The defensive line didn’t have a sack, the defensive backs didn’t have a pass breakup, nobody forced a turnover, they gave up two 4th-down conversions, they allowed over 130 rushing yards and they gave up two 4th-quarter touchdowns.
This wasn’t the dominating defense we’ve been expecting, and while the Eagles beat the Commanders 24-22 Sunday in the season opener it’s fair to say that if this team is going to contend for anything the defense has to play better.
This was the first time in 40 games under Vic Fangio the Eagles have recorded no takeaways and no sacks from the defensive line. Last time that happened was Super Bowl LVII after the 2022 season against the Chiefs on a slippery field in Glendale, Ariz.
“Disappointed in their three scoring drives,” Fangio said Tuesday. “There’s some scoring drives you give up where the other team just beats you. They’ve got good players and good coaches, too. But I think we could have played a little better in some of those instances from our just overall play, so that was a little frustrating.”
Zach Baun made plays all over the field and Marcus Epps and Jordan Davis were solid, but nobody else really stood out. Cooper DeJean had maybe his worst game as a pro, allowing five completions for 62 yards and a touchdown on six targets. Quinyon Mitchell and Riq Woolen didn’t give up much but also didn’t make any plays.
Seventeen blitzes generated three hurries, according to Stathead analytics. The Eagles missed eight tackles.
Just to put this in context, this was only the third regular-season game since sacks became an official stat in 1982 where the Eagles allowed 130 or more rushing yards, gave up two 4th-quarter touchdowns, didn’t have a takeaway and didn’t get a sack from their defensive line.
Maybe the biggest concern is the absence of pressure against a depleted Commanders offensive line.
Among 87 edge rushers who played at least 25 snaps in Week 1, Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt ranked 53rd and and 74th, according to Pro Football Focus’s rankings. Smith is a 1st-round pick and Hunt was the Eagles’ best defensive player this summer. The Eagles need pressure, quarterback hits, tackles for loss and sacks from those guys and on Sunday they didn’t produce.
Getting Jonathan Greenard back will help, but who knows when that will happen, how rusty he’ll be after missing all of training camp and how many snaps he’ll be able to play once he does get back.
For now, Hunt and Smith just have to be better.
“I thought our pass rush overall, when our guys that mainly rushed the passer, was inconsistent and really wasn’t good enough,” Fangio said. “There’s a lot of reasons here and there. Mobile quarterback plays into that. We just didn’t win enough of our 1-on-1’s across the board.”
They gave up two long 4th-quarter touchdown drives, allowed a 33-yard completion on a 3rd-and-14 and didn’t get a stop on either Washington 4th-down play.
The defense did some good things. They only allowed 295 net yards (but 121 in the fourth quarter). They only allowed one play over 17 yards and held Washington to 3.5 yards per rushing attempt after halftime. And they got that critical stop on Washington’s two-point conversion attempt with a minute left, thanks to Moro Ojomo.
But overall? Not the debut the Eagles wanted. Especially that fourth quarter.
Fangio wants his defense to get stronger as the game goes on. The opposite happened Sunday. The Eagles only allowed 15 total 4th-quarter touchdown drives of 60 yards or more in Fangio’s first two seasons. Then they allowed two on Sunday.
“The last two drives there, we just didn’t play well enough,” Fangio said. “The quarterback scrambling hurt us some. It wasn’t good the last couple (drives), for sure.”