The Philadelphia Eagles’ run defense: Fixable, or fatal flaw?

The Philadelphia Eagles losing their first game of the season to the Washington Commanders last Monday night isn’t the biggest issue that they have right now.

It wasn’t just how they lost, but why they lost.

With the rookie nose tackle Jordan Davis on IR, the Commanders decided to keep the game on the ground, and they demolished the Eagles between the tackles.

The Commanders dominated the time of possession. By halftime they had the ball for 23:49 and the Eagles only had the ball for only 6:11. If there is one way to minimize an explosive offense, keeping the ball out of their hands is one of them.

The Commanders may have very well leaked the formula for success against the Eagles’ defense. And with the remainder of the Eagles season up against some run-heavy offenses, this defense may be in more trouble than we realize.

Here’s how it all went wrong, and how it can be solved.

What is the Eagles' defensive identity?

(Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports)

When we look at the Eagles’ defense, they are a team that can rush the passer very well, as they are fourth in team sacks with 29 (per statmuse). They also prevent teams from passing through the air. They rank as the top passing defense in the league, according to Football Outsiders. They have a pass defense DVOA of -26.1%, which is the defensive adjusted over average percentage.

Now on the other hand, when we look at the run defense DVOA, they are at 4.9%, which ranks them as 28th in the NFL. According to PFF, they have the 30th worst tackling grade, 37.1.

If they are this bad when defending the run, why don’t teams always run against them?

Well, they have.

This recent loss wasn’t the first game that the Eagles defense let up a ton of yards on the ground. In fact, there are only three games this season they prevented 100+ rushing yards. In the first six weeks of the season their Rush Defense DVOA was 5.7%, which was 20th. It’s actually gotten worse since then, the last three weeks, they are at 16.1% which is 31st in the league.

This most recent game was just the first game that they offense couldn’t bail them out. Yes, there were critical missed calls that changed the momentum of the entire game, but the template for success has been in the works for weeks now. The Commanders just didn’t let up.

The biggest hit that the defensive line took was their rookie nose tackle, Davis, getting injured in week 9. Even though he only played an average of 35% of total defensive snaps, the splits are extreme.

Our own Doug Farrar discovered that when Davis is on the field the opponent’s broken tackle rate is 5.0%, when he’s off the field, it’s 11.6%. That is a whopping -6.6% differential.

With such a powerful force up front, this allows defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon to keep his ‘Penny front’ on the field, (3-3-5), five defensive backs (nickel) in zone coverage, and his pass-rushing defensive ends on their field in the case of play action. These ends are usually 4-tech defensive lineman, but they play the pass first and then the run.

The Eagles defensive linemen are sack-hungry specialists — Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, and Javon Hargrave.

So, when you don’t have Davis up front, who can essentially eat up the space by beating his opponent with weight and strength, it becomes a problem for the defensive line.

This is exactly what the Commanders knew coming into this game. Last time they saw each other, the Eagles ran their 5-1-5 front 61% of the time; and their game plan didn’t change. The Commanders put extra bodies on the line of scrimmage and moved the chains a few yards at a time.

The Commanders ended the day with more than 17 rushes that were four yards or more, and they had the third most rushing first downs in the league this week, with 12.

Undisciplined five-man front

(Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports)

Early in the game it was clear that the Eagles were not maintaining their gaps, nor remaining disciplined when in five-man fronts. This led to huge chunks of yardage on the ground.

On the Commanders’ second drive of the game, they faced a third-and-one. With the Eagles lined up in a five-man front, the defensive line should be able to win their one-on-ones and control the line of scrimmage.

Unfortunately, as we can see in the clip below, three interior linemen collapse to the middle and Brian Robinson cuts it towards the double team for a four-yard gain.

What makes this result even worse is how the Commanders put both tackles on the right side of the line to get better leverage on the play side, and the Eagles defenders just allowed it. Their eyes got big after seeing only a tight end next to the left guard and thought they could catch the ball carrier from behind.

