Vic Fangio was talkin’ bout practice.
Well, Jalyx Hunt, too. But as a longtime Philly sports fan, Fangio, a Dunmore, Pa., native, couldn’t resist delivering the familiar reference when asked about the rookie edge rusher’s development.
“It’s a process,” Fangio said. “The more you practice, the more you play, you get better — in spite of what Allen Iverson ever said.”
Fangio looked comfortable behind the dais wearing his classic Kelly Green hoodie. And why wouldn’t he? His hands are at the controls of the NFL’s top-ranked defense. No team surrenders fewer yards per game than the Philadelphia Eagles (282.8). They’d just shut down the Baltimore Ravens in a 24-19 slugfest in which the Ravens avoided season-lows in both points and yardage by scoring in a meaningless final drive. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni once again heralded Fangio as “one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL.”
… And the hoodie was free.
Asked if it was sentimental, Fangio simply stated he’d found it hanging in his locker. Two weeks ago, he’d arrived for his regularly scheduled news conference wearing a black “FOX NFL” hat. The headgear had also been gifted. “If it’s free, it’s for me,” Fangio said then. The seven-time defensive coordinator is endearing himself to a fanbase which, in part, was questioning Fangio’s being hired while his defense was initially performing poorly. He acknowledged that delivering success in a sports city he regards “brings back a little satisfaction.”
“That was a big part of my motivation to come back here,” Fangio said. “And we tried to do it a couple other times throughout the years, but it never timed out right.”
The timing of Fangio’s arrival was still opportune. Had Sirianni been able to hire Fangio following Jonathan Gannon’s sudden departure after Super Bowl LVII, it’s debatable whether the 2023 Eagles roster would’ve fielded the 2024 roster’s level of production. General manager Howie Roseman restocked a depleted secondary with rookies Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean (who are now flourishing as starters), signed safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and reshuffled a linebacker corps that is no longer a liability.
Of course, Fangio and an overhauled Eagles defensive staff deserve credit for player development, refining fundamental techniques and fielding effective game plans. Roseman initially pitched Zack Baun to Fangio as an edge rusher in free agency, but Fangio saw an inside linebacker in Baun, who’s having an All-Pro worthy season while ranking third in the NFL with 74 solo tackles. Meanwhile, Roseman’s batch of high-profile Georgia draftees — Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean and Nolan Smith — have combined for 13 of the defense’s 36 total sacks and 26 of its 62 total tackles for loss.
A personality is gradually forming around a young Eagles defense that’s been historically bestowed with nicknames such as “Gang Green” when its success is sustained over several seasons. For now, these Eagles are beginning to restore their reputation as a formidable defensive force. Sunday’s win in Baltimore featured their latest dominance. DeJean’s takedown of Derrick Henry supplied an image for their banner. Although Fangio wouldn’t categorize it, The Athletic’s film review suggests the Ravens game was arguably his defense’s peak performance yet.
“I don’t know,” Fangio demurred. “We try and play that way each and every week. Baltimore is really good on offense. We had to be physical to hang in there with them. But that’s our goal every week.”
How Fangio finally limited Lamar
One of the top storylines entering the weekend was Fangio’s previous failures to prevent Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson from securing highlights for his MVP campaigns. But it’s important to note that the 2021 Denver Broncos and the 2023 Miami Dolphins didn’t have trouble containing Jackson as a runner. The dual-threat QB totaled 63 rushing yards on 13 carries in both games. Jackson tore up both of Fangio’s defenses through the air. In 2021, Jackson was 22-of-37 passing for 316 yards and a touchdown. In 2023, he was 18-of-21 for 321 yards and five touchdowns.
Sirianni lauded Philadelphia’s defensive fundamentals on Sunday. Turn on the tape from Miami’s Week 17 loss to Baltimore in 2023, and that’s the most noticeable discrepancy. A Dolphins linebacker got picked on a wheel route that went for a 20-yard touchdown. No one covered Zay Flowers on a motion route that turned into a 75-yard score. And another defender took what looked like a bad pursuit on Isaiah Likely on a 35-yard touchdown reception.
The Ravens averaged 8.3 yards after the catch against the Dolphins. They averaged 4.3 YAC against the Eagles on Sunday — Baltimore’s second-lowest average yet in 2024. The Eagles played zone coverage at a much higher rate against the Ravens (83.1 percent) than the 2023 Dolphins did (69.1), per TruMedia. The heavy zone usage helped Philadelphia’s defenders from getting tied up in Baltimore’s crossing patterns and put the Eagles’ linebackers in a favorable position to close quickly if Jackson decided to scramble. Jackson had 40 yards on seven carries before Baltimore’s final drive.
The Eagles only had a few coverage breakdowns. On Baltimore’s first drive, Jackson nearly punished the Eagles when Mitchell didn’t quickly pick up Rashod Bateman after Baun passed the receiver off, but Bateman couldn’t haul in the catch near the pylon. A possession later, Mitchell passed off Flowers into a vacant zone in which Jackson hit Flowers for a 20-yard gain on an eventual touchdown drive.
Jackson’s most destructive completions were adequately defended. Milton Williams nearly sacked Jackson during Baltimore’s first drive, and, as Jackson escaped, Flowers ditched two defenders by turning in the opposite direction. Jackson hit the wide-open Flowers for a 40-yard gain, Jackson’s longest completion of the game. Jackson finished 23-of-36 passing for 237 yards and two touchdowns. Three-time Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews leaped amid heavy coverage to haul in a 14-yard touchdown reception on Baltimore’s second drive. Jackson later hurled a garbage-time, 11-yard score to Likely with three seconds left in the game.
“We hung in there,” Fangio said.
The Eagles secondary frequently exchanged assignments with discipline. This also aided a run defense that limited Henry, the AFC’s leading rusher, to 82 yards on 19 carries. