Eagles’ aim on defense this week? Simplify and play fast originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Earlier this week, Eagles de facto defensive coordinator Matt Patricia talked about wanting to give his players a chance to play fast and aggressive.
You know how you do that?
You simplify things on defense. And, according to some players, there has been a concerted effort from the Eagles’ coaching staff this week to simplify things as the team prepares to face the Buccaneers in the wild card round on Monday night.
“Yeah, there honestly has,” veteran safety Kevin Byard said. “I think the plan this week will be to try to be as simple as possible so guys can go get lined up.
“Obviously, there are going to have to be some things we do coverage wise to be able to limit Mike Evans and things like that. You don’t just want to ignore him. You have to be aware where certain guys are. There are some things we have to do on the back end. But I think for the most part, the first down, second down plan will be pretty simple. [Patricia] just wants guys to be able to line up and go play fast.”
The Eagles haven’t been able to play fast in recent weeks.
In fact, in the last few games, there has seemingly been a lot of confusion on that side of the ball. While Byard said there actually hasn’t been as much miscommunication as it seems, their issues have been glaring. When the communication has failed, they’ve given up huge plays, like that touchdown to a wide-open Darius Slayton on Sunday.
So maybe this will help.
“It’s definitely simplified,” cornerback James Bradberry said. “One of the reasons to simplify is to let us play faster. Less communicating and play faster.”
The Eagles were still 10-3 when they made the switch from Sean Desai to Patricia as the defensive play caller and it hasn’t been an easy transition. The Eagles haven’t changed the overall structure of their defense but they wouldn’t have made a change if they didn’t want Patricia to…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/eagles-aim-defense-week-simplify-120000201.html
Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2024-01-12 12:00:00
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