Following Week 7, Sean Desai commented on how he wants his players to take ownership of his defense. Dave Zangaro followed up with veteran Brandon Graham to find out what that means to him.
What’s most remarkable about the performance of the Eagles’ defense, a franchise achievement that’s been nearly a century in the making and a thought about Boston Scott.
The Eagles are rolling, now with the best record in the NFL – either shared or outright – for 25 weeks in a row, and Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations rolls into Week 8 with our usual assortment of unrelated notes, stats and opinions.
1. No longer here (or out for the year): Kyzir White, T.J. Edwards, Javon Hargrave, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Marcus Epps, Avonte Maddox, Linval Joseph, Ndamukong Suh and K’Von Wallace. New here: Zach Cunningham, Nicholas Morrow, Jalen Carter, Justin Evans, Kentavius Street, Mario Goodrich, Bradley Roby, Eli Ricks, Nolan Smith, Christian Ellis and Terrell Edmunds (who’s also no longer here). The changes on the Eagles’ defense since the Super Bowl have been massive. Which makes what this unit has been doing even more impressive. The Eagles had the No. 2 defense in the NFL last year, 15 yards out of the top spot, and they have only five starters left from that group. They have new backup corners, two new starting safeties, an entirely new group of linebackers, two new starting interior lineman, a new coordinator, a new linebackers coach and a new secondary coach. They haven’t had a linebacker or defensive back start all seven games, and on Sunday Kevin Byard will likely become their 19thdefensive starter in eight games. And yet, Sean Desai’s unit is 6th in overall defense, 1st in run defense, 3rd in sacks, somehow 7th in passing yards per play allowed with 15 different defensive backs and 8th in 1st downs allowed. That’s with 31 different guys getting defensive snaps. Seven of whom weren’t on the opening-day roster. This is a very good defense, and if there were any doubt before last Sunday, limiting the Dolphins to 10 points and 244 yards should have eliminated them. For this defense to be playing at this level despite so many changes in coaching and personnel is incredible. Imagine what this group will look like once they’re healthy? Once they learn how to really play together? Once the pressure they’re getting every week now translates into takeaways? Scary to think how good they can be.
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2. When the Eagles are at least plus-one in turnover margin under Nick Sirianni they have a 20-1 record. When they’re exactly zero, they’re 5-4, and when they’re minus-one they’re 4-4. So they’re 29-9 when they’re minus-one or better. When they’re minus-two or worse, they’re 2-5. Their only loss when they’ve had a positive turnover margin was 42-30 early in 2021 to the Chiefs. They’ve won 20 straight since. If this team can protect the football, it's almost impossible for them to lose.
3. The last Eagles wide receiver to have a 1,000-yard season while wearing a jersey number in the 80s was Kevin Curtis.
4. I wouldn’t mind a little more Boston Scott mixed in. I think a healthy dollop of Scott’s quickness would be a nice change of pace to D’Andre Swift’s toughness. Scott only has eight carries this year – five in the Vikings game - but his 75.0 running success rate is highest in the NFL. Overall since 2018, Scott’s 52.1 success rate is 12th-highest of 86 running backs with at least 250 carries. We’ve seen his explosiveness around here for years. He’s a weapon with the ball in his hands whether it’s on a kick return, on a reception out of the backfield or a running play. Did you know only 12 running backs in NFL history have scored more touchdowns than Scott on fewer than 400 career touches? And seven of them were before 1950. I just think Scott is a really good back, and I’d like to see a small but significant role carved out for him.
5. Every defensive metric shows the Eagles playing at a much higher level over the last three games than the first four. What’s at the root of the improvement? Pressure. The first three games, the Eagles had six sacks. The last four they have an NFL-high 18. Their streak of four straight games with at least four sacks is 3rd-longest in franchise history, and overall they’re up to 3rd in the NFL with 24 sacks, behind only the Ravens (29) and Bills (28). Not so coincidentally, the improved production correlates to exactly when Haason Reddick had the cast removed from his right hand. I don’t think they’re going to get 70 sacks again, but you know what? They’re not going to be too far off.
