Gannon responds to questions about historically bad pass defense

[time2rock]

Gannon responds to questions about historically bad pass defense

 

Justin Herbert on Sunday completed 32 of 38 passes, well over 80 percent.

That’s rare in the NFL.

It’s not so rare against the Eagles.

In fact, there have been 13 games in which a quarterback has attempted at least 25 passes and completed over 80% of them this season. Five of those games have been against the Eagles and all five have come in the past seven weeks.

"Yeah, that's what the numbers say,” Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said on Tuesday. "We definitely have to get that completion percentage down and there's a number of ways to do that. It starts with us, as coaches, to detail out some things and change some looks. And rush and cover, cover and rush have to get a little bit better.

"But when you're playing good quarterbacks with good skilled people – we played well at times, but probably not consistent enough. So, that number has to come down. We have to improve that with our pass defense to be able to provide some resistance to good offenses.”

Gannon is right that the quarterbacks who have completed over 80% of their passes against the Eagles are good. They’re very good.

But those players also aren’t dissecting the rest of their opponents in a similar manner. Just check out their completion percentages against the Eagles vs. their completion percentages in their other games.

Dak Prescott: 80.77% vs. Eagles — 68.12% in other games

Patrick Mahomes: 80.00% vs. Eagles — 63.86% in other games

Tom Brady: 80.95% vs. Eagles — 63.45% in other games

Derek Carr: 91.18% vs. Eagles — 64.39% in other games

Justin Herbert: 84.21% vs. Eagles — 63.70% in other games

"I wouldn't say (it is) alarming to me,” Gannon said. "I would say that we know the areas that we have to get better at, and we've done that at times. We just have to be a little more consistent.

"It really, though, again it starts with us setting it up a little bit better, how I call the game a little bit better at some certain spots where you can throw a wrench into what the quarterback is seeing or when they call certain plays, you'd like to be in a couple better calls here or there. But, ultimately, it's about all of us just improving and being a little more consistent.”

Gannon continues to say that he knows where the Eagles need to get better but against top competition, the same issues arise. Now, the biggest issue with the Eagles’ defense is a lack of talent, which starts with poor drafting. But it’s Gannon’s job to get the most out of his unit. And in these five games — all losses — that hasn’t happened.

During his time as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, Gannon has made it very clear that he wants to limit explosive plays. At times, his entire defense is predicated on that thought, which is a valid one.

"The quickest way to get beat is get the ball thrown over your head,” Gannon said on Tuesday.

But in these games, the Eagles have limited big plays but they didn’t make any big plays of their own. And with how accurate some NFL quarterbacks are, they can slice and dice a defense up and down the field.

The good news for the Eagles is aside from their Week 18 home game against the Cowboys — who might not have anything to play for by that point — they won’t face any more elite quarterbacks this season.

Instead, they’ll see Teddy Bridgewater, Trevor Siemian, Daniel Jones, Zach Wilson and Tyler Heinicke.

Gannon’s defense against lesser quarterbacks hasn’t been a problem. They’ve played well against Matt Ryan, Jimmy Garoppolo, Sam Darnold and Jared Goff.

So maybe the Eagles’ defense will simply turn things around now that they’ve gotten through the toughest quarterbacks on their schedule. But the fact that these five games happened and Gannon wasn’t able to plug the leaks is still troubling.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-jonathan-gannon-responds-about-historically-bad-pass-defense

[NCTANK]

excuses, excuses 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

I was really far out on Sirianni and the last couple of weeks he's starting to show he probably deserves more time. 

But I'm way further out on Gannon. I mean he's shown us absolutely nothing. His D is pathetic. It's soft, it's easy to play against and there's nothing about it to get behind. 

Sometimes you can see that a defense is not far away from executing. That they are getting beaten up but they are close. That isn't the case here. The DL gets little to no pressure. Gannon then doesn't blitz to help his DL out. He doesn't blitz yet there are so many easy passes made every single game. I mean actually this team doesn't get beat deep much so the more difficult passes aren't being attempted. They don't need to be though. And they are pathetic against the run. 

[time2rock]

5 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

His D is pathetic. It's soft

 

[EricAllenPick6]

6 hours ago, time2rock said:

"The quickest way to get beat is get the ball thrown over your head,” Gannon said on Tuesday.

This quote pisses me off so very much.  

The easiest way to win is to MAYBE STOP THE OPPOSING QB FROM COMPLETING ANY PASS HE WANTS!!

5 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

he DL gets little to no pressure

This is the actual problem.  Our D line should be the strength of this defense, but it's not.  Is it scheme?  Aging talent?  A little of both?  

