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X’s and O’s Talk
Posted: June 19th, 2023 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 22 Comments
Nick Sirianni has done a great job in his two years as the Eagles head coach. He’s built a strong culture that has helped the team succeed. Sirianni and his staff are great teachers, focusing on small details that can help players perform at their best. The staff has done a good job with resting players to keep them healthy and fresh.
Sirianni and the staff have also done a great job with X’s and O’s.
Chip Kelly brought RPOs to Philly back in 2013 and they’ve been part of the offense ever since. Sirianni and the offensive coaches have figured out ways to maximize RPOs with Jalen Hurts.
In 2022, Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles might have been the most prolific purveyor of the RPO — he completed 61 of 84 RPO attempts for 512 yards, 106 air yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 113.6. As the Eagles are adept at adding everything from motion to screen stuff to pull off their RPO stuff, defenses are constantly in a bind.
The RPO is a basic concept, but there are no end to the variations you can come up with. That makes it tough on defenses. They study previous games and focus on tendencies. That’s when the Eagles are so dangerous. They mix in something new and it leaves the defense completely confused. Fred Warner is the best off-ball LB in the league. There were plays in the NFC title game where he didn’t know what to do.
https://twitter.com/AidanDoc_/status...66631297347585
Then you see something like this. So simple, so tough.
Shane Steichen is gone and he certainly was important, but Sirianni, Brian Johnson and Kevin Patullo will keep coming up with ideas that should continue to challenge defenses. And don’t overlook how important Jeff Stoutland is to all of this. He was involved in RPOs with Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson/Frank Reich and the current staff. He’s seen it all.
Think about the way the Eagles used the QB sneak last year. That went from being a good situational play to a key part of the offense. The coaches had the freedom on third down, knowing if they ended up in 4th and 1 the team had a great chance to convert that. The Eagles started using the “tush push” and then came up with some fakes off that so defenses had to be careful at loading up the middle.
Sirianni might be an offensive coach, but he knew what he wanted on defense. He wanted a scheme that focused on takeaways and limiting explosive plays. That meant a lot of 2-high safeties. That was smart.
Andy Reid brought Jim Johnson to Philly because he like the idea of zone blitzes as a way to confuse QBs and get pressure without taking too many chances. Reid knew what he didn’t want to face. Sirianni probably feels the same way about 2-high safety looks. There are certainly ways to beat it, but you take away a lot of big plays and force the offense to move the ball methodically.
The Eagles pass defense was outstanding in 2022. They led the NFC in lowest passer rating allowed. They tied for 4th in the league in INTs. They led the league in sacks and allowed the fewest passing yards in the NFL. That’s kinda crazy when you consider they played with a lead most of the season. Teams should have been racking up yards while trying to make comebacks.
Jonathan Gannon brought the idea of 5-man fronts and it worked great last season.
Bear front concepts go back decades, but the general idea is the same — you are testing the opposing offensive line with five-man fronts in which there’s a nose tackle, two ends, and two “endbackers” who are quicker edge defenders. The ends in these fronts force single-team opportunities by occupying the outside shoulders of the offensive guards, while the nose tackle takes the center either head-over or in a shade alignment. We’ve seen a return to more of these fronts in recent years.
You need to separate the five-man front from a four-man front with a blitzing defender, which we have done. In 2022, there were 651 defensive snaps in the NFL in which there were five defensive lineman and no blitz. There were 403 such snaps in 2016. Last season, there were 541 in which the defense wasn’t trying to protect in the red zone. In 2016, there were 241.
The Eagles, Bengals, and Raiders were at the top of the list when it came to these fronts, and the Eagles were particularly devastating with it.
The Eagles pass rush wasn’t nearly as good in 2021. They didn’t have the personnel to make it work as well. Having Linval Joseph/Jordan Davis at NT and Haason Reddick at OLB made all the difference in the world.
Sean Desai has run 5-man fronts and will likely keep that part of Gannon’s scheme. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…so to speak.
The Eagles pass rush had a ton of success with 4-man rushes.
Last season, per Sports Info Solutions, no team had more solo sacks (49) and combined sacks (56) with four pass-rushers than the Philadelphia Eagles. The defending NFC champs also ranked sixth in four-man quarterback hurries with 129, third in quarterback hits with 124, and third in total four-man pressures with 238, behind only the Dallas Cowboys and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Rushing four and getting pressure is huge. It allows you to drop seven players into coverage, making things that much harder on the QB. You can rush four and have success if you have good players, which the Eagles did.
Gannon also mixed in stunts effectively. He didn’t do a lot of this so offenses wouldn’t focus on it. When the Eagles did stunt, they had good success.
Desai is right when he points out that scheme can be overrated in regard to coaches. There is no perfect scheme that magically makes everyone better. But good schematic ideas and adjustments can make a tremendous difference, especially when you have the right players.
Howie Roseman has built a loaded roster and Nick Sirianni and his staff know how to get the most out of these players. That’s a big reason the Eagles will be favored to repeat as NFC champs.
