WANNA see something stupid?
What is this happy horseshit where we usually rush four, rarely blitz, but when we do, we end up in crap like Cover Zero? We need to send five so that- Hold on. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me roll this back a bit.
Last year in almost every game the commentators would mention that our pass rush isn’t as potent as it’s been in the past. At first that sounded weird, because our sacks have gone up two years in a row. If sacks were the only metric used, it would just seem like the typical media down-talk directed at the Eagles. Which we fans are used to.
Then you think about our opponent completion percentages. And their QB ratings! Seriously. We even made Haskins look good… The eyeball test makes it clear that we don’t bring the heat like we used to.
Part of that is because the only player on our D-Line who requires a double-team is DT Fletcher Cox. Us rushing four vs an opponent’s five man o-line, plays directly into our opponent’s plan. We have a pair of complete DE’s in Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry, but we don’t have a guy who alters blocking schemes. (DE Derek Barnett too often bails early on his contain responsibility.)
We need to send five rushers more often, to get Cox more 1-on-1 match-ups. That way he can do to blocking schemes what he does to marriages. We don’t have to do it all the time, but it has to stop being rare.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 