A few plays later the Commanders were facing second-and-ten looking to cross the 50-yard line. They come out with two tight-ends on the line of scrimmage.

This time, the Commanders bring two backside offensive lineman across the line of scrimmage to lead block for the running back going towards the strong side of the line. Josh Sweat (No. 94) gets completely dominated by a tight end leaving the tackle to make his way up field.

Also, this is twice now that the Commanders ran a play in the opposite direction of a motion. This was shifting the linebackers out of the running lane and forcing the smaller guys on a defense to make a play. But with the defensive lineman being taken out of the play, huge gains followed.

In the third quarter, the Eagles come out in an alignment with a 2i and 4i technique. The 2i can split the double team that comes from the center and guard, and the 4i can get to the runner.

Instead, both defensive tackles get put on the ground. The Eagles were unable to win any jumps off the line of scrimmage which prevented them from getting any pressure.

How can the Eagles fix this?

(Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports)

With Davis and another defensive tackle Marlon Tuipulotu on IR, the Eagles defensive line will have a challenging next couple weeks as they face Jonathan Taylor, Aaron Jones then Derrick Henry.

They added Linval Joseph from the Chargers, who weighed in at 329 pounds standing at 6-foot-4. Which will make him the heaviest active player on the roster.

Joseph is a two-time Pro Bowler, with 25.0 sacks, eight forced fumbles and one fumble recovery for a touchdown.

The only issue is that he is a 12-year vet and that leaves concerns about durability and will he have enough left to move bodies around consistently, we will see.

“We’ll look at this tape and see what went down on this game, knowing that, hey, when you show that a team attacks a place, we’re going to see it again, right, and then we’re going to see that again,” coach Nick Sirianni said following loss to the Commanders. “So, we’ll work like crazy to get it fixed, and we understand that will be the narrative of how to beat us. We have to own that and fix it, and we will.”

When watching last week’s defensive performance, the biggest concerns were the lack of movement and variety to their front seven. When motions took place, the line rarely shifted or slanted their run defense.

In this clip below, the defensive line slanted/crashed to the right side, then the linebackers filled in from behind.

This was a perfect way to fill gaps, and it resulted in no gain. Unfortunately, this wasn’t happening nearly enough.

Asking the linebackers to step up closer to the line of scrimmage could also be an adjustment. In this clip below, the Titans middle linebacker Zach Cunningham steps up to the line of scrimmage forcing the center to step out, which opens up a gap for the 4i tech, if he can beat his man to the inside.

These changes are small and would take place pre-snap, but it might just be enough to make it harder for offensive linemen to make their blocks.

The last adjustment could be giving rookie linebacker Nakobe Dean some reps. Whether it’s swapping him out for Josiah Scott when offenses run heavy personnel, or giving him some of Kyzir White’s reps. Not all, just some. According to PFF, White has a 55.1 run defense grade, which is 56th out of 82 linebackers.

I know the sample size is small, and it was only preseason, but on 62 defensive snaps, Dean racked up eight total tackles and five defensive stops. After three preseason games he finished with a defensive grade of 76.3 and a run defense grade of 87.5.

The Eagles must make changes in the near future if they want to make a deep playoff run. If they have one weakness, it can’t be bottom of the league bad, and it is.

When facing a power-run scheme (backside guard pull), the Eagles allow an 86% success rate, which is 28th in the NFL. That is a huge weakness. Especially when most of the league is running it.

According to PFF, the New York Giants have the number-one gap-style runner in Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry is eighth in the league.

With the second half of the season filled with these rush-heavy offenses, changes need to be made if the newest acquisition, Joseph, doesn’t produce. Gannon will have to either bring in another linebacker or show some more variety up front.

Only time will tell if the Commanders actually unlocked the template for other teams, or if this was just an undisciplined game for the entire Eagles defense.

Story originally appeared on Touchdown Wire