Film Review: Eagles Need Their Best Defenders To Start Playing Like Their Best Defenders

I wanted to see a response from the Eagles’ defense after last week. I don’t think we got much. The Commanders finished with 339 yards and averaged 5.9 yards per play. I didn’t come away from the film thinking this defense had improved significantly. Washington still had too many easy pockets and too many running lanes to exploit.

In fact, I think the Eagles were fortunate the Commanders didn’t have a more explosive running back. The rushing numbers could have been worse. I know that sounds strange after allowing 135 yards at 5.2 yards per carry, but some of these gaps were enormous. A better back could have turned more of those opportunities into explosive plays.

Unlike the offense, I can at least see Vic Fangio trying different things. There were heavier fronts, more man coverage, and more pressure. The problem is that the changes aren’t working consistently, either. And when even Quinyon Mitchell isn’t playing well, you know this defense is in serious trouble. Let’s get into it.

Defense

I don’t think the run defense bounced back. That is the starting point here. The Eagles used five-man fronts and sometimes put six defenders on the line, but the Commanders still created some huge rushing lanes.

Jalen Carter had an inconsistent game, which we will get to, but Jordan Davis was disappointing again. When Davis is playing well, he can occupy space and keep the linebackers clean. When he isn’t, the whole run defense looks much more vulnerable. That has been the case for a while, and it is why his recent performances bother me so much. I know he’s likely hurt, but he is still out there, so I’m only judging what’s on the field.

This is third-and-1. Look at the space the Eagles create for the offense. Both defensive tackles slant in opposite directions, and the middle of the defense opens up. You are making a short-yardage conversion far easier than it needs to be.

I don’t know whether these are called slants or whether the tackles have the freedom to react to the blocks in front of them. I don’t know the answer. But whatever the rule is, the result cannot be acceptable. If the movement is called, someone has to account for the space it creates. If players choose to go around blocks, they have to understand what they are leaving behind. Linebackers can’t do anything when offensive linemen climb directly onto them.

Getting around a double team is only useful if you can affect the run. If you swim away from the point of attack and allow a blocker to climb cleanly, you have made life easier for the offense. Some of the up-front movement in this game was maddening. The Eagles’ slants are so hit-and-miss. If they slant the right way, it can work. But it feels so boom/bust.

I have criticized Andrew Mukuba plenty, and he made more poor plays in this game. But I want to give him credit for the way he kept playing. Some defenders on this team look passive right now. Mukuba was still flying toward the football and trying to make something happen. That matters to me when things are going badly.

You can question the tackling technique here, but the forced fumble is all about effort. He flies downhill and knocks the ball out of Chig Okonkwo’s hands, and Zack Baun recovers it. The turnover gave the offense possession at the Commanders’ 26-yard line and set up the Eagles’ only touchdown. Whatever else I say about Mukuba, he helped create an opportunity to win this game.

This might be the worst slant of the game. Byron Young is already aligned with a significant gap between himself and Nolan Smith. He then slants inside and makes that space even bigger. Look at the right guard and right tackle. They can head straight to the second level without dealing with a defensive lineman first. How is this supposed to work?

The Eagles end up with four defenders accounting for three gaps on one side of the formation, while the run goes the other way. With a better block from the right guard, this could have been a very long gain. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. makes an excellent play to limit the damage. Asking your linebacker to rescue a rep like this is a terrible way to live.

This is also why I am reluctant to judge the linebackers purely by whether they get off blocks. Trotter has limitations when a big lineman gets into his frame, but look at how easily those linemen are reaching him. The defensive front has to give him a chance.

The run defense was bad, but the pass rush was equally frustrating. Fangio cannot consistently affect the quarterback with four rushers, and it is killing his defense. Here, the Eagles drop both edge defenders and bring a linebacker, changing where the rush comes from. It makes very little difference. Jayden Daniels gets a pocket that most quarterbacks would happily take all night.

Daniels can easily see the field and deliver the football. You can ask the secondary to cover well, but you cannot keep giving an NFL quarterback this much comfort. The Eagles generated pressure on only 30.3% of dropbacks despite the higher blitz rate. At some point, someone has to beat a block.

