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Out-Running the Bear: The Iggles Defensive Direction

A few weeks ago I commenced on a quest to round up some recon on our division foes. The inspiration for this trip around the East came in the form of sagely advice from my Dad's Dad. To quote a quote:

"If you and a friend are out in the woods, and you are being chased by a bear, just remember this: You don't have to outrun the bear. All you have to do is out run your friend."

blah, blah blah...

Sorry, I paraphrased there at the end.

Before we begin...

I wanted to preface this post with a PSA. I have a fondness for fancy five-dollar phrases, and a proclivity for extensive verbal activity. I seem to languish somewhere between a Tolstoy novel and the unedited, live version of 'Freebird'. While I make no apologies for my vivacious verbosity, I understand.

Another turn of phrase my Grandfather turned with regularity , and one that I don't practice often enough, is that I should "never pass up a good chance to shut up".

I will make every effort to embrace that in this episode.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled program...

Today's look: The Philthedelphia Eagles...or in the local lingo, The Iggles.

We have a special sponsor today, as our post is brought to you by the number Zero...

As in the number of Lombardi's currently cluttering up their cabinets.

Malice can manifest in many different forms. With the Giants, it's more of a general antipathy. With the Redskins, well, it's your duty as a Cowboys fan to hate the 'Skins. With the Iggles though, there's a special level of loathing involved.

Like looking at the guy who not only smashed your face into a car windshield, but also took your mother, Dorothy Mantooth, out for a seafood dinner and never called her again.

Dorothy Mantooth is a saint!

So, with a little more brevity than I've shown thus far, let's see what we can glean from the gang in green.

Brief Recap of 2013:

In what can only be seen as a smashing success for first year HC Chip Kelly, the Iggles impressed offensively, ranking in the top 10 in just about every major category. The defense had some issues, especially early, but the offense was strong enough to carry this team to a 10-6 record, first place in the East, and a home playoff appearance.

The 'Twelve Items or Less' section: Bill Davis and the Philthy D

Let's highlight of some of the new faces hidden behind the helmets.

Each with their own musical accompaniment for your reading pleasure.

-- The Ramones 'Loudmouth' FA signing: FS Malcolm Jenkins. Without even putting on the uniform, Malcolm's mouth has already initiated the check cashing process for his posterior, calling out the players on the Dallas D. Last season with the Saints, Malcolm 'Rinky-Jenk' Jenkins posted 48 solo tackles (93rd among DBs), and according to the statistical soothsayers at Football Outsiders, he ranked 6th among DBs for tackles broken.

At least he has a pedigree of poor performance to draw upon to determine that distinction for the Dallas D.

Fun fact number four: The much maligned Jeff Heath finished last season with one less solo tackle (47), one less INT (1), and one more defensive TD (1 FR for TD) than our mouthy friend Malcolm. And he did it starting fewer games (9), than Rinky-Jenk (14). Not too bad, considering one is a former first-rounder and the other a UDFA.

I'll let you guys guess which was which.

-- The Simple Minds 'Don't You Forget About Me' FA signing: CB Nolan Carroll. Portrayed as a press-man corner, Ex-Dolphins defensive back Nolan Carroll started 12 games in 2013, finishing with 3 picks and 12 passes defensed. His performance during OTA's and minicamp have some professionals professing that he has merited the mention of being in starting contention.

-- The Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs 'Stay just a little bit longer' re-signing: Nate Allen. Expected to join Jenkins as the starting starters in the safety spots.

The Iggles spent five of their seven draft picks on defense this year...

-- The James Brown 'Papa's Got a Brand New Bag' first round rookie: OLB Marcus Smith. Productive pass rusher with good burst and speed off the edge. I've heard he can drop back as well. Look for Marcus to show some flashes this year from raw talent, but probably needs a full year in the S&C program to really make some noise.

-- The Beastie Boys 'Fight for your right' fourth round rookie: CB Jaylen Watkins. The Iggles had a second round grade on Jaylen and were able to pluck him from the pile in the fourth. Played both corner and safety at Florida, so he offers some versatility. His biggest problem will be a crowded cornerback competition as he will likely hear four other names called before his.

-- The Red Hot Chili Peppers 'By The Way' remaining rookies: DE Taylor Hart. Played for Chip Kelly at Oregon as a five technique two-gap DE and you can bet dollars to doughnuts that's what he'll be doing in Philthy. Ed Reynolds, safety from Stanford, is an instictive playmaker with limited experience. Beau Allen is a big-bodied run-stuffing nose out of Wisconsin.

Doesn't feel like Philly is forecasting any of these folks as first-stringers this season, but they will be designated for depth in due time.

The Dangerfield Defense: The Cleanpants Express Perspective

Deemed the Dangerfield Defense by some due to the fact that they get no respect...

...no respect I tell ya.....I could tell my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio...no respect...

Billy Davis installed his version of the 3-4 last year, and you could tell it was a team in transition. Finishing 29th in total yards and 32nd in passing yards, the D had it's issues, mostly in the back-end. It did get better as the season progressed as they held their opponents under 21 points in nine straight games and ten out of their last 12.

