Eagles vs Ravens Preseason Game

Aug 16, 2011

Eagles Landing with Phillip Holmes

Preseason Game 1 Recap: Philadelphia Eagles vs. Baltimore Ravens

Football’s back! Had the opportunity to check out the Eagles in action last Thursday night on NFL Network and then reviewed the tape of the game afterwards. I’ve broken down the game in two articles, so look out for the other part of this article covering the offense. In this article we will focus in on the Eagles defense.

The 1^st team defense came out fired up and played at an extremely high energy level. They finished with 6 sacks (Tapp 2, Cole 1, Hunt 1, Te’o 1, and Landri 1) in the game and held Ravens RB Ray Rice to 7 yards on 5 carries.

The starters on the D-line from right to left were, DE Cole, DT Jenkins, DT Hargrove and DE Parker. Jim Washburn (Eagles Defensive Line coach) is regarded as one (if not the best) D-line coaches in the NFL. Washburn’s infamous philosophy concerning his D-line is to fire off the ball, get up field, and then react to the ball.

Washburn has his D-linemen lined up in the wide- 9 technique where DE’s are line up just outside of the OT’s to take advantage of the DE’s speed and quickness.

In this scheme DT’s are now lined up in the 1 gap scheme vs. the 2 gap scheme. The player most known for epitomizing the 1 gap DT technique is former Bucs Pro Bowler Warren Sapp. By going to the 1 gap scheme the hope is to generate a better inside pass rush as DT’s no longer have the task of being responsible for 2 gaps(which is more of a read and react type of attack). The simplicity is the DT’s now can fly off the ball and just rush 1 gap with the other gap that is left open being covered by the LBs

Head Coach Andy Reid has always believed in sending what he has termed as “fastballs” at the opponents OL. In other words the more pass rushers you have along the D-Line the more dangerous your defense will be. Buddy Ryan’s old philosophy was a QB can’t throw the ball if he’s on his back! Now I’m not saying that this Defense will be as good as that Buddy Ryan defense but I do expect this Defense to be very dangerous as time progresses. Having this type of Defense just makes it all the easier for our 3 playmaking CB’s to do what they do best and make plays on the ball.

In the Eagles win 13-6 here’s a few things that stood out to me on film from the Eagles D:

1^st team D-line dominated the Offensive line of scrimmage vs. the 1^st team Ravens OL.

Trent Cole completely blew up an inside run by the Ravens RB Ray rice for a 2 yard loss. Cole also registered his 1^st sack of the preseason on another play.

New Eagles DT Cullen Jenkins looked great actually creating a legitimate inside pass rush in the game (something that has been missing in the Eagles defense for years now). Jenkins was in best seen in action on the 1^st play of the game where he beat his man and got a nice clean hit to the ground on Ravens QB Joe Flacco.

LDE Parker did not stand out much as he only saw action in the 1^st series of the game.

DE Jason Babin and Juqua Parker will be used interchangeably as the starter for the LDE position. Both are effective pass rushers with the newly acquired Jason Babin probably being the better of the (12 ½ sacks last year) two as well as the youngest.

Babin got consistent pressure of the edge and on one play chased Flacco out of the pocket and forced him to throw an errant pass out of bounds. Great effort as well against the run.

The thing that stands out about DT Hargrove is his high, high energy level and constant motor. He can be found in the game oft times in the opponent’s backfield and typically somewhere involved in stuffing runs for minimal gains or pushing his man back in the offensive backfield. Very active player.

DE Darryl Tapp was just unstoppable in the game finishing with 2 sacks and as was active against the run. He really gave the Ravens OL all sorts of fits.

Newly acquired(that seems to be a going trend here) DT Marlon Favorite was in on a sack but did not register one officially as DE Phillip Hunt came in and really slammed into Ravens QB Tyrod Taylor. After the whistle was blown, Favorite immediately got up and rubbed his pot belly as to say mmmm…Always good to see D lineman play with passion and celebrate after making a play.

