate just how good the Eagles’ starting outside cornerbacks have been during the team’s 11-1 start.
Set to return this week to MetLife Stadium, James Bradberry has been targeted 72 times this season with opposing QBs completing 32 of them, a dismal 44.4% completion rate. The longest gain the former New York Giants Pro Bowl selection has allowed is 34 yards and the passer rating for those throwing Bradberry’s way is 43.2.
On the other side, Darius Slay, regarded as one of the top five players at the position, has great numbers himself, allowing 27 completions on 53 targets (50.9%) with a long of 42 and a 53.2 passer rating.
To put that in perspective, the worst overall passer rating among the top-25 passers is Houston’s Davis Mills at 78.1, nearly 25 points higher than what Slay allows and almost 35 better than what Bradberry has accomplished.
“A luxury that you can't put a price on, honestly,” defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said on Tuesday when asked about his outside CBs and their ability to handle the team’s zone coverages.
“With those guys being able to be multiple in what they're doing, and you can play certain coverages and not worry about their formations or match-ups, it opens the book up with what you want to do, and then you can apply pressure to different people accordingly.”
The Eagles’ defensive philosophy when it comes to coverage is to not tip their hand pre-snap before spinning off into a host of coverage looks with the default being quarters coverage but everything from Cover-2 to Cover-6, matchup zones, and press coverage at Gannon’s disposal.
“Sometimes that's by where the ball is going," said the DC of the different looks. "Sometimes that's by formations, by the route concepts, but those guys have done a fantastic job, the whole back end, but those two corners, the way we change things, disguise things, play different coverages, what we ask those guys to do, their skill sets allow us to do that, and that's one of the reasons we're playing pretty good in the pass game.”
Good is an understatement.
The Eagles have the No. 1 pass defense in the NFL, allowing 178.5 yards per game, lead the NFL in interceptions with 19, and are No. 2 when it comes to allowing explosive plays.
“Those two guys, that's what you love about those guys, Slay and Bradberry and all those guys is even if they want to play a certain way on third down and we say, ‘Hey, this is the best way to do this, this is what we need you to do, got it,'" said Gannon.
“So ultimately both of those guys are team-first guys, and it gives us a lot of flexibility with how we want to defend people.”
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
