9 minutes ago, nipples said:

The problem is he brings no pressure at all until his defense has been beaten up for half the game. Then he’ll start to dial up some blitzes and stunts, then suddenly the D starts to look better. It’s almost like he should be bringing the pressure right from the first snap… what a concept. 

Exactly.  It's as if every game he starts off by sitting back and seeing what the offense is doing and then devises his game plan. It's crazy how consistently bad our D looks in the first half of games.

1 hour ago, EaglesAddict said:

Exactly.  It's as if every game he starts off by sitting back and seeing what the offense is doing and then devises his game plan. It's crazy how consistently bad our D looks in the first half of games.

I just worry what a good QB is going to do to us. Heincke is not a good QB but in that first half they made him look like a damn superstar.

48 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I just worry what a good QB is going to do to us. Heincke is not a good QB but in that first half they made him look like a damn superstar.

Heinicke is no scrub.  Dude played well for a two month stretch and has secured himself as top end backup going forward.  At home, he put up 16 pts against our average to above average Defense.  All this crying is weird.

Not sure why some say lack of talent on D. This D has more talent than our SB year. They are not being utilized properly. It's pretty amazing how we look when we blitz instead of sitting back and being a door mat. Gannon calls a scared game. Giving up easy yards.

Like I said. He hopes the opposition makes a mistake instead of us forcing them into a mistake. 

4 hours ago, dawkins4prez said:

Heinicke is no scrub.  Dude played well for a two month stretch and has secured himself as top end backup going forward.  At home, he put up 16 pts against our average to above average Defense.  All this crying is weird.

A top end back up... You don't expect a top end back up to complete like 75% of their passes.

12 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

A top end back up... You don't expect a top end back up to complete like 75% of their passes.

Yeah, top end back ups are capable of a good stretch of games. They can even have a great game or half.  At the end of the day they scored 16 pts.  Its a bad offense but not the worst in the league.  Oline is solid (some analytics sites have them top 10), Heinicke isnt a total bum, McLaurin is legit...

4 hours ago, Portyansky said:

Not sure why some say lack of talent on D. This D has more talent than our SB year. They are not being utilized properly. It's pretty amazing how we look when we blitz instead of sitting back and being a door mat. Gannon calls a scared game. Giving up easy yards.

Like I said. He hopes the opposition makes a mistake instead of us forcing them into a mistake. 

No way dude, we had a lethal 6-7 man rotation up front led by peak career Cox/Graham.  This group is well short of that.  The back 7's are even i guess.

5 hours ago, Portyansky said:

Not sure why some say lack of talent on D. This D has more talent than our SB year. They are not being utilized properly. It's pretty amazing how we look when we blitz instead of sitting back and being a door mat. Gannon calls a scared game. Giving up easy yards.

Like I said. He hopes the opposition makes a mistake instead of us forcing them into a mistake. 

 

25 minutes ago, dawkins4prez said:

No way dude, we had a lethal 6-7 man rotation up front led by peak career Cox/Graham.  This group is well short of that.  The back 7's are even i guess.

Yeah - the Super Bowl D was clearly better. This team has an advantage at CB, and is pretty neutral at DT (Hargrave is better than most of our DTs in that year, but Cox has clearly declined from then, so it's about even). DE, S and LB the Eagles were definitely better in 2017. 

1 hour ago, dawkins4prez said:

No way dude, we had a lethal 6-7 man rotation up front led by peak career Cox/Graham.  This group is well short of that.  The back 7's are even i guess.

Our D did so well back the bc we controlled the clock. Same goes for all these games our rushing attack has been #1. Running game = Defense. 

9 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I just worry what a good QB is going to do to us. Heincke is not a good QB but in that first half they made him look like a damn superstar.

Yeah Ganon has a way of making Avg QB's look like studs.. Zach Wilson was looking unstoppable at one point..... Ganon has to go...

I’ve said this before and will say it again - Gannon isn’t my cup of tea. His style is just too passive. I like my D to be aggressive and live with the risk of giving up some big plays but also creating big plays - sacks, INTs, etc. It also fits the personality of this town more, just like a running, physical offence.

But I can’t deny he has exceed expectations with a group I generally think lacks talent in certain key areas. The D has been effective and big part of our surge. But it’s all against weak offences, I’m not sure it will work against top offences / QBs

16 hours ago, kiwieagle said:

But it’s all against weak offences, I’m not sure it will work against top offences / QBs

Great defenses rarely stop good offenses anymore. You just have to hope it's good enough to make a couple of key stops or force a key turnover. Even in some of the blowouts Gannon's defense got some good stops but at that time we weren't running the ball so it was a bunch of 3 and outs. 

Gannon sucks. The only thing that makes him look decent is the crappy QB's he beat, crappy offenses. Period. He doesn't even have a system. EVERY DC has a system. Every coach has a system. Not this guy.

Edit: If he actually shuts down a good team in the playoffs, I'll start liking him.

