Eagles notebook: Vic Fangio praises young player earning snaps

In his second NFL season, defensive tackle Moro Ojomo is carving out a role in the Eagles’ defensive tackle rotation. And he’s playing well

It’s not going unnoticed.

“He’s a guy that's made a good improvement from the start,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said. “Works extremely hard on the practice field and in the meetings, and it's been paying off. He's got some good athletic ability. 

“He's on the small side as D-linemen go, but he does come with the quickness and speed that you would hope a smaller guy would have. And he plays really hard and he's done a nice job. And he's earned his playing time.”

Against the Browns, Ojomo played 21 snaps and had a couple pressures. He has consistently been getting pressure all season.

Ojomo is listed at 6-foot-3, 292 pounds, so (like Fangio said) he is a little undersized. But his quickness and athletic ability are a nice trade-off. The Eagles used a seventh-round pick (No. 249 overall) on Ojomo and it’s looking like a really great Day 3 pick.

Through five games this season, Ojomo has played 105 defensive snaps (33%). He hasn’t picked up his first NFL sack yet but it just seems like a matter of time.

While he hasn’t played a ton on defense so far, Ojomo has the third-highest pressure rate on the team and the highest rate among defensive tackles at 11.9%. Ojomo is actually ahead of Jalen Carter at 8.5%. While Carter is playing way more snaps, including a ton of early downs, that’s still impressive.

Ojomo has 8 pressures on just 99 defensive plays this season. Among players with 8+ pressures just two have done it on fewer plays.

Back to MetLife

The Eagles have one spot open on their 53-man roster after putting Jordan Mailata on Injured Reserve Friday and there’s a good chance it goes to Sydney Brown. The second-year safety has been busy rehabbing from a torn ACL and has been practicing for two weeks now after the Eagles’ activated his practice window from the PUP list.

If Brown plays on Sunday, the location isn’t lost on him. Back to MetLife Stadium, home of notoriously bad turf, where he tore his ACL in January.

“It is the place where I tore it. I realize that,” Brown said. “But it’s another year. I prepared. I dominated this ACL process. It’s just something that I prepared for. Obviously, it’s on my mind but it’s not something I’m superstitious about. 

“Everything happens for a reason and on that day, on Jan. 7, I tore my ACL for a reason. What is today? The 17th? 18th? I’m not worried about that. I’m just focused on what I can do to help the team and how we’re going to get his W.”

Brown, 24, has been back in practice for two weeks but was training hard in rehab before then. On Friday, he said he feels great and will be ready to play if the coaches decide that’s the plan. He was a full participant in practice all week.

“It’s realistic,” Brown said. “That’s obviously not for me, that’s up to the coaches. Just know that if my name is called, I’ll be ready.”

If Brown plays on Sunday, his role will likely be limited. He’ll most likely be a special teams player and backup on defense.

Quoting John Wooden

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably noticed the immense amount of criticism that has been hurled in Nick Sirianni’s direction in recent weeks. Sirianni does not live under a rock. 

At times, he probably wishes he does, but he doesn’t.

On Wednesday, when asked about his method for dealing with criticism, Sirianni cited a quote from legendary basketball coach John Wooden:

“The more concerned we become over the things we can’t control, the less we will do with the things we can control.”

As much as the Eagles’ head coach tries to insulate himself from outside criticism, that’s impossible to do. He hears it. How could he not? Heck, there were fans chanting “Fire Nick!” during the game on Sunday at the Linc. The walls at the NovaCare Complex are solid but they’re not impenetrable when it comes to criticism.

While “control what you can control” has become the ultimate coach-speak phrase in the world of modern sports, it’s something Sirianni believes in. He can’t directly control the criticism but he can quiet it if he does his job well and the results improve.

“If I'm focused on things I can't control, then I can't do my job,” Sirianni said. “If I want these guys to get better every single day, I better work on getting better every single day. Sometimes that getting better, it's always about admitting your mistakes, whether it's after a game, during the game, whether it's something you did at practice. So that's my only focus and my only goal.”

Lost is space

Nakobe Dean has done some good things as the Eagles’ middle linebacker this season but didn’t have a very good outing against the Browns on Sunday.

While ProFootBallFocus grades should be taken with a grain of salt, Dean was the worst graded defensive player from the Browns game. In addition to his struggles in coverage, Dean missed two more tackles, giving him seven on the season by PFF’s count.

But where Dean really struggled against the Browns was in space. The always-honest Fangio didn’t disagree with that assessment.

“Yeah, I think some of those, particularly with Deshaun Watson in space, he's got a long list of guys that have missed him in space. So, it's a tough duty,” Fangio said. “I do think he can do better, not bite on the pump fake, etc. But those are hard tackles. And it's definitely an area that he needs to improve on.”

Here’s that rep that Fangio was talking about from the third quarter. It’s a tough matchup to be 1-on-1 with Watson in space but Dean can’t fall for the pump fake. Instead of a no-gain or short gain, this ends up being 6-yarder on first down. A few plays later, Brandon Graham had a huge TFL but this was an ugly play on tape for Dean.

Is it a preference?

Through six weeks of the 2024 season, there’s one thing that just hasn’t changed very much about this Eagles offense: Jalen Hurts isn’t throwing to the middle of the field.

The quarterback was asked about it on Wednesday.

“We’re just not throwing it over the middle,” Hurts said. “That’s kind of how it’s gone. It’s not like I like throwing anywhere specifically. It just hasn’t panned out that way.”

When asked specifically if it’s a preference thing, Hurts said, “It’s not.”

Earlier in the week, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore was asked about the lack of MOF throws against the Browns and said it was because of the Browns’ coverage in that game. They had isolations on the outside and wanted to hit those opportunities.

“Would we love to attack the middle of the field as time evolves? Absolutely,” Moore said. “And we'll continue to find spaces for that.”

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