Can We Finally Stop The Patriots Gambit?

There are some games each year where you really have to feel for Jim Johnson.  He spends all week putting in his blitz packages and exotic coverage schemes, game plans to take away the opponents' top couple options, and then takes the field ready to kick a little butt.

Only to see the opposing team pass out of one three-step drop out of another, subjecting his beloved defense to death by a thousand five-yard cuts. 

There can be no more powerless feeling as a defensive coordinator then knowing that there's really nothing you can dial up pressurewise to change the momentum.  Send four, five, even six guys, by the time they get there, the ball will be long gone.

Eagles fans remembers those games well, too.  The Patriots do it to us every time.  The Saints used that approach to beat us twice in 2006, only shifting to the power rushing attack after tiring us out in the playoff game.  Last year, the Redskins relied heavily on the three-step passing game to beat the Eagles the first time around:

The most important takeaway from last week is that if an NFL offensive coordinator wants to neutralize a pass rush, he can do it.  The Redskins did a fantastic job game-planning for the Eagles.  When Campbell was in the pocket, everything was coming out right as he hit the top of his drop.  There was no waiting around -- just one or two reads and go.  They also did a great job moving him around, with some play action that also took some of the edge off the pass rush. 

With the exception of a few plays, not even Reggie White was going to be getting to Campbell on Monday night.

Now "everyone knows" the lesson from last year's Super Bowl is that great pressure packages can take down even the best offense in football.  But I'm not really buying that.  I'm not sure we're going to see the same confluence of a) great across-the-front talent, b) a new coordinator with unfamiliar schemes, and c) the mother of all hot streaks any time soon. 

Forget about teams trying to emulate the Giants' success -- even the Giants are 0-for-3 this season on those criteria. 

Furthermore, the success of pressure is actually a very bad thing for other defenses -- like the Eagles -- that depend upon pressure.  It's like anything else in sports.  Success on one side of the ball brings evolution on the other side.  This offseason, defensive coordinators are picking apart Giants' game film to see if there are things they can steal, but offensive coordinators are doing the same thing looking for weaknesses they need to address.

All of which means the Eagles' are going to have to cover better this year if they want to finally stop the Patriots Gambit.  The question then is if they are equipped to do so.

In the secondary, you have to say yes IF Lito Sheppard shows up for work this year.  With three solid corners and a healthy Dawkins, the ability is there to blanket guys.  Mikell's potential weakness playing in space isn't an issue when you're talking about the short passing game the Eagles need to figure out how to stop.

Linebacker is where things look a little less rosy.  A lot of times, Gocong still looks like a defensive lineman trying to run with a tight end.  Gaither got better as the year progressed, but he's not as quick as you'd like to see for this role.  And Bradley remains an unknown (one who probably won't be in much on passing situations early in the year) who didn't bring a reputation for coverage ability to the NFL.

I know everyone's excited about the potential for this linebacking corps.  I hope it's as good as everyone thinks it can be.

But the next time someone's talking about how big and fast these guys look on the practice field, the first question should be: "But can they cover anyone?"