Gocong losing grip on starting job

[Leonard Tose]

I do agree with Gocong being a run stopper. He is one of the reasons why teams haven't had a good time running the ball on the Iggs lately. Until today.

I don't care if he can cover a TE or not because most LB's around the league can't. The great TE's will get theirs.

They stayed in the nickel most of the game to help with Vernon Davis. See Domo's interesting story below. That's why Frank Gore got some yards.

Paul Domowitch: Birds sack Niners' passing game

By Paul Domowitch
Philadelphia Daily News
Daily News Sports Columnist


Sean McDermont had a difficult choice to make last week as the Eagles' defensive coordinator game-planned for the San Francisco 49ers. Should he focus on the Niners' dangerous running back, Frank Gore, or should he focus on their freak-of-nature tight end, Vernon Davis?

Considering that the Niners had averaged almost 40 pass attempts in their previous four games, and considering that the athletic Davis had an NFL-high 11 touchdown catches and led all NFC tight ends in receiving yards, the choice seemed pretty clear to McDermott.

"We knew we had to take away Vernon Davis in the passing game," McDermott said. "I thought we did a pretty good job of that."

An Eagle defense that has had trouble shutting down tight ends much of the season, held Davis to just three catches for 43 yards in a 27-13 playoff-clinching win.

They did it by deep-sixing their base defense most of the game and going mainly with their nickel package, which features an extra defensive back - nickel corner Joselio Hanson - and just two linebackers.

The risk with a nickel is that you are more susceptible to the run. Not surprisingly, Gore had a pretty good day, rushing for 107 yards on 16 carries. But McDermott felt they could survive a few gashes here and there from Gore as long as they were able put a muzzle on Davis and the Niners' passing game.

"We just said we're going to put our fast guys out there and cover this guy [Davis]," Hanson said. "I mean he runs a 4.4 [40]. So he's as fast as us. It was a smart move by Sean just to put me out there the whole game."

The Eagles' problems against tight ends have been well-chronicled. In the previous 10 games, they had given up 70 catches for 776 yards and eight touchdowns to opposing tight ends. But by getting consistent pressure on quarterback Alex Smith and covering Davis with mostly corners and safeties rather than linebackers, they took away Smith's go-to guy and held him to a puny 4.78 yards per attempt.

McDermott's defense also intercepted Smith three times and forced a fumble by the Niners' other tight end, Delanie Walker. Through 14 games, the Eagles have 36 takeaways, including 23 interceptions, which is their most since 1999, when they had 28.

"They want to throw the football out of that two-tight end set," McDermott said. "Teams have had trouble all year matching up with Vernon Davis with a linebacker. I wasn't going to put us in that position. Hanson went out there and did a good job."

Will Witherspoon and Akeem Jordan got most of the reps at linebacker in the Eagles' nickel package on first and second downs. Tracy White subbed for Jordan on passing downs. White recorded the first interception of his 7-year career late in the second quarter when he picked off a pass intended for Gore.

"We had to get pressure on No. 11 [Smith] so he couldn't get the ball to 85 [Davis]," White said.

"We treated [Davis] like a wide receiver instead of a tight end."

Two of the Eagles' three interceptions came on passes to Davis. Strong safety Quintin Mikell picked off a deep pass down the middle for the tight end on the Niners' second possession.

In the second quarter, Asante Samuel notched his eighth interception of the season when he came off his own man and jumped in front of a pass for Davis.

"I just jumped the route," Samuel said. "I know their go-to guy is [Davis]. So I just jumped it on him."

Because the Eagles played so much nickel yesterday, middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter wasn't on the field very much. But he didn't care. He was thrilled that his teammates were able to shut down Davis.

"I can probably say that this is one week that we game-planned a guy and actually took him out of the game," Trotter said.

"There have been other weeks where we have game-planned a guy and they were still able to get it done. Especially a tight end making catches on us. I'm really proud of the defense, and the fact that we were able to take him out of the game."

[IMK]

I don't care if he can cover a TE or not because most LB's around the league can't. The great TE's will get theirs.

