Jim Schwartz Brings Veteran Savvy To Philadelphia Eagles Defense

New Twist To Familiar Scheme

The advantage that the Philadelphia Eagles have is that the team is already familiar with the wide nine concepts, having run that under the former defensive line coach Jim Washburn.  But his is a differing version of that scheme, which should serve the Eagles well.  In fact, coming out of the 3-4 scheme, the team already has defensive linemen who are adept at gobbling up blockers in the form of Cedric Thornton, Bennie Logan, and Beau Allen.   So the team will finally get the chance to settle into a stable and consistent defense which is expected to make optimal use of its roster.

But the team had just begun a youth movement on the defense.  Behind the defensive line of Fletcher Cox, Bennie Logan, Beau Allen, Taylor Hart, the team will field defensive backs like Denzel Rice, JaCorey Shepherd, Eric Rowe, Randall Evans, Ed Reynolds and Jerome Couplin, along with linebackers like Marcus Smith, Kiko Alonso, Mychal Kendricks, Steven Means and Jordan Hicks.  These are the names of players of the future of the team, the “25 and younger” group of young men who are still growing, maturing, improving in the NFL.

Now, the team has a defensive coach with a proven track record of defending in the NFL.  But even more than the track record, the persona of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is going to blend well with the blue collar fan base in Philly.  In his interview with Dave Spadaro, Schwartz acknowledges that he is from Baltimore, and understands the great passion a blue collar city has for it’s football team.

"“We’ve been a little bit different every year. We’re not really married to a scheme. Our job is to find a way to put the players in the best position so they can do their jobs, and that’s going to change a little bit. What we did in Buffalo is different than what we did in Detroit is different than what I did in Tennessee, the Baltimore Ravens, or the Cleveland Browns. I think that’s one of the things you learn from the NFL. But you know we’re going to attack, we’re going to get after the quarterback. We’ve historically been good at sacking the quarterback and creating turnovers, and good on third downs. I’m really not a stat guy, I don’t care how many yards we give up. The only thing that matters to me is did we give up less points than we scored. A number of things go into that: third downs, sacks, red zone, turnovers, a lot of things in hand at hand. We’ll get familiar in the team in OTAs and training camp. I’ve never labeled my defense except to say that its an attacking defense. Sometimes you attack from a 46 front, sometimes you attack from an over front, and sometimes you attack from an under front. I played a little bit of under front in Buffalo. We combined the principals of a 3-4 defense with the principals of a 4-3. We wanted to eliminate running from the end, and drive the play to the middle of the field and slug it out there. ”"

The last defense touched by Jim Schwartz was the 2014 Buffalo Bills, and that was a solid defense.   It gave up 18.1 points per game, good for third best in the NFL.   It gave up 205 passing yards per game, good for third best in the NFL.   It gave up 106.4 rushing yards per game, good for eleventh best in the NFL.  Finally, the team generated 30 turnovers, good for third best in the NFL.

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