Can Eagles get pass rush going vs. Vikings?

[time2rock]

Can Eagles get pass rush going vs. Vikings?

 

 

 

Reuben Frank

EAGLES INSIDER

One game, one sack.

More of the same or just a product of facing a quarterback who unloads the ball quickly?

Brandon Graham said this week it’s a mistake to judge the Eagles’ pass rush on the one sack they recorded against the Lions Sunday.

"The stat line, we only got one, but it’s like, when you look at the game, you watch (Josh) Sweaty, Sweaty won his 1-on-1’s, nobody’s ever counting the seconds that it’s getting out, how fast the ball’s getting out,” Graham said.

"We knew going in (Jared) Goff gets rid of the ball quickly, it’s more about just staying focused, staying with it, don’t listen to the noise, ‘Oh, you guys aren’t generating pressure.’

"Because people don’t watch the film and it doesn’t tell the whole tale, they just look at the stat line and it says zero or one and it’s like, ‘Oh, them guys didn’t do this,’ but nobody ever takes into account how fast the ball’s getting out, too.”

But after the Eagles managed just 29 sacks last year – matching their fewest ever since sacks became an official stat in 1982 – it’s fair to wonder if they’ve really fixed their pass-rush issues.

And Kirk Cousins, who leads the Vikings into the Linc Monday night, also likes to get rid of the ball quickly.

"I don't have any level of concern there,” Nick Sirianni said. "I have a lot of confidence in these guys, a lot of confidence in the coaches that coach these guys and a lot of confidence in (Jonathan) Gannon that we'll get to the quarterback.

"That's something that we know we need to do, to affect the quarterback, to affect him and get him off his timing and off his rhythm, and I have a lot of faith in these guys. I've got so much confidence in that defensive line group.”

Most concerning was Haason Reddick’s zero pressures and zero hurries in his first game as an Eagle.

"There were a couple things I saw after the game that I wish I would have seen during the game, but now that I know what those things are, I can focus on that and it’ll open up a lot of things for me,” the former Temple Owl said.

"That’s all I gotta do. Just do what I didn’t do last week and everything will be OK.”

The Eagles lost former 1st-round pick Derek Barnett for the season with a torn ACL, and while he’s had a disappointing career – 21 ½ sacks since he was drafted 14th overall in 2017 – the Eagles will have to find a way to fill his reps.

Tarron Jackson, who was inactive last week, is expected to take Barnett’s reps Monday night. The Eagles also added former 4th-round pick Janarius Robinson this past week.

But if they’re going to finally generate some edge pressure, it’s most likely going to have to come from Sweat, Graham and Reddick.

The Eagles go into Monday night with a streak of 10 straight games with three or fewer sacks. That’s 3rd-longest in franchise history behind a 15-game streak in 2012 – Andy Reid’s last season – and an 11-game streak in 1999 – Reid’s first season.

"Just keep working, just keep working,” Reddick said. "It’s Week 1. Nobody should be alarmed about anything in Week 1. It’s Week 1, it’s the first real action, and there’s a lot of things that go into it.

"You can tell how good a team is by what they correct from Week 1 to Week 2 and right now all we’re focusing on is being better than we were last week and fixing the things we did wrong last week.”

If Sirianni is concerned, he's not letting on.

"How they played that game was the ball was coming out fast, they maxed us up a couple times, so when you see that, you kind of adjust a little bit,” he said.

"I was happy where (pass rush) was, and we want to continue to improve that part of our game, too.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/can-eagles-get-their-pass-rush-going-vs-vikings

[UK_EaglesFan89]

No I don't think they can. Why? Because at this point we have seen enough of Gannon and with this DL (for the most part) to know that they just aren't that good and they just aren't going to get that much pressure. There's no reason to think that suddenly they are going to put things together. 

[weko]

3 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

No I don't think they can. Why? Because at this point we have seen enough of Gannon and with this DL (for the most part) to know that they just aren't that good and they just aren't going to get that much pressure. There's no reason to think that suddenly they are going to put things together. 