Speaking of Hunt..he was absolutely relentless rushing off the edge and reminded me of a baby Hugh Douglas. Yeah I know that’s a heck of a compliment seeing that Hunt is just a rookie but this guy can flat out play. Let’s see what he does in the next few games. A guy to definitely keep an eye on.

DT Landri who started 16 games for the Panthers last year was also part of the D-line onslaught on the Ravens OL. Landri registered a sack in the game and showed a constant motor rushing the passer and was pretty active in the run game as well.

RDE Daniel Te’o-Nesheim stood out one play by registering his 1^st sack of the season.

The new look LB core was also on display for the 1^st time in game action as WLB Moise Fokou, rookie MLB Casey Matthews, and SLB Jamar Chaney took the field.

I tried to really hone in on MLB Matthews to see how he fared in actual live games. He really didn’t get much burn only playing in about 8 plays in the game. Matthews did struggle some in getting off blocks however he was always in the right position at the right time funneling the RB back to the inside to be gobbled up by the DTs. Matthews also stood out in coverage as he correctly sniffed out an attempted screen play to RB Ray Rice causing Flacco to throw an incomplete pass and then again in coverage against a TE on a pivotal 3^rd down.

Fokou was tough, fast and physical as usual against the run on one play literally knocking a FB on his backside, quickly got off his block, and got involved on the tackle.

Chaney looked really smooth in his coverage of the flats and against TE’s. Chaney who took over the SLB last year might actually do well at the SLB position. Solid player wherever he’s lined up at.

Rookie WLB Brian Rolle jumps out at you on film as his ball hawking skills were on display finishing with 4 tackles by my count. Rolle seemed to always be somewhere around the ball. A great quality ot have in a LB.

2^nd year man Keenan Clayton is just flat out fast. No marvel Washburn has him rotating in on the nickel packages for his cover ability and ability to quickly pursue.

Everyone wanted to see how the Eagles would deploy their new revamped secondary on Thursday night. Samuel assumed his normal starting position at the LCB position while Asomugha started at the RCB, and Dominuqe Rodgers Cromartie played a little bit of nickel along with former starter Joselio Hanson.

Samuel and Asomugha didn’t see much action come their way in 2 series of play in the game. Same can be said about Rodgers-Cromartie, would’ve been nice to see some balls being thrown their way to get a preview of their coverage skills. Of course the fact that there was little to any balls thrown their way is a testament to their coverage ability as well. We’ll look for more action out of the secondary on Thursday Night(8pm FOX nationally televised) vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers.

My opinion is that Joselio Hanson will end up being traded or cut by the start of the regular season. We are loaded now at CB with Nnamdi, Asante, and DRC with DRC and Nnamdi expected to play in the slot from time to time depending on who we are playing. Unfortunately that makes Hanson the odd man out and stuck with only playing CB in the Dime package. We could easily use Marsh, Lindley or Hughes for that role. Keep your eye on the play of the latter 3 CB’s mentioned, if one or two of them really shine is these last PS games than that will be “all she wrote” for Hanson.

Starting Safety Curt Coleman missed out on a sure opportunity to force a turnover by failing to turn his head around in time to intercept a ball that was thrown directly his way, instead getting outmuscled by Ravens TE Pitta. He really has to have better technique there. Coleman also doesn’t really stand out to me in the games. I’m hoping the rookie out of Temple University Jaiquwan Jarrett comes up with another showing like Thursday night’s performance (1 int) to solidify that starting SS position.

Also fighting for a roster spot a S is veteran Jarrod Page. Page made a big play in the red zone by stepping in front of his man and intercepting a pass by rookie Tayrod Taylor. Errant throws or not, both safeties were in position to make plays and made them. That’s what we need.

FS Nate Allen looked fully recovered from his knee injury last year as he showed blazing speed in chasing down and tackling Ray Rice in the open field in what appeared to be a blown coverage by LB Jamar Chaney.