ESPN reporter Andy Jasner is woried about the Philadelphia Eagle's defensive effeciency and thinks you should be just as concerned. If you remember three weeks ago, the Eagles recorded a respectable three sacks during their come from behind victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Those pass rushes are an element in what would become a 34-17 shootout win. Andy Jasner is much more concerned with the fact that since that game the Eagles haven't posted another sack as of yet. While offensive productivity is relatively good and Philly can boast a solid rating for their QB, Nick Foles, who is in the top ten performing quarterbacks, leaving the game with no sacks for your defense is a worrying statistic. The NFL and football itself is evolving and its general trend on defensive effeciency is tightly related to how much pressure you can place on your opposing quarterbacks. Sacks in a game are often under appreciated, many DBs around the league will tell you if you can get a sack it takes pressure of your back and places it on the offense. When teams pass rush effectively it deters and keeps offenses honest, the less time the quarterback has in the pocket, the more likelihood that the plays turns out in the defense's advantage.
The Philadelphia Eagles are no stranger to this defensive philosophy. The great and revered former Eagles Defensive Coach Jim Johnson was a pass rush intensive playcaller, which gave a reputation and respect around the league for the heavy hits and blitz rushes back in the day with great pieces to that stellar defensive puzzle such as Brian Dawkins at strong safety who molded well with playcalling and style for consecutive successful years of a strong Eagles defense. Very talented stars have took up that helm at defense like Trent Cole, who has impresive speed and power, yet ever since the new direction along with the failure of the last couple years with the 'Wide 9' style, which saw disasterous results in pass rushing, getting sacks has been a big gap and great detriment to Ealges defensive productivity. Many Eagles recognize this recurring problem such as Connor Barwin who made the statement that "I think we're rushing the passer really well when we have the opportunities,But the opportunities haven't been what we've wanted them to be. And that's on us to make it happen. Or else everybody's going to keep talking about it -- and rightfully so."
Frankly, Philadelphia Eagles just have been unable to bring their defense back to the luster and productivity of Jim Johnson era of Ealges defense. The wide 9 gimmick defense seemed to bring in even less sacks than less intensive pass rushing teams during the last two seasons. While the defense seems better positioned in many areas of personell and playcalling, there is noticeable disconnect with what the Eagles set out to do on defense and what the numbers and statistics state. Even Connor Barwin addressed that he believed that their defense was getting good pressure but quick releases (from opposing QBs) and other factors lead to no sacks in the last two outings. Nonetheless, many Eagles realize that if they want their undefeated season to stay that way, Eagles defensive coordinators, defensive leaders like Cole and Barwin and others will have to figure out this conundrum and start getting QBs on the ground.
References: http://espn.go.com/blog/philadelphia-eagles/post/_/id/8034/eagles-stuck-on-sack-total-since-opener
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