Philadelphia Eagles are on pace to set a record they’d rather not own
In 2016, while the Philadelphia Eagles were settling into the Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz era, the Detroit Lions were busy making history. Unfortunately, they were placing themselves in that part of the history book that no one wants to be in.
That season, Detroit fielded one of the most embarrassing pass defenses in NFL history. Just about every quarterback they faced did whatever they wanted to do against them.
Once their nightmare season was over, or in the Lions’ case, one of their nightmare seasons, they had allowed 4,136 yards through the air as the opposing quarterbacks on their schedule racked up a combined 72.7-percent completion percentage on the way to 33 total touchdown passes.
No team has allowed more than a 72.7-percent completion percentage after a full season. You know where this is headed right? As bad as all of that sounds, the Eagles’ 2021 defense has the potential to be worse.
The Philadelphia Eagles make every opposing quarterback’s job an easy one.
Through the first nine games of this 18-week, 17-game schedule, Philadelphia has allowed a combined 75.5-percent completion percentage, 231 completions (Detroit gave up 399 completions in 2016), 2,233 passing yards, and 16 touchdowns. This could wind up being the worst passing defense in NFL history.
Think about this while you mull that over. With a healthy Darius Slay, Jonathan Gannon was passive. You don’t think he’s going to challenge anyone now, do you?
Here’s another nugget. Prior to Week 9’s game, Justin Herbert had been sacked in every game he had appeared in. For the first time in his career, versus the Philadelphia Eagles, he wasn’t touched, minus that personal-foul penalty on Steven Nelson.
This has been awful to watch, and last week, things reached a new low. The L.A. Chargers scored on every possession of the second half in Week 9.
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This Eagles’ defense isn’t just bad. It’s atrocious. They have one plan week after week. Don’t get beat deep. Unfortunately, they’re getting beaten everywhere else, and by the looks of things, they don’t have any plans to make any adjustments regardless of how things play out to ensure that doesn’t continue to happen.
Somewhere, Buddy Ryan, Bud Carson, and Jim Johnson are turning over in their graves.