A Close Look: Defensive Stats

Straightforward stats post this morning.  Here's a top level comparison of the 2007 and 2008 defenses:

 

Aggregated by position group:

 

Honestly, not much this tells us other than:

1. Brian Dawkins was hurt a bunch in 2007.
2. Darren Howard was a monster in limited action in 2008.
3. The Eagles stripped the heck out of the ball in 2008

More interestingly, here are sack breakdowns going back even further:

In chart form:

You tell me how to classify Darren Howard.  He was mostly a rush tackle last year, but he did line up some at end.  I don't have breakdowns for where his sacks came from the last three seasons.

I'm still concerned by the incredible shrinking red box in that chart above.  From 2000 through 2004, (usual) starting DTs Corey Simon and Darwin Walker combined for at least nine sacks every year, reaching a high of of 14 in 2003.  Bunkley and Patterson combined for seven sacks in 2007, but they had just two last year (both by Bunk). 

Yes, Howard counts as a tackle (at least for 2008), but it's still a problem that the two starting DTs can't get to the quarterback.  And we shouldn't count on Howard duplicating his success in 2009.  Opposing offensive coordinators will focus on him this year, not to mention he'll also turn 33 in November.  I'll be surprised if he exceeds half of last year's sack total next season. 

Nor is it just an issue with Bunk and Patterson not playing in nickel situations.  Corey Simon totaled 23.5 sacks on first or second down from 2000-2004.  Good pass rushers can get to the quarterback no matter the down.

With no upgrades in sight at either OLB position, if this defense is going to take another step forward, the two starting tackles are going to have to put some pressure on the pocket.

If technique wizard Pete Jenkins wasn't able to pull that off, I'm a little skeptical about the kind of progress we can expect from Rory Segrest.

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Note: I said yesterday: "The locals just worked full time over a weekend to give us three days of wall-to-wall minicamp coverage -- an output the non-traditional media ... can't hope to match."

Credit due to GCobb and his crew.  They came pretty darn close.