Understanding what makes Eagles' top-rated defense so special

They’re ninth in the NFL in sacks, 22^nd in interceptions, 15^th in takeaways. 

They don’t have anybody in the top 15 in the NFL in sacks, in the top 10 in interceptions or tackles for loss or top 25 in quarterback hits.

Their cornerbacks have a grand total of zero interceptions.

They only have two former Pro Bowlers on the entire unit and they’ll probably only get two more this year.

The Eagles have the best defense in the NFL and it can be tricky figuring out just how that’s possible.

This is a classic case of the whole truly being greater than the sum of its parts. 

Josh Sweat and Darius Slay are the only former defensive Pro Bowlers on the roster, and Sweat made it once – in 2021 – and Slay is now 34 and playing well but with his best years in the rear-view mirror.

Zack Baun and Jalen Carter will probably make the Pro Bowl this year, Baun in his first year with a new team and playing a new position and Carter in his first year as a starter.

But with this defense, it’s not about the individuals, it’s about the group. 

Their MVP is communication, their all-pro is togetherness, their superstar is chemistry.

You start with Howie Roseman, the architect of this group. After last year’s disaster – the Eagles finished 26^th in yards allowed and 30^th in points allowed – the Eagles replaced defensive coordinator Sean Desai with Vic Fangio, then Roseman tore up the defensive roster, drafted Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, re-signed Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and snagged Baun when nobody else wanted him. 

Huge jumps by former Georgia teammates Nakobe Dean, Nolan Smith and Carter as well as Milton Williams and a bounce-back season by Sweat created a unit that doesn’t have a weakness.

They have a handful of great players, a bunch of very good players and not a single average player.

The final piece of the puzzle was DeJean, who replaced Avonte Maddox in the slot with the Eagles 2-2.

They haven’t lost since.

What’s also remarkable about this defense is that the Eagles don’t have a single player whose contract is among the 50-highest defensive salaries in the NFL. Only one starter – Slay – is among the 100-highest-paid defensive players in the league.

Roseman didn’t buy this defense. He found pieces that he and the coaches believed were smart, tough, physical and unselfish and would fit together, and then he left it up to the coaching staff to develop them and get the most out of them.

It’s not easy in the modern NFL to find 11 guys who are more concerned with playing team ball than piling up stats. But they’ve done it.

At any point in any game, anybody on the field can make a pivotal play. And when they do, the joy is spread equally, 11 guys celebrating as one.

They legitimately don’t care who makes a big play. As long as someone does. 

And so far, almost always, someone has.

Going into their Week 16 game against the Commanders, the Eagles are allowing 275.6 yards per game, by far the lowest in the NFL. The Titans are second at 297.4, with the 49ers (298.8) and Texans (302.4) not far behind.

So the Eagles have a 306-yard edge with three games to go and have an excellent chance at locking up their first No. 1 ranking since 1991 and third since 1954.

That 1991 team was a more conventional No. 1 defense. Future Hall of Famer Reggie White was second in the league with 15 sacks and Clyde Simmons had 13. Hall of Fame finalist Eric Allen and Wes Hopkins each had five interceptions. That defense led the NFL with 55 sacks and 48 takeaways.

And that was a veteran defense, with most of the nucleus – White, Simmons, Jerome Brown, Seth Joyner, Andre Waters, Allen, Hopkins – together going back to the mid- to late-1980s with Buddy Ryan and even Marion Campbell. They had been together for years and played like it. They were a machine.

This group? Of the 11 starters Sunday in the win over the Steelers, only three – Josh Sweat, Milton Williams and Slay – started in the playoff loss to the Bucs last year.

This is the youngest defense in the NFL and a group that’s only been together for a few months. 

And here we are. They’re just better than everybody else.

During the 10-game winning streak, the Eagles’ defense has allowed 13.7 points and 239 yards per game. The last team to allow under 14 points and under 240 yards per game in any 10-game stretch was the 2014 Seahawks, who made it to the Super Bowl.

There’s clearly something special going on here. How can a brand-new defense with a new coaching staff and a bunch of guys who’ve never been starters be doing what they’re doing?

It’s the way they play together, the way they help each other out, the way they sacrifice their own performance to help their teammates make plays, the way they play for each other and not themselves, the way they don’t care who gets the credit, the way they make the guys around them better.

It’s because the strength of this defense isn’t the secondary or the defensive line or the linebackers. The strength of this group is the group. 

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Simplecast | RSS | Watch on YouTube