How the Eagles' defense slammed the door on the Rams after a shaky start

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How the Eagles' defense slammed the door on the Rams after a shaky start

Sean Desai's defense pitched a second-half shutout against the Rams

By Reuben Frank, Eagles Insider • Published October 9, 2023

 

The Rams’ offense couldn’t do anything wrong. Then the Rams’ offense couldn’t do anything right.

The Eagles’ defense pulled off a remarkable turnaround Sunday, following a shaky first half with a brilliant second half in the Eagles’ 23-14 win over the Rams at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.

Rams in the first half: 14 points, 168 yards, 5-for-7 on third down, 146 net passing yards.

Rams in the second half: 0 points, 82 yards, 1-for-7 on third down, 49 net passing yards.

"We came in here (at halftime) and everybody was talking, all of our leaders, Slay, Sweaty, B.G., everybody was talking, ‘Hey fellas, let's go out and play a better half of football coming out in the second half,’” Haason Reddick said. 

"Let's just settle down. The coaches came in and gave us an adjustment, but let's just settle down and we were able to do that, played a way better second half … shut them down and contribute to the win.”

There were X&O adjustments, mainly in the way the defensive backs covered Cooper Kupp, who was 6-for-95 before halftime and 2-for-23 after.

But the real difference was just execution. The Eagles tackled better, covered better and pressured better. And after putting together two 75-yard TD drives in the first half, the Rams averaged just 19 yards per drive in the second half.

The Rams netted 31 yards on three meaningless plays in the game’s final 51 seconds, but until then they had just 51 yards on 29 plays after halftime.

They couldn't do anything.

The Eagles are so good against the run it forces teams to pass more than they want, which plays right into the hands of the Eagles’ pass rushers. The Eagles recorded three second-half sacks – two by Reddick and one by Jalen Carter. Matthew Stafford grew more and more ineffective as the hits began piling up. 

Just how the Eagles drew it up.

"We knew that they would have to start holding on to the ball a little bit more, try to take some shots as the clock started winding down,” Reddick said. 

"The offense did a great job chewing up the clock, putting more points on the board, which in turn gave the defense more time and opportunity to go out there and play, gave the d-line more time to go hunt.”

The Rams never made it past the Eagles’ 43-yard line in the second half and never crossed midfield in the fourth quarter.

The early defensive issues are understandable considering the patchwork secondary the Eagles were forced to use. Eli Ricks got 13 snaps in his first NFL action, Mario Goodrich got 18 snaps in his second NFL game, Bradley Roby played 25 snaps just four days after signing with the Eagles and Ricks, Goodrich, James Bradberry, Roby and Darius Slay were all in the slot at some point.

"First half we were a little discombobulated as a whole,” Slay said. "We just had to go back to basics and get the job done.”

It was especially encouraging to see new defensive coordinator Sean Desai for the first time really make the necessary adjustments to turn a game around.

The Eagles entered the game near the bottom in just about every defensive category except run defense, but against a high-powered offense, on the road, after a rough start, this looked like an elite defense the entire second half.

"Just keep going and you start to see some of the stuff  where they were trying to hit us,” Brandon Graham said. "And then once the DBs knew what they were doing a little bit, they started being able to just build that confidence even more. 

"And so up front, it gave us a little more time, too, and I think it just worked out well.”

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/how-the-eagles-defense-slammed-the-door-on-the-rams-after-a-shaky-start/539964/