Has Philly Made All The Right Moves?

Cold, Hard Football Facts for Sep 01, 2011

By Ian Roderick
Cold, Hard Football Facts Ampipe Cheerleader

All-conference cornerback Stefan Djordjevic made all the right moves (especially with a perky little Lea Thompson) at Ampipe High in Western PA way back in 1983.

Across the state and 28 years later, Philadelphia fans are wondering if their team has made all the right moves here in 2011.

In what will be known forever in Philadelphia as the year Michael Vick returned to stardom, 2010 was a year in which the Philadelphia Eagles resembled Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. The offense was excellent, scoring 439 points, good enough for third in the NFL.

In just 12 games, Michael Vick threw for 3,018 yards and 21 touchdowns while rushing for 676 yards and nine touchdowns. He was a human highlight reel -- except, of course, for when he was injured and sitting on the bench.

Wide receiver DeSean Jackson emerged as one of the best big play receivers in the league, averaging a mind boggling 22.5 yards per catch. And second year running back LeSean McCoy ran for 1,080 yards at 5.2 yards per carry in addition to catching 78 passes for 592 yards.

While the Eagles can stand to improve their passing yards per attempt (YPA), which ranked ranked 12th in the league at 6.39 YPA, offensive performance is not considered a major question going into the 2011 season.

The much bigger question is whether the Eagles defense will once again submarine the team’s chances of making a deep playoff run this winter. While Philadelphia’s offense was spectacular in 2010, its defense was mediocre at best. Consider:

Defense ranked 13th in league in yards per rushing attempt (4.48 YPA)
Ranked 17th in opponent 3rd down conversation rate (38.28%)
Ranked 21st in points allowed (377)
Allowed 31 passing touchdowns (by way of comparison, the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers allowed just 16)

Most crucially, as we discussed last month, the Eagles fell short in a few key statistical categories, developed here at Cold Hard Football facts, that previous Super Bowl champions like the Green Bay packers and New Orleans Saints excelled in:

Defensive Passer Rating: the 2010 Eagles ranked 11th in the league with a 80.61 DPR
Passer Rating Differential: in 2010, the Eagles ranked 8th in the league with a +14.40 PRD

To address these shortcomings, the Eagles acquired a number of high profile defensive players including cornerbacks

Nnamdi Asomugha (pictured with Raiders) and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, defensive end Justin Babin, and defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins.

Asomugha and Rodgers-Cromartie will join Asante Samuel in the defensive secondary and will immediately upgrade the talent level in that area. Babin and Jenkins should improve the quality and depth of the defensive line.

Whether the upgrade in talent will translate to an uptick in performance remains to be seen. One crucial piece of the puzzle, and one that has not received as much attention as all the new defensive toys, is the performance of new defensive coordinater Juan Castillo, whom Andy Reid promoted from offensive line coach after firing Sean McDermott this past spring.

As CHFF’s Kevin Braig wrote last week, Castillo, who has never before coached defense in the NFL, will be under immediate and intense pressure to improve the defensive unit’s performance.

In addition to improving the secondary’s performance, Castillo is tasked with creating a competent linebacking corps from scratch, which will be featuring three new starters, including rookie Casey Matthews (brother of Clay). In their Week 2 preseason loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the linebackers looked overmatched, though in an interview this week Castillo asserted that the linebackers would be “ready to win the Super Bowl.”

In that same game, the new-look secondary did not play particularly well. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw for 125 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 pass attempts. Preseason performances are not always accurate predictors of regular season success, but that performance can only be discouraging to a defensive unit that now has plenty of talent.

As Tony Dungy recently pointed out, the Green Bay Packers have a leg up on the competition this year as a result of the abbreviated offseason. Teams with new coaches, coordinators, and/or players will have a tough time dethroning the current kings of the NFL, who had very little staff and personnel turnover during the offseason.

For the Philadelphia Eagles, the key question of the 2011 offseason is whether a newbie defensive coach can harness the talent at his disposal and improve his unit’s performance against the pass. The talent is there. The excitement is there. But will the results match up?

By Ian Roderick

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