New York Giants Week 16: Examining the Philadelphia Eagles Defense
The New York Giants face an Eagles defense that is still trying to figure things out this late in the season and has just replaced Sean Desai with Matt Patricia.
Personnel
The Eagles still have a defensive line capable of completely taking over a game at any given time. On the interior, the Eagles have a platoon of Fletcher Cox, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Milton Williams as their main four deep.
Davis primarily plays on early downs as a nose tackle with a limited pass-rush skillset. The other three present more of a pass-rushing threat from the interior, with all three playing considerably more snaps on passing downs and being considerably more productive.
Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat have been carrying the load on the edge, with Brandon Graham being the key third rotational edge rusher. Both have exactly 60 pressures so far on the season, with Reddick being a much more productive finisher with 13 pressures.
The Eagles recently signed Shaquille Leonard, and he's already playing significant snaps alongside Nicholas Morrow as the other starter. While Leonard isn't what he used to be, and Morrow is an average linebacker at best, the elite front four makes linebacker play significantly easier.
The Eagles have big names at cornerbacks that have underwhelmed all season: James Bradberry and Darius Slay. Part of this could be the defensive system changed a bit with Jonathan Gannon being hired as the Cardinals head coach.
The safety room now has three players who contribute consistently: Reed Blankenship, Kevin Byard, and Sydney Brown. All three have made high-impact plays, and last week under Patricia, they all shared the field frequently - lining up as deep safeties, in the box, or the slot.
Scheme
Under Desai, this Eagles defense focused on playing Cover 1, Cover 2, and Cover 6 more than any other coverages. With Patricia taking over play-calling duties last week, he called a game that was generally similar to Desai but increased Cover 1 frequency.
Throughout his career, Patricia has been a fan of Cover 1, but this roster was built to take more of a zone-oriented approach under both Gannon and Desai. It will be interesting to see the Eagles' approach with more time under Patricia, as it was announced the day before their game last week.
The Eagles don't blitz often, and for good reason, they do not need to. A dominant front four allows the Eagles to just rush four, keep seven in coverage, and have an impactful pass rush.
Where the Eagles do tend to get creative is with their disguise on the back end. The Eagles will often line up with two-high safety looks just to then shift to Cover 1 or Cover 6, which can often look like Cover 3, causing confusion for quarterbacks and buying their pass rush time.
What This Means for the Giants
For the Giants, success can be found schematically in the run game. On a play-by-play basis, the Eagles defense does a solid job of containing rushing attacks just by being a great front. Still, in recent weeks, opposing offenses have succeeded with rushing concepts involving a pulling player.
That could mean attacking with power, counter, split zone blocking, and the trusted ol' pin-pull that Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka have been fans of in New York. Cutback lanes have been a killer of this defense as well, linebacker play lacks and if the defensive line doesn't dominate then linebackers can be beaten.
In the passing game, scared money doesn't make money. James Bradberry and Darius Slay have allowed a combined 98 catches for 1,154 yards and 11 touchdowns this season; they are just getting abused.
If an offense will test the Eagles deep, test them outside. If an offense wants to target the middle of the field, look at the linebackers and abuse them.
Final Thought
The Giants have a path to success, but it comes down to mostly for the offense: the offensive line doing their part and keeping the Eagles' pass rush at bay. As with many games, the trenches can decide this game.
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