In Roob’s Observations: Eagles’ defensive struggles go beyond LBs, DBs originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Why it’s not enough to blame the defensive backs and linebackers for the Eagles’ recent defensive struggles, the four Eagles quarterbacks who’ve beaten the Cowboys twice in a season, a ridiculous Jason Kelce stat and how the Eagles mis-read the Christian Ellis roster situation.
With the Eagles off to Dallas for the latest Game of the Century, here we go with this week’s edition of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations.
1. It’s easy to place the blame for the recent defensive struggles solely on the Eagles’ rickety linebacker group and the ever-changing secondary. But the defensive line, which is loaded with big contracts and Pro Bowlers, deserves its share of the blame, too. The Eagles have allowed an average of 435 yards in their last five games – 3rd-most in franchise history in a five-game period – as well as 29.4 points per game – 2nd-most in the league. They’ve allowed 15 passing TDs – 4th-most in franchise history in any five-game span – and 306 passing yards per game – 5th-most in franchise history over five games. But it’s not just coverage and tackling. The Eagles have not pressured well lately, especially the last three weeks. In wins over the Chiefs and Bills and the loss to the 49ers Sunday, the Eagles faced 121 pass attempts and managed just four sacks. They also had just one in the second Washington game. And they’ve fallen off big-time against the run as well. It’s hard to be too critical of the d-line, but the reality is they haven’t played as well lately as they were early in the season, and with the current state of the linebacker and secondary positions, the Eagles lean so heavily on the guys up front that when their performance falls off, the defense is going to struggle. The rotation has been a lot shorter than last year and the elevated snap counts may be catching up with some of these guys. Jalen…
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Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2023-12-09 15:51:10
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