3 Eagles on Thin Ice After Nearly Blowing Win Over Patriots

3. Sean Desai

The Eagles’ defensive line is expected to be one of the team’s biggest strengths in 2023, and against a highly banged up Patriots o-line, Week 1 was a time to feast.

Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter did their part in the middle, showing why we’re so excited about the youngsters. Carter’s debut was one of the most impressive games you’ll see out of a rookie defensive tackle.

But that leaves a big question: why the heck was our line’s performance so bad as a whole then?

The Eagles didn’t record their first hit on Mac Jones until midway through the third quarter. He dropped back 56 times and was only sacked twice. By a defense that is supposed to specialize in getting after the passer.

Haason Reddick wasn’t getting home on his rushes, and Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham didn’t do a whole lot off the edge either. But we know those guys are outstanding pass-rushers, and it didn’t look like any of them were playing especially poorly on an individual basis.

That makes it tough to put the blame on the players.

New defensive coordinator Sean Desai didn’t seem to be calling anything especially inspired as far as defensive plays went, and that was especially true of his d-line and blitz calls.

Desai’s going to have to get this fixed quickly, otherwise Eagles fans will be calling for his head before long.

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