Philadelphia Eagles: Jim Schwartz doesn’t rush the passer with purpose
While injuries have stifled the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive line, Jim Schwartz’s inability to rush the passer with purpose is the team’s biggest issue.
In the NFL, you have to rush the passer with purpose.
Now granted, that feels like a pretty obvious statement, as the goal of any pass rush, be it a three-man or eight-man rush, is to get the quarterback on the ground, but not all pass rushes are created equally.
Take, for example, Jim Schwartz‘s Philadelphia Eagles wine-9 attack.
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As anyone who has watched the Eagles over the last three seasons can easily identify, Schwartz likes to rush the passer with four down lineman on pretty much every snap. While he will occasionally shake things up with a safety blitz, a slot corner blitz, or stunts on the interior, opposing offensive coordinators typically know what to expect when facing off against the Eagles defensive front.
Again, the NFL is an analytics-heavy industry, so coaches are going to study, game plan, and scheme around an opposing team’s strength regardless of their preferences, but still, that doesn’t matter if the execution is on point.
For example, teams know that Fletcher Cox is going to collapse the pocket play after play, but when he’s surrounded by legitimate foils like Timmy Jernigan and Brandon Graham in the trenches, there isn’t a whole lot a coordinator can do about it.
However, Week 5 notwithstanding, the Eagles pass rush has not been effective in 2019; in fact, it’s been downright bad.
On 399 defensive snaps – all of which Malcolm Jenkins has been on the field for – the Eagles have amassed 14 sacks, or one every 28.5 snaps. Now averaging about two sacks a game isn’t great – it’s actually pretty bad if we’re being honest – but when you take away the 10 sacks amassed in 59 Week 5 snaps, those numbers get vomitrocious.
We’re talking four sacks in 340 defensive snaps for an average of one sack for every 85 snaps – yikes.
But how could this be? Have opposing teams figured out Schwartz’s scheme and neutralized it a la Chip Kelly‘s no-huddle spread? Or could all of the fault fall on the shoulders of Akeem Spence and Hassan Ridgeway for not being Timmy Jernigan or Malik Jackson? Are the Eagles cursed?
No, the problem is the Eagles pass-rushing predictability; their inability to pass rush with purpose.
On (seemingly) every play the Eagles rush four because, well, they have to. Opposing coordinators know that four rushers are coming, more or less which gaps each player will attack, and how to keep things on schedule. Sure, sometimes the team will pick up a big play based on something unexpected, like Andrew Sendejo‘s Week 1 sack, or Orlando Scandrick‘s strip-sack touchdown of Luke Falk, but more likely than not, teams know what to expect.
That isn’t good.
Conversely, as highlighted by Pro Football Focus, a team like the Baltimore Ravens can also rush the passer with four more often than not, but they can do so far more effectively because a slew of creative formations, coverage drops, and defensive fakeouts. While the offense will still have an advantage, as five linemen should neutralize four more often than not, each individual player’s task becomes harder when they don’t know where the pressure is coming.
Opposing offensive tackles know that they’ll be handling a nine technique coming off the edge for the majority of the game. Opposing guards know they’ll be up against interior tackles for most of the game, with the center typically shadowing to Cox’s side of the line.
This advanced knowledge can still impact a game plan, as teams usually can’t run seven-plus step drop concepts with the pocket collapsing around them, but as evidenced in Week 6, even bad offensive lines can work around the Eagles’ rushing front and consistently move the chains with ease.
And baring a radical change in perspective, or a surprise trade for a legitimate game-changer like Von Miller or Leonard Williams, that isn’t going to change any time soon.
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Like it or not, Jim Schwartz has built his career on running a very specific style of defense. While the scheme isn’t bulletproof, as it was used poorly over his disastrous tenure as the Detroit Lions head coach from 2009-13, it was good enough to win a Super Bowl in 2017, even if the team gave up the most yards of any Champion in NFL history. However, if the Philadelphia Eagles are going to turn things around over the back half of the regular season, the team is going to have to find a way to generate more pressure either organically, or manufactured.