Talking With Omar Gaither

Readers who have been around for awhile may recall that I had a chance to talk with David Akers back in May as part of his Reebok promotional tour.  The good folks at Reebok's PR firm got back in touch with me again last week, asking if I'd have any interest in talking to Omar Gaither.  I told them I'd have to think about it.

And if you believe that...

What follows is, sadly, not a word for word transcript of our discussion.  I screwed up the recording for most of it, which meant I had to go by the notes I typed as we went along.  I think each answer captures the intent of what he was saying, but these are paraphrases and should not be taken as his exact wording.  In a couple of cases, I've inserted some words in brackets that I think make his meaning clearer than what my notes captured, but again, those were not his exact words and I want to highlight that fact.

The questions are written up as I had prepared them beforehand, not exactly as asked, for the same reason.  You may feel free to quote my part of the interview, though :)

I have to say, I was impressed with Gaither.  He gives off a very football-focused, winning-oriented vibe.  You can read beteween the lines a little bit on some of his comments about team leadership and coming back to work after a loss, but you'll still miss the obvious commitment with which he spoke.  I liked what I heard.

- - - - - -

I know we need to get to some Reebok things in here, but I was hoping to start by asking you about the Bears game?  

Yeah, people who know me, know there’s no way I’m going to get on here and not talk about football.  Go ahead.

I thought this was easily your best game of the season.  You really seemed to be playing downhill.  Has it been an adjustment process getting used to the WIL position again?

Yeah, it has been.  I don’t really want to say that [as an excuse] or anything, but it did take me a game or so to get back used to it.  I had to figure out all the tricks of that position.  Then I could put that out of my mind and go play.  It has been an adjustment, but I feel good over there.

If you had your choice, would you be in the middle or on the outside? 

There are good things and bad things about both positions.  I like being the quarterback of the defense in the middle, but I also like WIL a lot.  I’m able to be more creative over there and do some more things that are not in the defense.   

What kind of things?

For example, if we have a blitz on and I have a guy assigned to me, maybe a running back for example, and I’m not blitzing, I can blitz anyway.  It’s my choice if I think I can get there.  In fact, one of my blitzes against Pittsburgh and one near-sack against Chicago both came off blitzes that weren’t called for me. Both positions are good, but I like the linebacking corps the way it is.  So I’m good over there.

Early in the season, you were coming out a lot in passing situations for an extra safety.  That ended after the Dallas game, but did that bother you not being a three-down linebacker?

[Laughs]  You do watch the film closely, don’t you?  Coaches feel like they have to bring the extra DB in sometimes.  I’m not going to pout about it, but obviously I want to be on the field, because you get a lot of chances to make plays on third down in this defense. 

By the third game against Pittsburgh, we switched to the nickel.  I like that.  I think it’s working and I hope I can keep staying on the field, but whatever the coaches call we go with.

It seems like Johnson’s sticking with his base defense a bit more this year than last year.  Is that true or am I just making stuff up?

I don’t know if that’s true.  Sometimes we look like we’re in base, but Chris is actually playing a joker or rush end, not SAM.  That’s not our base defense.  We switch it up some.  [Then he said something about a defense that’s in-between nickel and base that I didn’t quite catch.  Fodder for the next video rewind, I guess.]

Back to Chicago, what’s going through your head when there’s a blitz coming off the slot and you know you need to race across the field and cover Devin Hester?  Is that a scary matchup?

[Laughs]  No, it’s not scary.  Well maybe for you all it is, but for us that’s just how we play.  You live by the blitz and you die by it.  That works for us and it’s what we do.  Against Chicago, Chris actually got a sack on one of those.   

So how you do guys bounce back after the tough loss on Sunday night?

You know what, I actually think it’s easier coming in after a loss to get ready for the next game.  Coming in after a loss isn’t hard.  You want to go to work right away.  It’s actually harder after a win.

Really?

It’s like anything.  You win a few games in a row, people start to get comfortable.  It’s harder to get motivated.  After a loss, people know they have to put the work in.

That’s interesting.  Going back a couple of years, people used to complain that there wasn’t leadership on the team.  That so-and-so wasn’t really a leader and people weren’t together.  Now it looks like everyone on the field is yelling at everyone else.  Have things changed since you were a rookie?