The Iggles 3-4 front operates in a similar fashion to the Parcells, Belichik, or Dom Capers fronts. It's basically an 'under' scheme where the defense slants to the TE side. The alignment of the front relative to the o-line creates an opportunity for the 'predator' LB to line up on the weakside and concentrate on chasing the QB. The Will LB is freed up in this scheme to...well, let's let Billy pontificate on the Will's fate...

The way the defense is set up, he (Will LB) has a nice protective shield to keep potential blockers at bay."... Davis said..."The center can't get him because the nose is on him. The guard can't get him because the end is on him. And the tackle can't get him because the predator is on him. So this is your athlete that can run, go cover ground and make plays."

This defense was solid against the run (10th in yards and 4th in yards per attempt). As there's no use beating a dead bird, we'll focus instead on the forward pass.

The frill that will thrill Bill the most would be for this defense to display a certain predictable unpredictability in pressuring the passer. Trent Cole's constraints with coverage precluded that, as he rushed almost 80% of the time.

A school of thought has emerged that the reason rookie Marcus Smith has been taking the reps as the Jack LB in OTAs, is so the team can relocate Connor Barwin to the 'Predator' LB (he had 11.5 sacks with Houston in 2011), and use Trent Cole as more of a situational specialist.

Very rational rationale, but perhaps a bit premature. Look for Smith to backup Barwin in the beginning, and look for Billy Davis to get creative when called for.

Because Billy likes to blitz.

Davis' defense blitzed on 35.45% of opponents dropbacks, ranking seventh last season. Per the PFF peeps, the Iggles were ranked 27th in pass rushing productivity while blitzing.

Part of the problem is that even when they sent extra attackers, they couldn't connect...which shows up in the 5.2% sack percentage (ranked 31st).

The other part was that when they blitzed and couldn't breach, the suspect secondary got scorched...well, besides Boykin.

A conversation about cornerback coverages came up on PFF, so I briefly borrowed the table below to see what could be seen:

Player

Shdw

WR1

WR2

WR3

Other

Slot

Cov

TA

%Ct

Yds

TD

N. Carroll

1

21%

31%

21%

17%

2%

-4.4

90

47.8%

640

2

C. Williams

0

33%

27%

14%

16%

1%

-7.9

117

59%

805

4

B. Fletcher

0

31%

28%

15%

17%

2%

-2.1

98

58.2%

701

3

B. Boykin

0

27%

20%

22%

24%

76%

14.3

89

58.4%

656

3

R. Carmichael

0

19%

24%

18%

25%

4%

-3.1

20

60%

193

1

Billy seems to like his Boykin served in the slot...who knew?

Go ahead try some more. The strawberries taste like strawberries! The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!

On second thought, you might want to stay away from the 'snozzberries'.

Not cool.

What seems to stand out is that the DB's are prone to play primarily the same side. Some combination of Carroll, Williams, and Fletcher are going to man the outside, while Boykin will be specifically slotted in the slot.

Due to that, I believe Dallas will be able to dictate to this defense. Dez is a plus matchup regardless of the jersey number facing him, and T-Will can hold his own against most.

Although Boykin is their crackerjack in the coverage pack, I believe we can exploit his relatively small stature (5'9", 183) with a few well placed rangy receivers.

Aligning Dez in the slot would be the obvious option, but recent fifth rounder Devin Street (6'3", 198) or, dare I even dream, Gavin Escobar (6'6", 254) could also pose potential problems for the diminutive defensive back.

Boykin definitely has the skills to pay the bills, and plays much bigger than his size, so this will be a tough task for whoever draws the short straw.

Pun very much intended.

For all the lackluster numbers, this defense is actually better than advertised. This will be their second swing in this scheme so we can presume a more productive performance from budding players like Fletcher Cox and Bennie Logan.

I know it's difficult to project with such a small sample size, but in our two contests with Davis' D last year, the Boys boasted an average of 19.5 points and 391 yards (326 coming through the air)...while making sure an Iggles defender caught one of ours at least twice per game.

The real trick with this team will be getting it over the goal line. The Iggles ranked 12th in opponents red zone scoring, slightly better than average as they weren't too shabby with the short field.

The Boys are going to have to score plenty more than 20 in order to tally the W's in this year's column.

Given Bill's penchant for sending pressure, protection will be paramount for the Cowboys to correctly carve up this D, and I foresee Tony having the chance to do just that. With our O-line leading, we'll be able to get movement up front in the run game, and buy time against the blitz. To a large degree, our receivers should be able receive, to a lesser degree, our runners should be able to run, and in the end we should be able to put up enough points to be proud.

I think you guys know what I'm thinking here, don't you?

It's like my mind is the tree, and you guys are the tiny little tree elves cooking up the crackers inside

Advantage: Us

The 'Tune In Next Time' section:

Follow along in my following follow up as we try to take apart the Chipster's offensive machinery MacGyver style, using nothing but a toothpick, a rubberband, and some leftover coffee grounds.

Another user-created commentary provided by a BTB reader.