Gannon reminds me of one of those "I can run a good defense when I get my guys here" kind of guys.  Get rid of him.  Is it too late to get Jim Shorts back?

[YubaEagle]

3 hours ago, EricAllenPick6 said:

This quote pisses me off so very much.  

The easiest way to win is to MAYBE STOP THE OPPOSING QB FROM COMPLETING ANY PASS HE WANTS!!

This is the actual problem.  Our D line should be the strength of this defense, but it's not.  Is it scheme?  Aging talent?  A little of both?  

Gannon reminds me of one of those "I can run a good defense when I get my guys here" kind of guys.  Get rid of him.  Is it too late to get Jim Shorts back?

Agreed 100%, Why would any QB even try to throw over 20 yds, if everything under is a free pitch and catch?

I never thought I'd be nostalgic for Schwartz's Defense, but at least they weren't historically bad.

[PoconoDon]

Weak personnel. Even weaker philosophy. Inexperienced leadership. Add it up and you get...trash, which is what the Eagles' defense is in 2021. 

[birdman#12]

If those completions percentages are not "alarming him",  he really needs to get his head out of his arse.

I realize the eagles defensive line was waaaaaaaay overrated, but there are things Gannen can do to spark the pass rush.  Letting Herbert stand back there and never get sacked, hit or even pressured is inexcusable......But the linebackers are a weak link and this puts all the pressure on the defensive backs.

The eagles have shown some offensive improvement the last couple weeks, but the defense is all over the place.  If Roseman doesn't use those 3 first round picks on defensive players, especially at linebacker, he will just emphasize how out of touch his philosophy is.....

[EaglesAddict]

Quote

 

The good news for the Eagles is aside from their Week 18 home game against the Cowboys — who might not have anything to play for by that point — they won’t face any more elite quarterbacks this season.

Instead, they’ll see Teddy Bridgewater, Trevor Siemian, Daniel Jones, Zach Wilson and Tyler Heinicke.

Gannon’s defense against lesser quarterbacks hasn’t been a problem. They’ve played well against Matt Ryan, Jimmy Garoppolo, Sam Darnold and Jared Goff.

 

And if the D looks better during this stretch...isn't that what we would refer to as "fool's gold"?  The issue is definitely a mix of Gannon's philosophy and the talent.  It's hard to truly judge the Dline talent when you hear players like Cox are being coached to defend screen passes...so...are they not effective because the scheme is calling for them to not to attack upfield?

Things will only be worse next year without infusing ALOT of new talent.  Cox's continual decline, BG aging and coming off major injury, Barnett gone, the ghost of Kerrigan gone...questions on if Milton Williams is a legit player (Sweat too?)...Hargrave has petered out some, how good will he be?  Slay older and will start declining soon, Nelson...???   No safeties or LBs...

It's alarming how much WORSE this D can become unless a major infusion of players happens.  But, you know...QB factory...2 or all 3 first round picks will go towards a QB 

[time2rock]

He'll learn ... he'll adjust eventually.  If not he'll be out of a job.  Just like Sirianni is new to the position and new to play calling, Gannon is new to his position as well.  This is the year to learn what works and how to game plan properly since this year isn't going anywhere anyway.  It's just taking him a little longer to figure things out.  At least it only took Sirianni 7 weeks to start figuring out he needs to run the ball (although he may be overcompensating lol).  

[pallidrone]

14 minutes ago, time2rock said:

He'll learn ... he'll adjust eventually.  If not he'll be out of a job.  Just like Sirianni is new to the position and new to play calling, Gannon is new to his position as well.  This is the year to learn what works and how to game plan properly since this year isn't going anywhere anyway.  It's just taking him a little longer to figure things out.  At least it only took Sirianni 7 weeks to start figuring out he needs to run the ball (although he may be overcompensating lol).  

I agree. Sean McDermott was ran out of town as the DC from the Eagles after a year because of poor results and he ended up being a really good DC and now HC. Sometimes it takes a year to figure out your philosophy, what you have and what you need, especially when this is the first time as a DC.

With that said, he will need to show SOME improvement by the end of the year.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

5 hours ago, pallidrone said:

With that said, he will need to show SOME improvement by the end of the year.

And for me this is why I'm so angry and so disappointed. We were told that Gannon was this highly rated DC. He was meant to be this creative DC who was going to mix things up and disguise things. But so far we've not seen any of that. He's doing the same ish over and over again. 

[PoconoDon]

2 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

And for me this is why I'm so angry and so disappointed. We were told that Gannon was this highly rated DC. He was meant to be this creative DC who was going to mix things up and disguise things. But so far we've not seen any of that. He's doing the same ish over and over again.