It’s definitely changed.  The character is different.  We’re a lot younger team than when I was a rookie.  People think leadership comes from experience, but it actually comes from leaders.  Stewart Bradley is a young guy, it’s his second year, but he’s going to lead because that’s in his blood.  Quintin Mikell is the same way.  He’s a leader out there.  Obviously he’s playing next to Brian Dawkins, who’s a leader, but Mikell is definitely a leader out there too. 

You guys have the league’s best run defense this year.  The run defense was pretty good last year, but what do you think is the biggest reason for this kind of improvement?

The biggest change is just experience.  The front four is the same.  We have nearly the same three linebackers.  It’s just experience.  You can see what having a year in this defense does. 

It looked like Chicago was doing some things early in the game last week to try to test the linebackers in coverage, specifically the other two.  With that secondary behind you, do you think teams are going to see the linebackers as a place to try to go with the football?

No, not at all.  Obviously, you look behind us and we have two great safeties.  Offensive coordinators are going to have to attack somewhere else.  You know they’ll try to go some place weaker. 

But Bradley is fine.  Gocong is fine.  I think I’m fine.  If we keep getting better, I hope what you’ll see by the end of the year is that coordinators aren’t going to know what to do or where to attack against us. 

So let’s talk jerseys.  If someone wanted to buy yours, could they be confident that you’re not going to switch numbers any time soon, since you’re on record saying you “hate” the number 96?

That’s funny, that’s come up a couple of times already.  When I came out of school, I think most people weren’t expecting too much early [which is why he got assigned #96].  I kept it as just a reminder of that. 

But now I think 96 looks good on me.  I’m not going to change my number any time soon.  In fact, I just signed my new deal with Reebok and I’ve ordered jerseys for all my family.  So I’m not going to change that up on them now.

Since you brought up new deals, with a year-plus left on your contract, you’re in that prime extension window for the Eagles.  Have you guys been talking about a long-term deal?

No, I’m not talking.  I don’t even know if my agent is talking to them.  I told them I don’t even want to know about that stuff unless we get to the point where something is close.  Otherwise I just want to go play football. 

Hey man, I really appreciate the time.  Anything else I should have asked you about the deal with Reebok?

Yeah, I’ve been with them since I was a rookie.  Just signed the new deal.  Remember that anything you see us wearing on game day is made by Reebok.  In fact, before the last game, I just got some new, all-green Reebok gloves, which worked out great for me.  The best place to order any of that stuff is Reebok.com.

Opposing Defenses

Teams have clearly decided to challenge out linebackers in coverage.  It's working.

Guess we'll call this the open thread to if you have anything to rant about.

UPDATE:  Why is it that Trent Cole's "personal" foul last week took precedence but this one this week offsets?

Also, that's two illegal formations on punts this year.  Segrest, get your team's shit together.

Eagles - Steelers Preview: Ed Rendell looking to rebound

Ed Rendell backed the wrong horse in the Democratic primary; let's hope he has slightly better luck this afternoon.  What I'll be shouting at the television about:

Ralph Wiggum lost his shin guard! Hack the bone!  Far be it from me to suggest anything untoward, but it'd be nice if the Eagles could get some pressure on Big Ben early in the game and maybe even hit him a little bit.  Let's see how that shoulder's doing.  The Steelers gave up a ton of sacks last year (only two fewer than the Birds) and it'd be nice if the defensive front could rebound from a pretty dull performance on Monday.  A sack from the defensive tackles would have me extra giddy here.

My least favorite NFL Player?  There's just something in the physical manner of that Hines Ward gentleman that really ruffles my feathers.  There's always an extra bit of taunting from Ward, though for some reason the blathermonkeys freakin love the guy (mostly this means John Madden).  Expect some exceptionally creative and loud swearing from me if Ward gets in the end zone.       

Another test for the linebackers.  I'm going to be anxious all afternoon about how the Eagles' linebackers will handle runs to the outside and the short passing game.  I'm feeling bullish on the Birds' ability to stop the interior running game, but I'm more worried about the fast parts of Fast Willie Parker on the outside.

