Eagles Film Analysis: Defense takeaways from the win over the Saints

This is one of the most fun Eagles defensive performances I have ever watched. I absolutely loved this film from the Saints game. Let’s get into it.

(Previously — Eagles Film Analysis: Offense takeaways from the win over the Saints)

Defense

I was so critical of the Eagles’ defensive philosophy last week. Let’s quickly recap what I said.

Listen, the players deserve blame. Milton Williams was blown up by double teams a few times. Moro Ojomo struggled against double teams. They did not play well against the Falcons’ outsize zone run scheme. But they were not helped by their coach. The Eagles refused to play 5-man fronts with Jordan Davis as a nose tackle. 5-man fronts can be outstanding against outside zone as they give players one-on-one matchups and prevent the offensive line from getting to the second level. If you stick Jordan Davis at nose, you make it a hell of a lot harder for Lindstrom to get to the 2nd level and take out Baun as he does here, again. But the Eagles did not adjust and continued to run these 4-man fronts out. I know playing a 5-man front can give you issues in pass coverage because you lose a defender, but I don’t care. Nothing else matters to me if you can’t stop the run on early downs

I am not exaggerating when I say this week was completely different. It was like watching a different team. The Eagles were obsessed with stopping the run. They played the run on early downs like it was 4th and 1. It was awesome to see. It is worth pointing out that the Saints play a very different style to the Falcons. The Saints made it easier in some ways for the Eagles to get to their 5-man fronts by playing a lot of 12 and 21 personnel. But that doesn’t take away from the defense this week. They were superb against the run. Nakobe Dean looks really good playing behind a 5-man front, as he is usually kept clean and can play sideline-to-sideline football. It suits his style.

Vic Fangio was on fire this week. He played a lot of 5-man fronts, but he didn’t just use standard 5-man fronts. He rotated Zack Baun from linebacker to EDGE just before the snap over and over again. This totally changed the Eagles’ defensive front a second before the play, and the Saints could not handle it. When you change the front before the snap, you are putting a lot of pressure on an offensive line’s ability to communicate and change on the fly. I think Zack Baun has been the Eagles’ most important player on defense from a schematic purpose, but he can play various roles well. He can play at EDGE, and off-ball linebacker, and not many players can do both well. The other reason why not many teams can move an off-ball linebacker to EDGE before the snap is because they don’t have an EDGE defender who can shift inside to defensive tackle. The Eagles do. The Eagles have Brandon Graham, who played a lot in this game because of this!

This is a fantastic example of the Eagles shifting Baun at the last second. This resulted in a 6-man front, which the Eagles used at times. It isn’t just the fact that the Eagles played more 5-man and 6-man fronts. They also used personnel that were better against the run. Just look at the six players in the front below! That is a tough front to run on. Brandon Graham makes a great play, as does Jalen Carter. We will get to Jalen Carter later because I could write an essay on his performance.

I know I’ve posted a few plays on Baun moving to EDGE already but I can’t help it. I love how it worked against the Saints. I mentioned Brandon Graham’s versatility earlier, but Milton Williams deserves a shoutout, too. There were times when the Eagles lined up like this and didn’t move Baun, leaving Williams as the EDGE defender. I really like that idea. He can’t exactly rush the quarterback any worse than Nolan Smith and Bryce Huff currently are. And he’s a lot better against the run than Huff and Josh Sweat, so why not?

Zack Baun can also carry wide receivers vertically down the field. Now feels like a good time to remind everyone that Baun signed a one-year $1.6 million contract this year. Is it too early to negotiate with Baun on a contract extension? I’m not sure it is.

Right, it’s time to talk about Jalen Carter. I do not think I have seen a single player’s performance as dominant in a long, long time. I think Carter is a player who gets frustrated easily, but when he is winning, he starts playing with real freedom. You can almost see that he is having a blast out there. He was single-handedly blowing up plays at times. The Saints could not handle him as a run defender or pass rusher. After the first couple of weeks, I have said not to worry about Jalen Carter. I still think he is the most talented player on the Eagles roster. I have said before that I think he has ‘Defensive Player of the Year’ talent, and he showed it in this game. He was unbelievable this week.

