The Eagles are preparing for the Chargers on Monday night, but defensive coordinator Vic Fangio spoke to reporters on Wednesday, and answered a few more questions about the defense’s issues against the Bears last week. He explained that the run defense wasn’t good enough, why that will be a problem against Los Angeles, and also touched on Jalen Carter dealing with a shoulder injury.
Fangio was also asked about the possibility of getting Darius Slay back — with reports Wednesday there is mutual interest between the veteran CB and the Eagles — he just smiled and said that was a question for Howie Roseman.
Here’s what the DC had to say:
On safety Marcus Epps
Fangio admitted that if Epps — who was activated from IR this week — is ready to play on Monday night, there’s a chance he’s in with the starters.
“He’s an experienced safety. He’s got good instincts, got a good feel for the game. We’ll have to get a feel, a barometer [of] where he’s at missing the last four, five weeks, whatever it was where he couldn’t practice, anyway.”
When asked about Sydney Brown’s start at safety last week, Fangio said that it was much like the rest of the defense, which had some good and some bad.
On the run defense
“The biggest issues were, 1) they run the ball very well. I didn’t do a good enough job preparing our squad for the quality and the diversity of their run game. And, we didn’t play the run and the blocks the way we had been playing.”
Fangio reiterated several times that the issues with the run defense were both from a technique standpoint, and the he hadn’t coached things well enough.
He also acknowledged that they’re going to face another good running team, noting the Chargers have put up 200-yard rushing performances against two teams already this season. Later, Fangio said that they’ll have to play the run well enough that they don’t go to that a bunch, and not give up much in the play-action game.
As for how Jaelan Phillips is acclimating to his new team, Fangio said it’s going very well.
“He likes being here, the other players like him being here. He’s a good dude, and we’re thrilled to have him.”
On Jalen Carter’s performance
Fangio echoed for Carter what he did with others, noting that his performance had good and bad moments, just like they were all guilty of against the Bears.
“[Jalen Carter] does have a shoulder issue. He’s been playing with it — late in the game, he had a great game with it, but yeah, it’s definitely something there.”
He later said that it’s possible for rookie Ty Robinson to get more opportunities as Carter deals with the shoulder injury — Robinson has been a weekly healthy scratch as the depth has been needed elsewhere up to this point of the season.
The DC admitted that he probably should have gotten rookie Jihaad Campbell on the field for a few snaps against Chicago. He noted that Nakobe Dean has been strong against the run game, and with the issues they were having in that area, Fangio felt Dean would be better equipped to help.
Fangio said that the plan moving forward, though, will probably be to find ways to get Campbell some snaps, but they’ll have to see how the game is going to know what situations for which that would be best.
Other notables
- As they prepare for the Chargers, he acknowledged that they’ll need to prepare for both quarterbacks — Justin Herbert had surgery on his non-throwing hand earlier in the week, and Trey Lance is the backup if Herbert is unable to play. The DC explained they would expect if Herbert does play, that he’ll be in the pistol or shotgun formation more, which doesn’t really change things a whole lot for what the Eagles need to do.
- Without considering the possible reunion with Darius Slay, Fangio said that at this point he feels like the CB2 role is pretty settled with Adoree’ Jackson, and doesn’t really consider it much of a competition between Jackson and Jakorian Bennett or Kelee Ringo.
- Fangio said they have no control over how or when the defense gets on the field, they can only control when they get off the field. He acknowledged, though, that the number of snaps does affect how they handle the rotation, especially with the guys up front.
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