Absolute terror in re: the offensive line.  Not only is Shawn Andrews out this week, but Jamaal Jackson dealt with some horrific family stuff and the entire left side of the line headed to Miami to support Jackson at the end of the week.  This either leads to an "inspirational performance" or "high levels of disorganization against a clever defensive scheme."  Hmmm.

More vertical passing.  I cannot get enough of the way that the Eagles are throwing the ball right now.  No dink-and-dunk crap -- they're running 15-20-yard patterns and the ball is flying down the field.  This is definitely the big-boy passing game, available only to those teams with Howitzer-armed quarterbacks.  And I think that the return of Reggie Brown only makes that passing game more dangerous.  Certainly the success throwing the ball has silenced the Run-The-Ball-Andy meme in Philly. 

Quintin Demps watch.  Whether it be as a replacement for Sean Considine or in the kickoff return game, few things would get me more fired up than more big plays from the rookies.  Same deal for Trevor Laws.

I know this sounds crazy, but.  Doesn't it seem like the 36 Chambers of Brian Westbrook hasn't really blown up on someone yet?  We haven't seen enough magic tricks from Westbrook quite yet (though he's obviously been quite excellent).     

Checking in on B-Dawk.  Remember the awkward play against Santonio Holmes in the preseason game that started the "Dawkins is done" whisper campaign?  Right.  It's week 3, and the volume of chitchat is only increasing.  It'd be nice to see Dawkins make a play or two this afternoon. 

I'm planning to head to the Town Tavern for the game this afternoon -- looking forward to a great day of football. 

Go Birds.

Mr. Green

"Why do I have to be Mr. Green?"

"Because Mr. I-Got-Beat-In-Coverage-By-The-Running-Back-For-A-Touchdown was taken."

(Must admit that I dig the Reservoir Dog look from Stew Bradley.)

If there was a way to grill and eat a Ram this afternoon, I would

 

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY. 

Football.  

I'm headed to Hoboken for the game and look forward to making some noise with the crew.  What I'll be shouting at the TV about:

Not to start with a negative, but spare us the obligatory drive-killing false start penalty on third down in the first quarter.  Seriously.  Those are totally beat.

And to get the other negative out of the way, the timeouts in the first quarter just kill me.  Seriously.  Also beat.  Please skip. 

I'm totally fired up to see the rookies on returns.  Can't remember the last time I was even vaguely excited for our return game.  Maybe J.R. Reed (Westbrook cameos don't count).  I'm actually more curious about Demps than I am Jackson.  I feel like I've seen enough of Jackson running around to understand what he's bringing.  Demps is still something of a mystery. 

Speaking of DeSean Jackson.  Geez, the hype machine for the camelcased one is really cranking at full power, no?  I was expecting to scoop the kid up in all of my imaginary football leagues; nope, he got taken relatively early in all of them.  Was there some sort of fantasy-nerd special bulletin distributed on the topic?  I mean, I think he'll get his shots, but WOW, this is still a rookie, right?    

The Rams have to be eight in the box/ all-eyes-on-36, right?  I wonder who else will get it done for the Birds?  Because the Rams have to be game-planning almost exclusively for Westbrook.  Someone else might have to score some imaginary football points this week!      

Fear the wet field!  I hope there aren't any otherwise preventable injuries due to the condition of the field.  Also, if the Eagles are supposed to be "fast" on defense, then a wet field will neutralize them more?  Or something?  Whatever, the Rams are a dome team.  They'll hate it out there.

Three things that will make me irrationally happy: (1) deep ball from McNabb to anyone (though something to Jackson would bring the house down) -- I just hope they take a shot down the field; (2) sack from one of the young linebackers, Gocong would be best; (3) Lito Sheppard gets a pick -- it just means that incentives are properly aligned. 

Moment of lightning-dodging confidence: I think the Eagles scheduled a Championship Subdivision cupcake opponent for the home opener.  They come correct to the tune of 27-10.

My freakin jersey didn't get here in time.  BOOOOOO.   

Yeah, We'll Get Right On That...