This was also a really good sign. The Eagles have not been a good stunt team for a long time, and it’s something that every good defense should be able to do. It can help with a pass rush and test the offensive line’s ability to communicate. It was good to see a stunt result in a sack, and hopefully, this is something we see more of the rest of the season.

Just look at how late the Eagles shift Baun to EDGE here. This is so late! That has to be so hard for an offense to predict. Once again, you can see Milton Williams at EDGE here. Jalen Carter wrecks the play, of course. The reason why I like the 5-man fronts is because I think it suits the Eagles’ personnel better. It gets the defensive linemen more one-on-one matchups and keeps the Eagles’ linebackers clean. The Eagles don’t have big stacked linebackers who can fly down and take on guards at the point of attack, so I think they can struggle to stop the run from a 4-2 front. Which is why I am not willing to say the defense is fixed after one week. I still need to see the Eagles use these 5-man fronts against teams who play more 11 personnel. We might find out this weekend as the Bucs run a lot of 11 personnel, but they also cannot run the ball at all. So we might see the Eagles go back to more 4-man fronts.

Whether you play a 4-man front, a 5-man front, or a 6-man front, none of that matters if you do not have the mentality that you want to stop the run. The Fangio’ coaching tree has frequently been criticized for being passive against the run. Well, the Eagles were anything but passive against the run this week. Seeing how much they cared about stopping the run was a joy. You get the feeling that the Eagles’ players have been reading the criticism online, which bothered them. This was a great play by Jordan Davis, too. I haven’t mentioned Davis yet, but I thought he had his best game of the year.

Everyone on the defense must play a part if you want to stop the run. C. J. Gardner-Johnson was signed because of his versatility in coverage. But in back-to-back weeks, he has made outstanding plays in short-yardage situations. Last week, he stopped Bijan Robinson on 4th and 1. This past week, he stopped Alvin Kamara on 3rd and 1. CJGJ talks a lot of trash but backs it up on the field. This was a great play.

Stopping a team from gaining a yard on 3rd and 4th down is difficult. Once again, this is a fantastic play by Zack Baun. I’ll repeat what I said earlier: should the Eagles start talking to Baun about a contract extension? I honestly think I would. His price will keep going up if he keeps playing like this!

Jalen Carter. My goodness. There’s nothing else to say. He was just unbelievable in this game. Incredibly, he didn’t end up with a sack. Which is why you always have to watch the film and can never rely on the stats. I haven’t mentioned Darius Slay or Quinyon Mitchell at all yet, and that’s probably a good sign. I thought both of them were really good once again.

This was the weirdest call of the night. It looked like man coverage with two underneath-hole defenders. That’s quite an unusual call that I haven’t seen very often. The two underneath defenders appear too close together in my opinion. CJGJ ends up in man coverage with the slot receiver, who can go both ways. This is a tough cover, but he plays it all wrong. It almost makes me think he is supposed to have outside help, but I’m not sure. Either way, the receiver is wide open.

Lets end with a positive play! The Eagles go to man coverage again, but this time, they have a deep safety. Brandon Graham continued his outstanding game with a great rush, which forces Derek Carr to throw off balance. Although BG was amazing in this game, I worry a bit about how much the Eagles needed him, considering his age. Carr overthrows his receiver, and Reed Blankenship makes a fantastic diving interception. These diving interceptions are not easy and this is the second time that Reed Blankenship has made almost the exact same play. I think Blankenship has had an excellent start to the season, and I’ve always thought he is one of the most underrated Eagle defenders.

This was a fun game to watch. The Buccaneers play a very different style of offense to the Saints and they will create different challenges for the Eagles to deal with, but I’m feeling pretty good after this week.

Thank you for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment below and ask any questions. If you enjoyed this piece, you can find more of my work and podcast here.