Eagles notebook: Lane Johnson healthy and playing lights-out

Eagles notebook: Lane Johnson healthy and playing lights-out originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Lane Johnson is 33 years old. He’s in his 11th NFL season. And he’s coming off an offseason surgery to repair a torn adductor.

And he’s playing as well as ever.

How does Johnson think his season is going so far?

“Pretty good,” Johnson said this week. “I feel like really the first part of the season just trying to focus on my body, recovering well from the surgery. You get that kind of surgery, you get a little bit of scar tissue so just handling that week to week. Feel like that’s gotten better as the year’s gone on. That’s really it. I’m just trying to feel good and not tear my groin again.”

Johnson suffered that groin injury on Christmas Eve in Dallas and missed the final two regular season games of 2022. But Johnson returned for the divisional round and was his usual dominant self in the Eagles’ three playoff games.

After the Eagles lost the Super Bowl, noted expert in his field Dr. William Meyers performed the surgery to repair the injury.

Through the early portion of this season, Johnson has been dealing with some scar tissue breaking up but has worked his way through it. He’s somewhat of an expert and learning how to recover from surgeries at this point of his career.

“I feel like this was a lot more manageable than probably what my ankle was,” Johnson said. “As far as dealing with that compared to this, it’s night and day. Really have gotten to where I’m not thinking about it much. It really just goes to the work we put in and rehabbing and all that.”

In the season opener in New England, Johnson seemed to struggle a bit against rookie Keion White. In that game, he gave up a QB hit and six pressures, according to ProFootballFocus. But he’s been a wall ever since, giving up just two total pressures in the last four games.

And Johnson’s streak of games without surrendering a sack has now reached 37 games. He hasn’t given one up since Week 11 of the 2020 season.

Swift reminds you of who?

After five weeks of the 2023 season, Eagles running back D’Andre Swift ranks fourth in the NFL in rushing and that’s after barely playing in the opener.

So what has impressed head coach Nick Sirianni most about Swift?

“I think he's got this amazing ability to get the ball, make a cut, and then accelerate again,” Sirianni said. “I think you don't see that unless you're in person with him and watching that happen over and over again.

“I’ve said this before, I don't know if I said this to you guys, he has the ability -- it's very similar to what I thought Jamaal Charles had in my time with him. The ability to cut and accelerate. That's what -- again, I'm not comparing one to the other.

“Just that aspect of the game reminds me a lot of that. Boom, I can make him miss and accelerate before the defense closes in on me because I've stopped my feet to make you miss. So that's been really impressive.”

Charles was an outstanding player for the Chiefs, making two All-Pro teams and being named a Pro Bowler four times. Sirianni was on the Chiefs staff from 2009-12 and got to witness Charles in his prime. So even if he’s just comparing one element of Swift’s game to Charles, that’s still lofty praise.

Sending the pressure

In the last couple of weeks, the Eagles have been working a little harder to heat up opposing quarterbacks, blitzing at a higher rate they had the previous three weeks.

What gives?

“I think we keep evolving as a defense,” Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai said. “We keep growing, and the teams that we're playing are different. We've got to be able to adapt and adjust to the teams we're playing and what we think gives us the best chance each week to impact the opposing offense. And that philosophy won't change.”

Overall, the Eagles are probably never going to be a huge blitz team with this defense. They have a dynamic defensive line so it would be malpractice to go super heavy blitz all the time. Through five games, the Eagles have a 24.4% blitz rate, which ranks 18th in the NFL.

But the Eagles have really raised that average the last couple of weeks. Take a look:

Week 1: 11/58 (19%)
Week 2: 10/46 (21.7%)
Week 3: 4/28 (14.3%)
Week 4: 16/52 (30.8%)
Week 5: 13/42 (31.0%)

Desai was asked this week if he wants blitzing to be a part of his defensive identity.

“I wouldn't say that,” Desai said. “I would say I want our defense to be physical and impose our will on people. I want us to run and hit. I want us to be smart. I want to be situationally smart. And that's really what our brand is going to be. That's really up to you guys to see how that manifests.

Killing in time of possession

Through five games the Eagles are 5-0 and they’ve won the time of possession battle in all five of their wins. While sometimes time of possession can be a wonky stat because the team with a lead is obviously going to try to kill clock, the Eagles are at times able to control games with their rushing attack, which really gives the defense a break.

On Sunday in LA, the Eagles’ defense was on the field for just 56 snaps.

“We'll take those games every week if we can,” Desai said. “We want to be the freshest team, and part of that's our offense doing such a tremendous job of controlling the ball, moving the ball, controlling the clock and moving the ball downfield.

“And it gives our guys a break and then it keeps us fresh. It manages our rep counts and makes our substitutions and rotations, manages all of that. We'll take that in any game.”

The Eagles are first in the NFL, averaging 3:22 per drive this season. That’s ahead of the Chiefs, 49ers, Cowboys and Rams to round out the top five.

And the Eagles are also second in the NFL in time of possession per game. They’re averaging 34:54 per game and have held the ball for over 37 minutes three times this season.

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