We have added a lot of talent to the D.  And we've only played 1 game after the starters sitting out the pre season.  But I would have Gannon on a very short leash.  The D needs to generate some pressure tonight.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

1 hour ago, weko said:

We have added a lot of talent to the D.  And we've only played 1 game after the starters sitting out the pre season.  But I would have Gannon on a very short leash.  The D needs to generate some pressure tonight.

They added a lot of talent to the D but did they add that much in terms of pass rush? Not really...

[time2rock]

9 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

They added a lot of talent to the D but did they add that much in terms of pass rush? Not really...

Reddick ... he has been one of the top pass rushers the past few years.  But still would like a stud at D end.  Sweat is good but not great.  Graham is getting long in the tooth and is likely slowed a bit by last year's injury (in addition to father time).  A top DE should be a primary focus come April ... especially if Hurts plays well enough to allow them to not use their two 1s on a QB.  

[Cochis_Calhoun]

5 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Reddick ... he has been one of the top pass rushers the past few years.  But still would like a stud at D end.  Sweat is good but not great.  Graham is getting long in the tooth and is likely slowed a bit by last year's injury (in addition to father time).  A top DE should be a primary focus come April ... especially if Hurts plays well enough to allow them to not use their two 1s on a QB.  

They were also dropping the ends into coverage again, Aikman picked up on it at one point, I don't see the point in fetching in one of the best pass rushers in the league and then dropping him into coverage, it's weird.

That said of course, the defensive line was good Today, decent pressure (although still light on sack count) and the run defense was way better than last Sunday.

[birdman#12]

18 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

No I don't think they can. Why? Because at this point we have seen enough of Gannon and with this DL (for the most part) to know that they just aren't that good and they just aren't going to get that much pressure. There's no reason to think that suddenly they are going to put things together. 

They got a lot of pressure on Cousins and he responded with 3 INTs.......They only got 2 sacks, and we'd all like to see that number go up.  Using Reddick in coverage, I think, is just a bonehead move that has to stop.  He needs to be rushing the passer...period.

I think the sack numbers could improve if they blitz a little more too......it got good results against the vikings, but that's because Cousins, historically, can be rushed into poor throws.  Not all QBs are like that.  

Some QBs can be rushed into mistakes.  Some need to be hit early and often and it gets into their heads.  Some can stand in there and take the beating and deliver good balls, some QBs get more dangerous when forced from the pocket, so containment is critical. Some QBs deliver the ball so quickly, they rarely get sacked.

 What the eagles did against Cousins is exactly what they needed to do, rush him and make him uncomfortable.  Wentz will stand and deliver the ball and take a big hit, or be forced from the pocket where he is actually more dangerous.  Wentz's problem is that he still holds the ball too long.  If the defensive backfield has another good coverage game, the eagles ruch will get 3-4 sacks on Wentz and force him into a big mistake or two.

 

 

[Kz!]

When we only rush four, we're just not looking all that great. With Hargrave and Cox, you'd think we'd be getting more pressure up the middle leaving our edge rushers with one on one matchups, but that hasn't really been the case. Age seems to have finally caught up with both Graham and Cox. DE remains priority number 1 heading into next offseason. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

7 hours ago, time2rock said:

Reddick ... he has been one of the top pass rushers the past few years.  But still would like a stud at D end.  Sweat is good but not great.  Graham is getting long in the tooth and is likely slowed a bit by last year's injury (in addition to father time).  A top DE should be a primary focus come April ... especially if Hurts plays well enough to allow them to not use their two 1s on a QB.  

A top DE changes this defense it really would. I mean I know that's kind of obvious because a top DE would change most defenses but think how good this D would be with a stud.

[nipples]

On 9/20/2022 at 11:12 AM, Kz! said:

When we only rush four, we're just not looking all that great. With Hargrave and Cox, you'd think we'd be getting more pressure up the middle leaving our edge rushers with one on one matchups, but that hasn't really been the case. Age seems to have finally caught up with both Graham and Cox. DE remains priority number 1 heading into next offseason. 

We need to hope like hell that Hurts keeps playing at this level to solidify himself as the guy going forward. He does that, then they have two first rounders that don’t have to be used on a QB. They can pick up an edge rusher and maybe another corner in the draft. I like Bradberry, but I’m guessing they won’t be able to pay him if they give Hurts a new contract.