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Posted: June 19th, 2023 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 22 Comments
Nick Sirianni has done a great job in his two years as the Eagles head coach. He’s built a strong culture that has helped the team succeed. Sirianni and his staff are great teachers, focusing on small details that can help players perform at their best. The staff has done a good job with resting players to keep them healthy and fresh.
Sirianni and the staff have also done a great job with X’s and O’s.
Chip Kelly brought RPOs to Philly back in 2013 and they’ve been part of the offense ever since. Sirianni and the offensive coaches have figured out ways to maximize RPOs with Jalen Hurts.
In 2022, Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles might have been the most prolific purveyor of the RPO — he completed 61 of 84 RPO attempts for 512 yards, 106 air yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 113.6. As the Eagles are adept at adding everything from motion to screen stuff to pull off their RPO stuff, defenses are constantly in a bind.
The RPO is a basic concept, but there are no end to the variations you can come up with. That makes it tough on defenses. They study previous games and focus on tendencies. That’s when the Eagles are so dangerous. They mix in something new and it leaves the defense completely confused. Fred Warner is the best off-ball LB in the league. There were plays in the NFC title game where he didn’t know what to do.
https://twitter.com/AidanDoc_/status...66631297347585
Then you see something like this. So simple, so tough.
Shane Steichen is gone and he certainly was important, but Sirianni, Brian Johnson and Kevin Patullo will keep coming up with ideas that should continue to challenge defenses. And don’t overlook how important Jeff Stoutland is to all of this. He was involved in RPOs with Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson/Frank Reich and the current staff. He’s seen it all.
Think about the way the Eagles used the QB sneak last year. That went from being a good situational play to a key part of the offense. The coaches had the freedom on third down, knowing if they ended up in 4th and 1 the team had a great chance to convert that. The Eagles started using the “tush push” and then came up with some fakes off that so defenses had to be careful at loading up the middle.
Sirianni might be an offensive coach, but he knew what he wanted on defense. He wanted a scheme that focused on takeaways and limiting explosive plays. That meant a lot of 2-high safeties. That was smart.
Andy Reid brought Jim Johnson to Philly because he like the idea of zone blitzes as a way to confuse QBs and get pressure without taking too many chances. Reid knew what he didn’t want to face. Sirianni probably feels the same way about 2-high safety looks. There are certainly ways to beat it, but you take away a lot of big plays and force the offense to move the ball methodically.
The Eagles pass defense was outstanding in 2022. They led the NFC in lowest passer rating allowed. They tied for 4th in the league in INTs. They led the league in sacks and allowed the fewest passing yards in the NFL. That’s kinda crazy when you consider they played with a lead most of the season. Teams should have been racking up yards while trying to make comebacks.
Jonathan Gannon brought the idea of 5-man fronts and it worked great last season.
Bear front concepts go back decades, but the general idea is the same — you are testing the opposing offensive line with five-man fronts in which there’s a nose tackle, two ends, and two “endbackers” who are quicker edge defenders. The ends in these fronts force single-team opportunities by occupying the outside shoulders of the offensive guards, while the nose tackle takes the center either head-over or in a shade alignment. We’ve seen a return to more of these fronts in recent years.
You need to separate the five-man front from a four-man front with a blitzing defender, which we have done. In 2022, there were 651 defensive snaps in the NFL in which there were five defensive lineman and no blitz. There were 403 such snaps in 2016. Last season, there were 541 in which the defense wasn’t trying to protect in the red zone. In 2016, there were 241.
The Eagles, Bengals, and Raiders were at the top of the list when it came to these fronts, and the Eagles were particularly devastating with it.
The Eagles pass rush wasn’t nearly as good in 2021. They didn’t have the personnel to make it work as well. Having Linval Joseph/Jordan Davis at NT and Haason Reddick at OLB made all the difference in the world.
Sean Desai has run 5-man fronts and will likely keep that part of Gannon’s scheme. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…so to speak.
The Eagles pass rush had a ton of success with 4-man rushes.
Last season, per Sports Info Solutions, no team had more solo sacks (49) and combined sacks (56) with four pass-rushers than the Philadelphia Eagles. The defending NFC champs also ranked sixth in four-man quarterback hurries with 129, third in quarterback hits with 124, and third in total four-man pressures with 238, behind only the Dallas Cowboys and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Rushing four and getting pressure is huge. It allows you to drop seven players into coverage, making things that much harder on the QB. You can rush four and have success if you have good players, which the Eagles did.
Gannon also mixed in stunts effectively. He didn’t do a lot of this so offenses wouldn’t focus on it. When the Eagles did stunt, they had good success.
Desai is right when he points out that scheme can be overrated in regard to coaches. There is no perfect scheme that magically makes everyone better. But good schematic ideas and adjustments can make a tremendous difference, especially when you have the right players.
Howie Roseman has built a loaded roster and Nick Sirianni and his staff know how to get the most out of these players. That’s a big reason the Eagles will be favored to repeat as NFC champs.
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