The Commanders’ under-center outside zone caused problems, too. They used motion away from the run to pull Cooper DeJean out of the box and change the numbers for the run fit. That is a straightforward way to make a defender move before attacking the space he leaves, and the Eagles didn’t handle it well enough.

Once again, watch the defensive line. All three interior defenders move left, and the run goes right. Look at the gap between Moro Ojomo and Arnold Ebiketie. The back has far too much room to work with. I know I sound like a broken record, but this looks like a fundamentally poor run defense.

The Commanders ran outside successfully, especially from under center. Across all concepts, they gained 106 yards on 17 carries from under center, compared with 29 yards on nine shotgun runs. That difference fits what we are seeing here.

Two weeks in a row, an offense has attacked the Eagles’ red-zone rules and ended up with its best receiving target open in the corner of the end zone. This time it is Stefon Diggs against a safety. How often have we watched an opponent find a way to get a dangerous receiver matched onto a safety over the past month? At some point, the Eagles have to make that harder.

There is a nice piece of sequencing here, too. In Week 1, Diggs scored on a similar option route by breaking inside against DeJean. This time, he takes it outside. The Commanders are using something they have already shown the Eagles and giving them a different answer. That is good offensive football. The Eagles’ offense could learn a few things from it…

This is another reason I wanted to give Mukuba some credit. Coming from depth on third-and-2 and preventing a first down is an excellent play for a safety. This is a great hit.

He still made errors, but there is a difference between making mistakes while continuing to attack and letting those mistakes make you hesitant. Mukuba kept competing. In a defense that has too many passive moments, I appreciated that.

Hey, a sack! This is also a good example of how the run defense and pass rush connect. When the Eagles get the Commanders into third-and-long, they can use movement up front without having to account for the same immediate run threat. Carter is dangerous on these stunts, and this rep shows why.

Carter finished with a sack and had moments where his talent was obvious. He also had poor reps against the run and stretches where he did not provide enough disruption. Frustratingly inconsistent is probably the best description. I know what he can do, which makes the other snaps harder to watch.

The pass rush needs to be much better regardless of the situation, but allowing easy yards on early downs makes its job harder. Give the rush more obvious passing situations, and you can call more of this stuff. That starts with doing the basic work against the run.

You know things are going badly when Mitchell is getting beaten, too. He is usually one of the players we can rely on when the rest of the defense is struggling. That wasn’t the case in this game. He lost several reps, and Treylon Burks beat him cleanly here. I mentioned in the preview that Burks had looked good in limited opportunities, and this is an excellent rep from him.

The pocket is part of the problem again. Daniels has the time and space to let the route develop and deliver the throw. That doesn’t excuse Mitchell losing the matchup, but both sides contribute to the explosive play.

The coverage numbers reflect how costly these man reps were. Playing more man did not solve the problem. The Eagles tried to change the approach, and the execution still let them down.

Smith is not a consistently good pass rusher, but I don’t want to dismiss plays like this as just hustle. He is a fantastic athlete, and that ability helps when the quarterback escapes the initial rush. Closing down space and finishing against Daniels is a real skill. Smith had a similar play against the Panthers, and he picks up sacks this way for a reason.

He led the Eagles with five pressures and recorded their other sack. I still want to see him win more consistently in his initial matchup, but these plays have value.

The final run is a miserable way to finish. The Eagles have a six-man front with four defensive tackles, plus DeJean in the box at safety. Trotter is also out there, which should help them against the run. This is the sort of personnel you would choose when you know the offense wants to run the football. Rachaad White still breaks through for 33 yards.

I have plenty of complaints about Fangio’s answers this season, but you cannot watch this alignment and say he wasn’t trying to stop the run. Sometimes the criticism has to land on the players. Adding more defensive tackles only helps if they control the line of scrimmage.

Final Thoughts

This was better than allowing the Cowboys to do whatever they wanted, but I didn’t see a massive improvement. The Commanders left opportunities out there, and I think a more explosive running back would have made the run defense look worse. The Eagles are still giving up too much space up front and too much comfort to quarterbacks in the pocket.

Fangio is trying different things. But there is no easy schematic answer when the defensive line isn’t doing its job, and even your best cornerback is losing matchups. The Eagles need their best defenders to start playing like their best defenders. Until that happens, this defense will remain a problem. This is not a fun year, is it?

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