Read through this Courier-Post story today and you'll likely come away with the impression that the Eagles really, truly, could be running a fair amount of 3-4 defense this year:

With the team's 2008 training camp fast approaching, Johnson said no one can afford to get complacent, and that may include a longer look at the 3-4...

The major upside of the 3-4 -- versatility -- would seem to be right up Johnson's alley, but the Eagles' franchise-wide premium on defensive linemen has never quite allowed it.  Maybe 2008 will be different...

In the past, the Eagles have struggled to find the three or even two productive linebackers needed to play their base defense, let alone the four it would take to move to the 3-4.  Now, the linebackers have gone from weakness to strength...

We do get one caveat:

But the depth the team has stockpiled on the line makes it seem extremely unlikely the Eagles will fully abandon the 4-3.

There's more, but that's a pretty good selection.  Just as an experiment, though, try reading the article but only focusing on Jim Johnson's quotes:

"I try to go into training camp and have our total package at maybe 90 percent, but trying to experiment a little bit," he said. "Some things might work and some things we might throw out, just like we talked about with the 3-4. You can't be the same every year. You just can't."

"The biggest thing I think we have is we are a faster team," Johnson said. "We're trying to get that speed on the field. You want to be physical and you want to make sure you have speed.""How much will we do it? We'll do it some," Johnson said. "We've done it a little bit before. It's always kind of a mixture for us.

"I think it comes down to our linebackers and our depth at linebacker."

"There will be a little bit of that 3-4 mixed in there," Johnson said. "There is always that possibility when you have those kinds of athletes.

"That's not going to be a main thing, but it might be a part of it."

Doesn't sound to me like the salty old dog is quite ready to abandon his old tricks just yet.

- - - - - - -

Another quick point on this.  It's really not accurate to call what the Eagles did last year against the Patriots a "3-4" defense.  It was a 3-3-5, in that Johnson had his nickel corner on the field almost the entire game.

Furthermore, even though the personnel were in a 3-3 up front, the truth is that Gocong played many, many plays as a straight up defensive end.  It was really more of a disguised 4-2-5 than anything else. 

All of which means you don't really need four linebackers to run it. 

There's a lot more detail in the Patriots video rewind I did last year if you're interested.  Scroll down to the second half where I covered the defense.

Incidentally, I just-rewatched those videos from that post.  I think they all hold up, but you should really check out that last one if you're interested in why the Eagles' return teams struggled so much last year. 

- - - - - - -

Finally, this search order result is a clear sign my obsession with Chris Gocong has gone too far.

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?"

Dodged That Bullet

Just one year ago, the Eagles weren't feeling quite as sanguine about their situation at linebacker, which led them to try to sign Ryan Fowler, a restricted free agent from the Cowboys.  But then this happened:

Just one day after the Philadelphia Eagles announced they had reached agreement with Dallas Cowboys linebacker Ryan Fowler on a restricted free agent offer sheet, a move reported by several media outlets including ESPN.com, the veteran defender changed his mind on Monday.

Fowler instead will sign an offer sheet with the Tennessee Titans, the other team that had been vying for his services.

So certain were the Eagles on Sunday that they had an agreement with Fowler that they dispatched an e-mail to national reporters. And Fowler's agent, Alan Herman, told several media outlets that his client planned to sign the Eagles' offer sheet, a deal that was to become official on Monday morning.

There was no immediate explanation for the change of heart. Because the offer sheet paperwork was never officially signed and filed with the league office, which is not open on Sunday, the Eagles apparently have no recourse in the matter.

Fowler didn't exactly light things up in Tennessee, compiling 54 tackles, no sacks and no interceptions in 14 starts.

More important, though, is this:

Tennessee Titans linebacker Ryan Fowler is under investigation by the NFL in connection with an apparent steroids case, Fowler's lawyer said Monday.

Peter Ginsberg said that Fowler was notified late last week that he faces suspension.

The lawyer said he assumes the investigation stems from the death last week of David Jacobs, a convicted steroids dealer who claimed to have sold drugs to pro football players. Police in Plano said Jacobs killed himself.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello declined comment. A Titans spokesman did not return a phone call seeking comment, thought the team normally does not respond publicly to such cases.

Ginsberg, speaking by phone from New York, said the NFL asked to speak to Fowler but nothing has been scheduled.