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6. One of the more under-rated performances in the win over Miami Sunday came from slot corner Josiah Scott, who had just rejoined the Eagles four days earlier. Scott spent the summer with the Eagles but was released as part of final cuts and had been on the Steelers’ practice squad when the Eagles, desperate for slot help, snagged him. All Scott did Sunday – in his first game in 10 months – was play 17 defensive snaps and allow just 25 yards on six targets. Scott was the eighth slot the Eagles have used this year (Zech McPhearson, Avonte Maddox, Bradley Roby, Mario Goodrich, James Bradberry, Sydney Brown, Eli Ricks), and he played tough against a pretty high-powered offense in his most extensive action since the Saints game late last year. Scott allowed 4.2 yards per completion, which is by far the lowest figure against the Dolphins this year among defensive backs targeted at least five times. Scott played 29 games for the Eagles in 2021 and 2022, but the one game he played after they released him and brought him back might have been the best.
7. Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat each have 5 ½ sacks, which makes this the first time in 27 years the Eagles have had two players with at least 5 ½ sacks after seven games. In 1996, William Fuller and Mike Mamula each had 6.0 through seven games. In 1991, they had three guys with 5 ½ sacks seven games into the season – Reggie White 5 ½, Jerome Brown 6.0 and Clyde Simmons 6 ½. The Eagles are the only team this year with two guys that currently have at least 5 ½ sacks.
8. The Eagles have used a franchise-record 13 former 1st-round picks this year. That includes eight of their own 1st-round picks - Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Lane Johnson, Derek Barnett, DeVonta Smith, Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith - and five from other teams -Terrell Edmunds, Julio Jones, Rashaad Penny, Haason Reddick, Bradley Roby. A 14thformer 1st-round pick – Rashaan Evans - was briefly on the practice squad but didn’t get into a game. The previous Eagles record for most 1st-round picks is 12 on the 1990 team: Jerome Brown, Keith Byars, Al Harris, Kenny Jackson, Keith Jackson, Jim McMahon, Mike Pitts, Mike Quick, Mike Schad, Ben Smith, Ron Solt, Roger Vick. Remember, Reggie White was a supplemental pick and doesn’t count on this list.
9. NFL head coaches who’ve won 70 percent of their regular-season games and at least two postseason games in their career: Hall of Famer John Madden, Hall of Famer Vince Lombardi, Hall of Famer George Allen and Nick Sirianni.
10. The Eagles are slowly closing in on a historic moment in franchise history. The franchise has been around for 91 years but has never had a winning record at any point. In 1933, the Eagles lost their first three games, then went 3-0-1 in their next four games to reach 3-3-1. But they lost 10-0 the next week to the Packers at the Baker Bowl at Broad and Lehigh, and they've had a losing record ever since. The farthest below .500 they’ve ever been was five weeks into the 1987 season, when they were 288-385-24 - 97 games under. Then they beat the Cowboys 37-20 at the Vet and then the Cards in St. Louis and Washington at the Vet to begin the long climb back toward .500. They won at least 10 games in each of the next five years and they’ve been inching closer ever since. Since Week 6 of that 1987 season, the Eagles are 331-246-23 - 85 games over .500. That puts them at 619-631-27 all-time. So the Eagles have gone from 97 games under .500 in 1987 to just 12 games under .500 in about 36 years. Let’s say the Eagles go 7-3 the rest of the year. That would put them just eight games under .500, with an all-time winning record – which has avoided the franchise for nearly a century – reachable in 2024.
10A. This one is hard to comprehend, but it’s true: The Eagles have had more winning seasons since 1990 than before 1990. In 57 seasons from 1933 through 1989, they had 20 winning seasons. In 33 seasons since 1990, they’ve had 21.