It was no illusion. The Philadelphia Eagles defense played better than they had in weeks in Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It couldn’t have all been because the death knell had been blown to the Wide 9 with the firing of Jim Washburn, could it?
Not all, but it certainly didn’t hurt. The linebackers felt that new d-line coach Tommy Brasher’s more traditional approach made their work on the field easier. Some were open in speaking about it to Tim McManus at Birds 24/7 on Tuesday.
Said Jamar Chaney,
“It’s better for the linebackers. If you ask any linebacker what scheme or how they would want to do it, they would want the linemen to hold up the blocks and they go make the plays.”
With the change, the d-line is keeping offensive lineman busy for longer periods of time, which frees up the linebackers to make plays. Things may have gotten harder for the defensive lineman but their efforts have helped their linebacker brethren.
“There is no read [before]. With this right now, they read the blocks. It’s probably harder for the d-line but it’s easier for the linebackers. It’s harder for them because they have been playing the Wide-9 and they have to make the adjustment, but it’s probably easier for the linebackers because everything will get more clear. Not saying that linemen aren’t going to get up on us, but they probably aren’t going to get up on us as fast. It just clears out everything.”
The elimination of the controversial formation wasn’t the only change that seemed to have an impact on Sunday. With Mychal Kendricks’ switch to the WILL linebacker position, which he played in college, he was freed up to more effectively utilize his speed to make plays. And there was marked improvement with the secondary. Colt Anderson did a good job replacing the injured Kurt Coleman at safety and noted that no Wide 9 meant that safeties felt some of the same relief as the linebackers in defending pass plays. As he told McManus, in those situations they experienced “a little less stress.”
While seeing any improvement on the Eagles defense was long overdue, seeing the near-immediate positive impact of Washburn’s firing makes you wonder what could have been if the move had happened when there was some hope of saving the season.
Want more Philly Sports Muse? You can find me on Twitter at @sports_muse and on Facebook.
