Eagles-Rams Film Review: This was a weird game on defense

Defensive analysis from Philadelphia’s Divisional Round win over Los Angeles.

This was an interesting one to analyze. The Philadelphia Eagles defense played well, but they also gave up 402 yards to the Los Angeles Rams at 5.7 yards per play. There is a lot to talk about this week.

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Defense

How many 34-year-old cornerbacks in NFL history have played as well as Darius Slay? Slay didn’t have a perfect game, and Matthew Stafford targeted him a lot, but he did a very good job lined up against Puka Nucua. I was a little stunned by how much single-high coverage the Eagles played this week, but we saw a lot of cover 3. The Rams use a lot of condensed splits, and they love these deep in routes because the cornerbacks always have outside leverage. Slay does exceptionally well here and it’s a shame he couldn’t pick it off.

There are not many offensive minds that are better than Sean McVay. I imagine that Fangio was a little surprised by the Rams’ approach in the run game this week and it led to the Rams having quite a bit of success. Kyren Williams had 19 carries for 106 yards. I was a little surprised we didn’t see more Jordan Davis, as the Eagles played more 5-man fronts in the first matchup than they did in this one. The Rams do not usually run trap plays, but they did in this game. The first run of the game was Crunch, which is a great play to run at a team with aggressive defensive tackles. Credit has to go to McVay, but the Eagles didn’t help themselves with some missed tackles. C.J. Gardner-Johnson could have helped to prevent a big gain here.

The biggest takeaway I had from this game was that Fangio was mixing up his fronts a lot. He played a variety of different fronts to get the defensive lineman, and Jalen Carter, in particular, in one-on-one matchups. The Eagles used a lot of stunts, too, and the majority of their success rushing the quarterback came from stunts. This was an excellent stunt by Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith.

This was a weird game. As I stated in the tweet, the Eagles gave up 324 passing yards, which is not good. However, 115 yards came on three plays. These three plays were not coverage busts. They were just straight-up contested situations that the Eagles lost. Two of them were against Isaiah Rodgers, including the one below. I was disappointed for Rodgers because he was good in coverage all game but struggled at the catch point. Sadly, quarterbacks like Matthew Stafford will test your ability to win at the catch point, regardless of whether you have good coverage. The Eagles will need to be better at the catch point moving forward because you don’t want to give up multiple explosive plays every week. Another reason why the Rams took these deep shots was because the Eagles played so much single-high coverage, as I mentioned earlier. I wonder if we will see some more split-safety coverage this week.

I know he missed the tackle earlier, but CJGJ has been playing very well over the second half of the season. This is just pure instinct. CJGJ ends up following the tight end across the formation but recognizes the running play and flies through the gap and makes a big tackle for loss on 3rd down. CJGJ seems to always pop up in big situations. This wasn’t the only big TFL the defense had in a key situation!

When was the last time we saw Fangio drop 8 defenders into coverage?! We don’t see this very often! I love dropping 8 into coverage on 3rd and long, especially in the red zone. This allows the Eagles to bracket both Puka Nucua and Cooper Kupp, which they did a few times in this game. I wonder if this is something the Eagles could do against Jayden Daniels this weekend. Dropping 8 into coverage is usually better against an immobile quarterback, as he is less likely to extend the play, but I would quite like to see the Eagles drop 8 into coverage and use one of the hole defenders as a quasi-spy.

Jalen Carter was dominant in this game. I spoke about Saquon Barkley at length in my offensive film review, and Carter was just as dominant on the defensive side. Everyone recognizes that Carter is a freak athlete, but his conditioning and high football IQ have stood out to me this year. He is a smart football player. This is not the first fumble he has caused this year with this punch, and he seems to know when to use it. This was a huge play. We will talk about him more later…

Speaking of exceptional defensive talent… Zack Baun! He was fantastic in this game. Considering he has not always been an off-ball linebacker, it is absurd how good his instincts are in the run game. He shoots through gaps effortlessly because of how quickly he recognizes what is happening. In the zone running game, the offensive line wants to double the defensive tackle at the line of scrimmage before getting to the second level. You can blow up the play as a linebacker if you are quick enough to get into the backfield. Baun’s athleticism is outstanding, but his instincts make him a superstar.

I am unsure if it was due to the weather, but Fangio was aggressive in the second half of this game. Here is a 6-man pressure with a double mug pressure look! We don’t see this a ton from Fangio. But it worked here! The Eagles send 6 and Stafford can’t get set in the pocket.

I still don’t think Nolan Smith is a fantastic pass rusher in terms of his technique, but he is a very valuable pass rusher due to his relentless hustle. He picks up a lot of sacks with his energy and staying within his rush lane. Just like Carter, Smith has to play a lot of snaps (Bryce Huff played 0 in this game), and he is playing very well. The Eagles’ conditioning coaches deserve a lot of credit, as the Eagles have a number of defensive players who are playing a lot of snaps and continuing to play at a high level.

Another mix-up from Fangio. Baun drops down to the EDGE position at the very last second, and the Eagles run another stunt up front, this time with two defensive tackles rather than the defensive tackle and EDGE. I expect Milton Williams to leave this off-season, and while Moro Ojomo is obviously not as good, I think he can take a step up with a more significant role. I’ve been Ojomo’s biggest fan since he was drafted and I think he has had a good second season.

I am so happy for Oren Burks. There was a lot of talk about how poor he was against the Packers, which was fair, but I felt bad for him as I highlighted that he played well towards the end of the season. Vic Fangio told everyone that he was on a short leash this week. However, we didn’t see any of Jeremiah Trotter Jr. because Burks played well! He made a fantastic play in the open field on a screen pass early on in the game, and he made a huge play on 3rd down here. The Eagles coaching staff must do a good job prioritizing knocking the football down because a lot of Eagles’ defenders have had success doing this. This is a great play.

I was angry watching the Eagles’ defense live at the end of the game. It felt like they were playing prevent defense with 4 minutes left, and they just let the Rams walk down the field. In reality, the All22 showed a different picture. The Eagles didn’t play prevent defense. However, the defensive backs, especially Darius Slay, did start playing passive coverage. I understand that the field conditions probably played a role in this, but the defense gave up too many easy completions. You can argue that the coaching staff played a role in this, but I think it might have just been the players getting more defensive as the game went on. I can’t criticize Fangio for playing scared.

As I referenced earlier, the Eagles struggled at the catch point a few times in this game. Darius Slay has excellent coverage on this route, but he can’t make a play on the football. I was convinced we were going to lose at this point…

This is SO good. I can’t express how much I enjoy this. As I have mentioned throughout this article, the Eagles were having a lot of success running stunts. So, what does Jalen Carter do? He fakes a stunt! I would love to know if Carter just decided to do this or whether the coaches told him to do this, but it works perfectly. Watch Carter’s head movement. He fakes the stunt, and the center turns to his left, expecting to block the other defensive tackle. It is genius. Carter then explodes through the gap and brings down Stafford, setting up a massive 4th down.

He did it again! Jalen Carter also played a massive role in the final defensive play of the game. Carter comes off the snap slowly and fakes the stunt again! The right guard sees Carter going to his left, so he decides to help against the EDGE rather than double-team Carter. This leaves Carter one-on-one, and he blows by the center, who, once again, turns to his left as he is expecting a stunt. Carter doesn’t get the sack this time, but he forces Stafford to throw it early. This is a big reason why the pass is not completed. Slay’s coverage is also excellent and contributes to the incompletion.

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