Philadelphia Eagles: Grading every starter on their defense

Let’s take a moment to grade every starter on the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense they sit idle during a bye week, the NFL’s tenth week of the 2019 regular season.

Here’s a very scary proposition for any Philadelphia Eagles fan. Though things have been bad and very inconsistent on offense (and that’s putting things very mildly), one could make a very successful argument that Philly’s defense is an even weaker link in a very flimsy chain.

In looking at things on a game-by-game basis, it’s hard to figure out what this team does well. They appear to be stout against the run. Ezekiel Elliott smashed them for 111 yards on 22 attempts, an average of five yards per attempt, but that seems to be an outlier.

Philly’s Achilles heel has been preventing people from throwing the ball all over the place. They’ve been ripped apart by Matt Ryan. They picked him off three times, but they also gave up 320 passing yards and three touchdowns in a loss. Then, there’s Aaron Rodgers. He shredded ‘The Birds’ for 422 yards and two scores.

That was followed by a 333-yard, four-touchdown performance by Kirk Cousins, a man who would make the Pro Football Hall of Fame if he played the Eagles every week, and another 239 passing yards by Dak Prescott.

Much of Philly’s offensive success has been masked by playing in a 40-mile-an-hour wind in Orchard Park and inept offenses like that of the Chicago Bears and New York Jets. If this team going to have any shot, their defense will need to step up down the stretch. How have they done to this point? Let’s give out some grades.