Top takeaways from the Eagles season ahead of Sunday Night Football

Top takeaways after five weeks of Eagles football (defense)

Week 5’s performance wasn’t the defense’s best of the season. It wasn’t tragic either. Sure, Philly missed some tackles and had some letdowns, but Kyler Murray, Marquise Brown, and Eno Benjamin can be hard to bring down at times.

The Eagles still held an oftentimes explosive Cardinals offense and one of the game’s best dual-threat quarterbacks to 17 points. That has to count for something. Sometimes, people forget that these other teams have coaches and playmakers too.

Here are three defensive takeaways ahead of Week 6’s game on Sunday Night Football.

Okay, we may have been wrong about Jonathan Gannon.

Jonathan Gannon has taken a few shots from the Philly media and Eagles fans. Truthfully, there have been times when he’s deserved it, but he’s done some great things as the defensive coordinator as well.

Much of this team’s young talent has blossomed under his watch. Think about Avonte Maddox and T.J. Edwards if you need any examples.

Darius Slay, Javon Hargrave, and Josh Sweat were all elected to the Pro Bowl at the end of the 2021-2022 season. Hargrave and Sweat made the roster for the first time. J.G. might be better than we originally anticipated, but we’ll know more when we see this team battle an elite quarterback.

Jordan Davis is going to be great for a long time.

He’s only been on the field for 35 percent of the Eagles’ defensive snaps, but Jordan Davis is a monster. What’s most encouraging about that is he really hasn’t figured the pro game out yet. Keep an eye on him. He’s only going to get better.

Don’t give up on the young guys yet.

Howie Roseman has done a great job of stacking this Eagles roster. On one hand, that’s taken snaps away from guys like Milton Williams and Tarron Jackson. On the other, there’s no pressure for those guys to feel any pressure immediately.

Make no mistake about it. They’ll get their opportunities, and they’ll be ready. Don’t give up on Nakobe Dean yet either. He’s come along more slowly than some may have liked, but when the light bulb comes on, it’s going to shine brightly.