This is something people don't factor in - tight ends leaguewide are MUCH faster and better receivers than they were 10 years ago. Sure you had a Tony Gonzalez or two, but medicrities like Wesley Walls or Chad Lewis or Frank Wychek were routine Pro Bowlers. Today almost every team has a speedy, athletic tight end that can eat up linebackers in coverage. Tight ends are just plain harder to cover these days.

(Incidentally, I believe this trend began in 2002 with the drafting of Jeremy Shockey.)

[IMK]

Still, I have nothing to go on here with regards to making Gocong a pass rusher. Maybe he'd be a decent Joker, but who really knows?

And this is all I'm saying. I'm not saying Gocong couldn't be a good pass rusher, only that we haven't seen one shred of evidence at the NFL level that he can do it. As such, how can people possibly suggest that rushing the passer is not only a skill Gocong possesses in the first place, but that is in fact his best skill??? It seems completely absurd.

And then people start talking about his Division II college stats and act like their evidence is better than mine. It's just loopy.

[stocknowledge]

Not to disparage the dead, but JJ was very uncreative with his blitzes. He blitzed from the the safeties, the corners, and MLB, but he very rarely blitzed his outside linebackers.

I disagree strongly with this statement. JJ was perhaps one of the most creative coaches in terms of the blitz. If he didn't blitz the OLB's, it was because he felt that they were better utilized to cover the short receivers that the QB was forced to throw to because of the heavy pressure.

I also strongly agree with IMK. He is right, everyone else is wrong. Gocong has not shown much in terms of blitz ability. I find it hard to pin this lack of blitz success on his coaches (JJ and McDermott). If he was a great pass rusher, he would have been used as such.

[MDFAN]

FWIW----

Fokou On Rise To First String

Rookie linebacker Moise Fokou has made a habit of moving his way up the Eagles' depth chart since he arrived in Philadelphia.

The seventh-round pick made waves in training camp when he debuted as the second-string strongside linebacker. After a successful preseason, Fokou made the 53-man roster.

Then, when starting strongside linebacker Chris Gocong missed the November 8 game against the Dallas Cowboys with an injury, Fokou made his first NFL start.

Now, according to the depth chart provided by the Eagles media relations department, Fokou is the first-string strongside linebacker.

"Production," said defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, when asked what the reason was for Fokou's promotion. "The guy's productive and I don't think the game is too big for him as a young player. He studies hard."

"I've just been grinding," Fokou said. I've been "grinding hard and hoping for good things to come and just waiting.

"I guess (my chance) has come, but I'm just here to help the team in any way I can and if it's my time right now then it is."

Fokou played strongside linebacker in the base defense in the 27-13 win over the San Francisco 49ers, but the base defense was rarely on the field because the Eagles employed so much nickel defense. Still, Fokou assessed his performance after watching the game tape.

"I thought I did pretty well," he said. "I didn't get too many chances to kind of show what I had, but the way we schemed things, I thought I did pretty well."

This week, Fokou and the Eagles will face off against the Broncos' offense that includes the league's second-leading receiver in Brandon Marshall.

"They have two good receivers, a quarterback who throws the ball on the money, and a strong running game," Fokou said. "We're going to try to scheme it to try to take the receivers away again, but I think we're going to have a little more (base defense) on the field too."

-- Posted by Bo Wulf, 5:27 p.m., December 23
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/Bloghead/

[balto-eaglefan]

This is something people don't factor in - tight ends leaguewide are MUCH faster and better receivers than they were 10 years ago. Sure you had a Tony Gonzalez or two, but medicrities like Wesley Walls or Chad Lewis or Frank Wychek were routine Pro Bowlers. Today almost every team has a speedy, athletic tight end that can eat up linebackers in coverage. Tight ends are just plain harder to cover these days.

(Incidentally, I believe this trend began in 2002 with the drafting of Jeremy Shockey.)

That's a good point, and I'd go further back than Shockey, and even look at Shannon Sharpe and Keith Jackson from the early-mid 90's.

[IMK]

That's a good point, and I'd go further back than Shockey, and even look at Shannon Sharpe and Keith Jackson from the early-mid 90's.

Oh, there were always a handful of fast, athletic tight ends. But it was this decade that EVERYONE started to have one. Guys like Sharpe and Jackson were usually the exception. Now they're the rule.