This 3rd-down package with Dawk at LB is a very intriguing way of minimizing the OLB weakness. that, and the two TE offense seem like the two most interesting new wrinkles the Eagles will throw out there this year, at least at this point....
Bucks County Courier Times
PHILADELPHIA — It takes a big man to admit his own eyes and hopes have tricked him, so there was Jim Johnson on Thursday, confessing he spotted a pool of clean, cool water last year when there was really only a desert ahead for his defense.
Even after one defensive tackle (Sam Rayburn) had missed all of training camp, even with a starting defensive end (N.D. Kalu) returning after missing the entire 2005 season, even with a pass rush decelerated by the loss of a talented, young defensive end, Johnson sold himself on the idea that all was well.
And then, well, the season began.
“You kind of get fooled sometimes if you take everything out of preseason,” said Johnson, the Eagles' defensive coordinator. “You've got to kind of see when that season starts. Things do change, and they change fast.”
Indeed, before Johnson could say “Derrick Burgess,” he was starting Dhani Jones, Keith Adams and the irrepressible Mike Labinjo at linebacker in the season opener, and he was watching the Denver Broncos put up 49 points on him and his players in a humiliating Week 7 loss. After seven years of directing one of the NFL's most feared, frenetic defenses, he'll be damned if he's going to let that happen again.
Look at the Eagles now, then: a rotation of 10 defensive linemen with skill, size, speed and talent and a secondary that, during that Super Bowl season of 2004, was second to none. And look, too, at what Johnson has decided to do to counteract what everyone sees as the defense's primary area of concern — their outside linebackers, Jones and Matt McCoy. From an aging Levon Kirkland to an overmatched Barry Gardner, from straight-laced Mark Simoneau to Johnny Bowtie, the Eagles have never regarded linebacker as a position of great importance, but maybe, finally, Johnson can get around that handicap.
In the Eagles' nickel and dime packages, in those situations when he's sure the opposing team will throw the football, Johnson will move free safety Brian Dawkins closer to the line of scrimmage, turning him into a linebacker, allowing him either to blitz the quarterback or drop into coverage.
“It lets us do different coverages, different blitzes, different things we feel comfortable with,” Johnson said. “It gets our best cover people, our best athletes, on the field. You get more defensive backs on the field. You've got one linebacker, six defensive backs and four linemen, so you get very versatile and you get your quickness on the field.”
You also get Jones and McCoy off the field, which, Johnson seemed to acknowledge, is a must in those most important moments a defense faces. The Eagles permitted too many big plays on third down last season, and by using a package with only one true linebacker, Shawn Barber, and six defensive backs, including cornerback Rod Hood and safety Sean Considine, Johnson is banking that Dawkins' position change will be the difference. As a linebacker, he can charge after a quarterback, or he can cover a tight end — a significant responsibility in an NFC East with Jeremy Shockey, Chris Cooley and Jason Witten.
“Putting me closer to the line of scrimmage, I believe, is going to allow our other guys to free up because you can't watch me and see if I am coming on the blitz,” Dawkins said. “I am already down there, so it is going to open up a lot of avenues.”
Now, the move does give you pause for this reason: Johnson had never resorted to cutting down the field for Dawkins before, to taking away the umbrella responsibility that Considine will now have in the nickel and dime. That he's doing it this season, with Dawkins now 32 years old, could be interpreted as a sign that Dawkins is slowing, that the grooming of Considine has to begin.
“I don't know what their plans are,” Considine said. “I'm just trying to go out there and do the job I need to do. Obviously, it's my second year now, and I need to start showing signs of improvement, signs of gaining experience from practices and game situations.”
Of course, there's another two-pronged explanation: Considine has developed to the point that he can't stay on the sideline — “We think he's a playmaker,” Johnson said — and maybe Johnson has found a way to work around his defense's weakness, another set of linebackers that don't strike any fear. Maybe he's just learned not to wait too long to trust a mirage.
Bucks County Courier Times
PHILADELPHIA — It takes a big man to admit his own eyes and hopes have tricked him, so there was Jim Johnson on Thursday, confessing he spotted a pool of clean, cool water last year when there was really only a desert ahead for his defense.
Even after one defensive tackle (Sam Rayburn) had missed all of training camp, even with a starting defensive end (N.D. Kalu) returning after missing the entire 2005 season, even with a pass rush decelerated by the loss of a talented, young defensive end, Johnson sold himself on the idea that all was well.
And then, well, the season began.
“You kind of get fooled sometimes if you take everything out of preseason,” said Johnson, the Eagles' defensive coordinator. “You've got to kind of see when that season starts. Things do change, and they change fast.”
Indeed, before Johnson could say “Derrick Burgess,” he was starting Dhani Jones, Keith Adams and the irrepressible Mike Labinjo at linebacker in the season opener, and he was watching the Denver Broncos put up 49 points on him and his players in a humiliating Week 7 loss. After seven years of directing one of the NFL's most feared, frenetic defenses, he'll be damned if he's going to let that happen again.
Look at the Eagles now, then: a rotation of 10 defensive linemen with skill, size, speed and talent and a secondary that, during that Super Bowl season of 2004, was second to none. And look, too, at what Johnson has decided to do to counteract what everyone sees as the defense's primary area of concern — their outside linebackers, Jones and Matt McCoy. From an aging Levon Kirkland to an overmatched Barry Gardner, from straight-laced Mark Simoneau to Johnny Bowtie, the Eagles have never regarded linebacker as a position of great importance, but maybe, finally, Johnson can get around that handicap.
In the Eagles' nickel and dime packages, in those situations when he's sure the opposing team will throw the football, Johnson will move free safety Brian Dawkins closer to the line of scrimmage, turning him into a linebacker, allowing him either to blitz the quarterback or drop into coverage.
“It lets us do different coverages, different blitzes, different things we feel comfortable with,” Johnson said. “It gets our best cover people, our best athletes, on the field. You get more defensive backs on the field. You've got one linebacker, six defensive backs and four linemen, so you get very versatile and you get your quickness on the field.”
You also get Jones and McCoy off the field, which, Johnson seemed to acknowledge, is a must in those most important moments a defense faces. The Eagles permitted too many big plays on third down last season, and by using a package with only one true linebacker, Shawn Barber, and six defensive backs, including cornerback Rod Hood and safety Sean Considine, Johnson is banking that Dawkins' position change will be the difference. As a linebacker, he can charge after a quarterback, or he can cover a tight end — a significant responsibility in an NFC East with Jeremy Shockey, Chris Cooley and Jason Witten.
“Putting me closer to the line of scrimmage, I believe, is going to allow our other guys to free up because you can't watch me and see if I am coming on the blitz,” Dawkins said. “I am already down there, so it is going to open up a lot of avenues.”
Now, the move does give you pause for this reason: Johnson had never resorted to cutting down the field for Dawkins before, to taking away the umbrella responsibility that Considine will now have in the nickel and dime. That he's doing it this season, with Dawkins now 32 years old, could be interpreted as a sign that Dawkins is slowing, that the grooming of Considine has to begin.
“I don't know what their plans are,” Considine said. “I'm just trying to go out there and do the job I need to do. Obviously, it's my second year now, and I need to start showing signs of improvement, signs of gaining experience from practices and game situations.”
Of course, there's another two-pronged explanation: Considine has developed to the point that he can't stay on the sideline — “We think he's a playmaker,” Johnson said — and maybe Johnson has found a way to work around his defense's weakness, another set of linebackers that don't strike any fear. Maybe he's just learned not to wait too long to trust a mirage.
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