Sometimes you get lucky.

Still Excited About the LBs...

I mentioned last week in this post about the Eagles' linebacker acquisition strategies that I thought the Eagles' presumptive starting linebacker trio had a lot of potential but was still very much unproven.  I know a lot of people don't agree, like for example, this person who commented on a PE.com feature of rookie MLB Joe Mays:

"At best, [Mays] contributes to special teams. He could possibly develop a greater role in the future, but linebacker is stacked with young talent right now."

I'll grant two-thirds of that bolded section -- the linebacker position is stacked with young players right now -- but the talent question is still very much up in the air.

Consider the following statistical comparison between two "mystery" players:

These look like two pretty similar seasons.  Player #2 had a few more assists, picked off a couple passes and forced a fumble.   Player #1 had about the same tackle numbers and a couple more sacks.  We might reasonably assume that Player #2 was a bit better in pass coverage and Player #1 was better at blitzing or at least had more opportunities to do so.  On balance, though, these are pretty great numbers across the board.  Any team would be fine sticking either Player #1 or Player #2 into their defense.

The problem, of course, is that Player #1 is San Francisco linebacker Patrick Willis, which Player #2 is actually ... all three Eagles linebackers in 2007.

Now granted, of the three 2008 starters, only Omar Gaither was a full-timer last year.  Gocong played mostly on running downs early in the season until his role gradually expanded to include some more situations.  Bradley only saw significant non-ST action in the last couple games of the year (after Takeo Spikes got hurt and the team wanted to give the young guys a chance). 

But still, one guy started 16 games and the other three started 29.  The had their chances.

But maybe you don't think it's fair to compare these guys to the best linebacker in the league last year.  Ok, but then check this out:

Now there are a whole bunch of arguments you could make for why Gocong's numbers are actually more impressive than Dhani's, starting mostly with the number of snaps each guy played.  But still, Gaither is no Trotter -- at least not yet -- and Gocong didn't exactly blow away the production of his predecessor.

There's room for optimism, but these guys aren't there yet.

Thinking About the Linebackers

I had a thought the other night while brainstorming some topics for upcoming posts.  The general sense in Iggles Land seems to be that after year of making a complete hash out of the linebacker position -- letting Trotter walk, making poor draft picks, signing an endless array of washed-up stopgap veterans -- the Eagles have finally figured out how to put together a linebacking corps that could: a) be pretty good and b) stick together for a few years.

Obviously we don't know for sure what to expect next year.  I'm looking forward to Omar being back home on the weak side, but Gocong needs to take it up a couple notches and Stewart Bradley is the walking definition of unproven.  (I don't think anyone's going to find a Reid quote saying he was playing at a "Pro Bowl" level at the end of last year.)  But there's at least the potential that this could be a pretty good group. 

What I find interesting about this is that the Eagles didn't change a single thing about how they approached the position.  They refused to go sign a big money free agent, nor did they spend one of their top two picks on a blue chipper like Paul Posluszny. 

Gocong and Bradley were both third-rounders, but Gaither stuck around until the fifth.  And all three guys had question marks coming out of college.  Gaither was a little undersized, Gocong was a small-school defensive end, and Bradley had a somewhat subpar senior season due to recovering from a serious knee injury suffered his junior year.  It goes too far to suggest they were plucked from the scrap heap -- way too far, in fact -- but none of them was a slam dunk NFL starter.  The fact that they all might make it is either a credit to the Eagles' scouting/coaching staffs or perhaps also a sign that they finally got a little luck at the position. 

Of course, it's also true that they didn't roll the dice with just these three guys.  The last few years, they've been carpet-bombing the position with mid/late-round draft picks and UDFAs who have some question marks.  Just this year, they drafted Joe Mays (undersized) and Andy Studebaker (another DE conversion, this time from Division III) to add to the mix.  I almost feel like the Eagles signed Rocky Boiman just to add some big name credibility (Notre Dame) to their linebacker mix.

So it's an interesting discussion question.  Did the Eagles have the right approach all along, and they just didn't pick the right guys / had some bad luck with draft picks?  Or was it instead that they just happened to get lucky with these three particular guys and that bailed them out?