The Eagles defense were struck by several injuries late against the Cowboys that contributed to their comeback and the eventual Philadelphia loss. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio spoke to reporters on Tuesday and talked about some of the rotating parts of the secondary and how they’ve been affected by injury, as well as what he’s seen from the Bears’ offense and Caleb Williams as a scrambling quarterback.
Here’s what the DC had to say:
On the safety position
Fangio said that Sydney Brown has been doing a good job in practice with the reps he gets.
“He’s done a good job staying in tune in the meetings and the walkthroughs, and I’m excited to see how [Sydney Brown] does.”
Still, Fangio does expect to have Reed Blankenship, and that leaves Brown as the next man up with rookie Andrew Mukuba out. The DC acknowledged that Mukuba had been playing a lot better as the season went on and was avoiding big negative plays, so it’ll be tough to lose him.
The DC said that Andre Sam is a guy who has stood out in training camp the last two years, and there’s a chance he’s elevated.
On the CB position
Fangio said that he chose to move Cooper DeJean to the outside and put Michael Carter at nickel when Adoree’ Jackson went down because he thought that was the best combination.
He acknowledged that DeJean got beat a couple times, but thought he was tight in coverage, but just got beat at the catchpoint against good receivers.
“It’s going to happen.”
The DC also said it’s possible that they use that combination again if Jackson isn’t on the field, which it looks like he will be. Fangio also explained what he’s learned about Carter and why he’s comfortable with that combination.
“I think he’s a good player, good natural football player. [Michael Carter] understands the game. He’s got good instincts, got good technique to his game, he’s quick. We’re pleased to have him.
Carter has also been considered their fourth safety the last few games, so he’s someone they consider to be flexible.
“You always have to be ready for adjustments. You saw it the other day, we lost a couple guys and if that game had gone into overtime, [Michael] Carter [would] probably [be] playing safety and Cooper [DeJean] would be back to nickel and Kelee [Ringo] would have been at corner.
Fangio also later said that Jakorian Bennett has been getting some reps in practice, but has been doing pretty good in his return from IR. Still, the DC doesn’t think they will truly know how he can contribute until he gets out there and plays.
On the Bears’ offense
“It’s a great scheme. They do a great job calling the game, mixing it up, marrying their run game and their pass game. They’re highly ranked in a lot of areas, and I don’t think it’s any accident. They’ve got really good players and it’s a great scheme and a great play caller.”
He also noted that head coach Ben Johnson does a good job of mixing things up and packaging things well together. Fangio noted that they play multiple personnel groups and are under center a good bit.
“Kudos to him and his staff for bringing that young quarterback along who I don’t think ever played under center in college. He’s doing a great job, and they have fought through any of the pitfalls of that and now they’ve got a quarterback that is executing their offense the way they want to.”
Fangio later called QB Caleb Williams a high-level scrambler, similar to how Jaxson Dart is with the Giants. He noted that those two probably do it better than most.
“We’ve talked about how good their offense is, and now with [Caleb Williams], there’s going to be plays where you have to defend a second play that he’s creating with his scrambling. He’s a high-level scrambler, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s got good instincts when he is scrambling. It’s tough.”
Other notables
- Fangio didn’t think the pass rush was terrible against the Cowboys. He noted they didn’t get the sacks they’d want, but that’s not the only barometer of the pass rush success. Brandon Graham could get more snaps inside — he had two against the Cowboys — because he can rush well from there and last week they needed to get guys breaks.
- The DC admitted that with Nakobe Dean playing very well, he deserves to be on the field, which in turn means there are fewer snaps for rookie Jihaad Campbell. He noted that Dean has a good feel for blitzing and can be physical when needed, or slip a guy when needed.
- On Dean’s interception being negated by a penalty:
”Yeah, they subbed, which allows us to sub and give us time to sub. The umpire was actually going up to the line of scrimmage to hold up the play and for some reason didn’t. That one, I’m not sure really what happened there, but they subbed so we should be able to sub, and we didn’t get off in time.”
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