On 1/2/2022 at 2:18 PM, EazyEaglez said:

I just don’t think Gannon has the horses he needs for a top flight defense, but he really needs to be more aggressive with what he has. They don’t blitz enough.

I see defense ..buying into Gannon Scheme, and across the board improvements on defense. Taylor was stepping up, and now Edwards in the middle. Harris at safety improved. CBs are better. The only thing that we are lacking is a dominant rush with the front 4. Don't get me wrong..Sweat contributed to the Rush, and when blitzing we have been effective. I am just saying that the buzz in the beginning was that we have a monster 4 upfront. We have good 4 players upfront..But I do not see the monsters. There were flashes..but not consistent dominance.

I see two things holding this defense back and maybe they are related:

1. Gannon's passive play calling (especially in the first half) letting QBs get into a groove and put up early points.

2. Talent at LB and secondary.

Eagles opponents are getting the ball out very fast because that is the way to deal with the Eagles pass rush.  It is why their sack totals are low even though their win rates are high.  In the off season they need to add at least 1 edge talent but what they really need is 3 down LBs, 1-2 versatile ball hawk safeties, and 1 more starting outside corner.  And Gannon needs to stop with the soft 2 high coverage with zero disguises and dudes 10 yards off.

Gannon has improved some. I do notice differences in blitz packages now. But, he still concerns me because he tends to wait a while to make adjustments, instead of adjusting more on the fly.  In the playoffs, we can't afford to wait a half if the defense isn't working. Also, his playcalls tend to put too much on our LBs which are very limited. We would be better off running a blitz/fake blitz type of scheme vs. playing a lot of soft zones. He has been willing to call more blizes lately. But, early in games, he seems like he wants to just rush 4 and play zone.  If we play soft zones against Brady, he might complete 95-100% of his passes.  If it were up to me, I would see how Gannon calls the game in the playoffs. If the defense plays well against these types of teams, then I would consider giving him another year. But, if he calls soft zones and if the opposing QB completes 85%+ on our defense, then we need to find another DC.

10 minutes ago, CaliEagle said:

Gannon has improved some. I do notice differences in blitz packages now. But, he still concerns me because he tends to wait a while to make adjustments, instead of adjusting more on the fly

I agree with this. I think the defense has improved. Some of that is due to who they have played but some of that is they are making some tweaks. But my concern is he takes so long to adjust in a game. We can't do the in the play offs we will be in too big a hole against a team too good to let us back in. 

On 1/5/2022 at 8:20 PM, Traveler Vic said:

I see defense ..buying into Gannon Scheme, and across the board improvements on defense. Taylor was stepping up, and now Edwards in the middle. Harris at safety improved. CBs are better. The only thing that we are lacking is a dominant rush with the front 4. Don't get me wrong..Sweat contributed to the Rush, and when blitzing we have been effective. I am just saying that the buzz in the beginning was that we have a monster 4 upfront. We have good 4 players upfront..But I do not see the monsters. There were flashes..but not consistent dominance.

It can be easy to forget just how important Graham was to that front 4. 

15 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I agree with this. I think the defense has improved. Some of that is due to who they have played but some of that is they are making some tweaks. But my concern is he takes so long to adjust in a game. We can't do the in the play offs we will be in too big a hole against a team too good to let us back in. 

They spend all week preparing for a team and barley have any time during a half to make adjustments. So they aren't just going to scrap a whole game plan in the first 2 quarters and change it up on the fly. That's not how it works and it's unrealistic. 

They play the first 2 quarters based off the game plan put in place during the week. They see what is working and what isn't then tweak it at half time the best they can in limited time. 

Coaches aren't panicky and bipolar like fans and think the sky is falling over giving up one score. 

1 hour ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

They play the first 2 quarters based off the game plan put in place during the week. They see what is working and what isn't then tweak it at half time the best they can in limited time. 

Then this team is going to be one and done. I don't disagree with what you are saying. What you are saying is right and fair. But if they can't adjust quicker then they are going to be 20+ points down by the half. 

20 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Then this team is going to be one and done. I don't disagree with what you are saying. What you are saying is right and fair. But if they can't adjust quicker then they are going to be 20+ points down by the half. 

Then they need to use the week to game plan better so they aren't struggling in the first half so often. 

29 minutes ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

Then they need to use the week to game plan better so they aren't struggling in the first half so often. 

Yeah I agree with you there they definitely do. 

4 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Yeah I agree with you there they definitely do. 

That doesn't get the offense off the hook though either. They will get in high scoring game and they will just have to keep up. 

1 hour ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

That doesn't get the offense off the hook though either. They will get in high scoring game and they will just have to keep up. 

Oh I agree there. The team as a whole do need to start better. 

Beating up on a bunch of cupcake quarterbacks seem to have people confused all around. TJ Edwards is suddenly elite, and the Eagles suddenly are believed to be an elite defense. The same defense that was breaking records for letting quarterbacks pick them apart with 80-90% completion percentages.