The Eagles defense has always been predicated on a strong pass rush utilizing intricate blitz schemes, many times overloads on the A-gap. In the first game of the season between Dallas and Philly, Eagles DC Sean McDermott blitzed the Cowboys mercilessly, but came up short. In the recent game, the Eagles played back with their defense and only rushed four, and had even less success in slowing down the Cowboys offense.
Blogging The Boys: Cowboys Will Continue To Attack Eagles Secondary
Blogging The Boys thinks that Philly will return to their blitzes for the playoff game, but Dallas can still attack a gambling Eagles secondary that can find itself out of position on occasion, as long as the Dallas offensive line can give Romo time.
McDermott’s secondary gives up big plays — a lot of them. His guys rank higher than Wade Phillips’ in yards allowed, but the Eagles back seven has surrendered an eye-popping 27 touchdown passes this year, as many as their ballyhooed passing offense has scored. He knows he has matchup problems against [Jason] Witten and against [Patrick] Crayton. His corners also had a lot more trouble with Miles Austin in the rematch. McDermott learned that keeping extra defenders did no good, in great part because his four-man rushes did little to disrupt Romo.
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All the movement and blitzing has turned Patrick Crayton into an Eagles’ killer. He had 99 yards last week and 74 in the first game. One of those plays was a 64 yard seam route just before the half where [nickel-corner Joselio] Hanson blitzed off the slot and Romo found Crayton behind a linebacker. The Eagles have no answer for him right now and I expect Jason Garrett to send him into the deep middle more this game, to keep Hanson off balance and to keep the short and intermediate levels free for Witten to cause more damage.
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