When Eagles Blitz, Madness Has Method
By BUSTER OLNEY
HILADELPHIA, Jan. 17 — The Eagles' defensive scheme has roots that can be traced far back, to another time and another land, before football was invented. It is this simple: the quarterback is the fox, the Eagles' defenders are the hounds.
They seem to blitz relentlessly, although the Giants have found their strategy is actually far more subtle and even more conservative than it appears. The Eagles attack from all sides, rapidly pursuing and cutting off escape routes, and closing quickly. When Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson stares across the line of scrimmage in the National Football Conference championship game here Sunday, there will be at least a couple of times when he sees eight Eagles hovering directly before him, preparing to charge immediately.
The Buccaneers' offense has not scored a touchdown in the last three games they have played here, including playoff games each of the last two seasons; in each of the last two years, the Philadelphia defense has sent Tampa Bay home for the winter.
"They've got a lot of different guys that can make some plays," Johnson said in Tampa earlier this week. "That's what makes them so great."
The Eagles pounded Johnson here this season, when they beat Tampa Bay, 20-10, on Oct. 20. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the unofficial count included 10 knockdowns of Johnson and nine other hits, and the official count included five sacks, an interception and a broken rib.
The Eagles ranked first in the league with 56 sacks, fourth in allowing the fewest yards per game and second in fewest passing yards per play. But the statistic which might truly reflect Philadelphia's defensive strategy is third-down efficiency: opponents achieved first downs on only 66 of 213 plays, or a league-low 31 percent.
"People think Philly is a really blitz-oriented type defense," Giants center Chris Bober said, "but there's more to it than that."
What the Giants found this season is that the Eagles do not simply blitz in every situation. Rather, Bober said, a vast majority of their blitzes came in situations when the offense needed long yardage for a first down: first-and-10, second-and-10, third-and-long.
The Eagles blitz, possibly generating a sack or a turnover, and even if there is a pass completion, their cornerbacks and safeties are swift and excellent tacklers, and restrict the play to a short gain.
When the Giants played Philadelphia on Oct. 28, they counterattacked by moving the ball with quick passes or modest but productive runs on first or second down. This way, the Giants managed to avoid the long-distance circumstances. When the teams met again Dec. 28, the Eagles did not blitz often.
"Really, it was because they were expecting us to go with our short passing," Bober said. "They knew we were ready with adjustments."
In those instances when the Giants faced a blitz in unfavorable down-and-distance situations, quarterback Kerry Collins made a point to get rid of the ball, even if it meant the team had to punt on fourth down. "If you don't get the first down," Bober said, "at least you don't play into their hands."
Which is precisely what quarterback Michael Vick did in the first quarter of the Eagles' second-round playoff game last Saturday against the Falcons. Philadelphia linebacker Levon Kirkland blitzed up the middle, occupying two blockers, and defensive tackle Darwin Walker looped around and charged Vick, who threw while fading back to avoid the rush. Eagles cornerback Bobby Taylor picked off Vick's pass and ran it back for a touchdown.
It was one of 25 blitzes by the Eagles in the Falcons' 66 offensive plays, and Philadelphia faked blitzes on eight other plays — meaning that on precisely half of Atlanta's plays, Vick operated with at least the threat of a blitz. The Eagles blitzed 13 times on first down, 5 on second down, 7 on third down.
When the Eagles wanted to bring pressure up the middle, Kirkland was usually involved, blitzing six times. Linebacker Shawn Barber blitzed 10 times, usually around the perimeter. Barber is particularly adept, Bober said, at running down ball carriers from behind if the play goes in the other direction.
But Jim Johnson, the Eagles' defensive coordinator, appeared to involve as many as 10 different defenders in his blitzes, sometimes stacking eight defenders at the line of scrimmage and dropping linemen back into coverage, sometimes adding defensive end N. D. Kalu to create a five-man front. The variety of blitzes feeds the image that the Eagles defend with organized chaos.
"It's not a crazy blitz," Johnson said. "People think it is, but it's not. We try to never put our cornerbacks in a bad situation. We just don't put them out there to dry. We're not going to be stupid about it. That's why we don't give up big plays."
The Eagles are also very effective when playing straight up. Their defensive linemen can create pressure on the quarterback without the aid of a blitz, the Giants' offensive line coach, Jim McNally, said. Defensive ends Hugh Douglas and Brandon Whiting speed up the field on the outside, and defensive tackles Corey Simon and Darwin Walker "get a tremendous push back into the pocket," McNally said.
"They put Kalu in there on passing downs, and he makes things happen," he said.
Kirkland, who weighs almost 300 pounds, is a linebacker who can stuff the run like a defensive tackle. The other linebackers are fast. Three of the four starting defensive backs — corners Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent, and Brian Dawkins at safety — will play in the Pro Bowl, and the other safety, Blaine Bishop, has 10 years of experience. They will all be focused on Johnson here Sunday.
Unleash the hounds. |
