3 Jim Schwartz statements every Philadelphia Eagles fan needs to hear

On the Wednesday leading up to the Philadelphia Eagles game versus the New York Giants, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz hung out with the Philly media.

Somewhere along the line, things flipped. Once upon a time, there were Philadelphia Eagles fans who were actually on the ‘Jim Schwartz should be the head coach over Doug Pederson train’. Then, things flipped permanently, probably after that awful defensive showing by the ‘Birds’ in Super Bowl LII and when we were immersed further into Schwartz’s blitz-free ideology and whatever that ‘sticks’ defense was.

That’s when something painful finally set in. Maybe Schwartz isn’t what we all thought he was.

Fast forward, and Schwartz blitzes more frequently, but these days it’s more out of desperation than scheme. Something is clearer now. Maybe what we saw from Philly versus the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks was the aberration. There’s nothing to be excited about. Those games were a mirage and Philly’s never been that impressive.

That’s the vibe these days. Hopefully, it’s an incorrect one. On Wednesday, in a conversation with the Philly media, Schwartz touched on several things. Here are the highlights.

1. What happened in the Dolphins game?

"That game is 100 percent on the defense. We always feel if you give us 20 points we should win the game, and we certainly got more than 20. We didn’t do our jobs in that game, and as a result we got a loss… The formula that helped us to keep scoring down and keep us in games flipped the script on us. We gave them second opportunities with fouls, three offside, two DPIs, and two roughing the quarterbacks… Then the 50/50 balls, and some of those 50/50s were man, some were zone, some of them were blitz, some of them weren’t. We didn’t make the plays"

The major concern is whether or not his guys have checked out mentally.

2. What’s the mindstate of the guys on ‘D’?

"Our guys battled. There are a lot of times in games that you look and you say, ‘We let up at that point or the guys lost their spirit’ or whatever it was. I didn’t see any of that in this game… The rest of the game I thought our guys were flying around. We were snuffing the run game pretty good. We were making a lot of tackles for losses. We were hitting the quarterback. We just didn’t make the plays that we needed to."

Well, if it’s not the mental aspect of the game that’s killing these guys, then, we’re talking about skill and that can be coached (sometimes). Philly’s got a lot to get fixed before Monday.

3. There’s another test coming, and its’ the New York Giants.

"Their playmakers stay the same. Looks like they’ll probably get (Evan) Engram back and he’s an important part of that offense. (They also) get Golden Tate back. He’s an important part of that offense. They have good playmakers and a good running back."

Well, that’s stating the obvious. What we can’t guarantee is a better performance by Philly’s defense, but let’s hope all of the concerns about that are for no reason.