With the regular season in the books, the Eagles have full confidence in young defensive backs Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell heading into the playoffs.
They allowed 414 yards, the most they’ve allowed in a season opener since Buddy Ryan’s first game as an NFL head coach back in 1986.
They allowed 7.8 yards per carry, 6th-worst in franchise history.
They had a season-high 10 missed tackles, or three times more than their average for the rest of the year.
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They gave up 29 points, or twice what they allowed per game during their 10-game winning streak.
Did the Eagles play up to their standard in the first Packers game?
“I don’t think we even had a standard yet,” Zack Baun said. “That’s something you develop over the season, and we didn’t know what we were as a defense or what we could become.”
There was certainly no indication from the Eagles’ opening-day performance against the Packers that this rag-tag, undisciplined, fundamentally flawed group would finish the season as the No. 1 defense in the NFL.
But thanks to a brilliant defensive coordinator in veteran Vic Fangio, a group of young players blossoming at the same time and a handful of veterans playing at a high level, that’s exactly what happened.
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And the defense the Packers will see Sunday at the Linc bears little resemblance to the group they shredded on opening day in São Paulo.
“There were obviously some good parts of it, but it was a very sloppy game overall by us,” Baun said. “A sloppy game as far as run fits, pass responsibility, tackling. Granted the field was slippery, but that's no excuse. It was slippery for them too.
“We’re a whole different defense now. A whole new sense of confidence in what we're doing. I really like where we're at right now with our toughness and also just being in the right place.”
The Eagles beat the Packers 34-29 in the opener despite a shaky defensive performance, and a week later in the home opener against the Falcons they allowed a 70-yard touchdown drive in the final minutes to lose. Two weeks later they allowed 24 1st-half points in Tampa.
A month into the season, the Eagles were 23rd in the NFL in points allowed, 27th in pass defense, 29th in yards allowed and 28th in takeaways.
The rest of the season, they were the best defense in the NFL by any measure.
The Packers hit six plays of at least 25 yards that day. During their entire 10-game winning streak, the Eagles allowed only 11.
“We made some good plays but there were a lot of plays that almost made me want to throw up,” Nakobe Dean said after watching film of the first Packers game. “We weren’t playing up to our standard that we built ourselves.
“I feel like we as a defense have come a long ways. The pride we take in everything as far as stopping the run, stopping the pass, our technique, block destruction, tackling, fundamentals, I feel like we’ve all come far in every type of way.”
That opener vs. the Packers was the first NFL game for Quinyon Mitchell, the first start as an off-ball linebacker for Baun, increased roles for Nolan Smith, Jalen Carter and Dean. All in a new scheme with a new defensive coordinator. With the youngest starting defense in football.
No wonder it took a few weeks for it to all come together.
“We’ve all gotta up our game a notch,” Darius Slay said. “ That was Week 1. They got better, we got better. We’re in, what, Week 19? That’s a long damn time ago.
“Their offense is great and they got better as much as we got better. In the playoffs we know one thing: Everybody is going to be close player-wise, stat-wise, turnover ratio, explosive plays. Right now it’s best vs. the best so who will make the less mistakes, and we’ve got to be the team that makes less mistakes.”
The one big change Fangio made along the way was replacing slot Avonte Maddox with rookie Cooper DeJean during the bye week.
In 13 games since that change, the Eagles were No. 1 in the NFL in yards, points and passing yards allowed, 3rd on third down and 4th in takeaways. And went 12-1.
“When we started out, there were a lot of new faces in this building, a new scheme and it just took some time getting comfortable with the scheme and that really made a difference for us,” Baun said.
“I think the bye gave us a chance to reset and really lock in for the rest of the season.”
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