But Can It Be Sustained?

After three games, the Eagles' defense has collected 14 sacks.  Trent Cole leads the league with five.  The defensive line has accounted for 13 of those sacks, suggesting that they can get pressure without blitzing.

After three games last year, the Eagles defense had collected 16 sacks.  Trent Cole had five.  The defensive line had accounted for 14 of those sacks, suggesting that they could get pressure without blitzing.  You know how this story ends:

"A year ago, after Kearse went down in Week 2 with his knee injury and Howard suffered a variety of nagging injuries, the defensive-line production and the defense suffered. The Eagles had 23 sacks after five games last year and just 17 in the final 11 games.  It didn't help that Bunkley and Sam Rayburn provided little help as the reserve defensive tackles, leaving Darwin Walker and Patterson worn down."

You can do pretty much the same kind of comparison with the run defense as well.  Through three games last year, opposing running backs were averaging 3.4 yards a carry, and that included performances by Frank Gore and Tiki Barber. 

Through three games this year, opposing running backs are averaging 3.3 yards a carry, and that includes a match-up against the two-headed monster of Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts.

So what makes this year different?  Are we just going to see a repeat of history, as the long grind of the season takes the edge off the Eagles' very quick, but relatively undersized line?  It's possible, but I don't think it's likely.  Here are a few reasons why:

This year's line can stop the run.  Stats don't always tell the whole story.  The switch from Darwin Walker to Brodrick Bunkley has made a huge difference.  Walker tried to go around blocks, Bunkley destroys them or -- at worst -- holds his ground. 

You can see the difference when you break down the tackling stats by position.  Through three games last year, starting safeties Brian Dawkins and Michael Lewis had already racked up 38 tackles.  It's great that those guys were both such good tacklers, but on the other hand it's better when your safeties aren't quite that busy.

This year, Dawkins, Considine and (only counting last game) Mikell have only combined for 22 tackles.  That's a big difference.  And yeah, some of that is probably due to Dawk not being full speed yet, but it's mostly a result of the Eagles being able to play run defense with just seven guys. 

Kearse hasn't been a factor.  A big part of last year's early success was the hot start by Jevon Kearse.  His 3.5 sacks in two games looked like the start of something big until he suffered the knee injury that cost him the season.  Once he went down, the pass rush never looked the same. 

This year's unit is doing all this in spite of Kearse's slow start.  If he can start rounding into form, that's one more thing opposing offensive coordinators will have to worry about.

Better depth on the line.  Last year's fifth defensive end was Jerome McDougle, this year it's Victor Abiamiri.  VA may not be much of a pass-rusher yet, but he's a big guy (who won't get blown off the ball) that they can call on if they need to later in the year.  Montae Reagor and Kimo Von Oelhoffen provide better support than last year's Bunkley and Sam Rayburn.

Finally, the linebacker experiment is panning out.  Guess who leads the team in tackles -- that's right, Takeo Spikes.  Chris Gocong may not be playing all that much yet, but he still has eight tackles already, which amazingly is three more than Dhani managed through the same period last year.

In the middle, you can't say that Gaither (14 tkl) has been better than Trotter (22 tkl) was to this point last year.  But the difference is that Omar is likely to continue improving as he gains more experience -- so long as the DTs continue to keep the big bodies off him -- while Trotter's old legs just wore down over the course of the year. 

(On another note, I don't think Trotter's been active for any of Tampa Bay's games so far this year.  I wonder how long he'll put up with that before calling it quits.)

Comments

[BountyBowl]

I really wonder how much heat Kearse is feeling from the coaching staff. Jim Johnson continues to be emphatic with the "Abiamiri will play when he's ready" act, and I wonder how that connects to Kearse -- because it sure seems like Kearse might be the most likely to be placed on the inactive list right now.

Of course, someone'll get hurt in the next couple weeks and we'll see Abiamiri.

I'm trying not to get too giddy about the Birds actually "solving their defensive tackle issues for the next four seasons" -- can that actually be happening?

[Me]

Four seasons? Try eight!

(I've given in to the giddiness.)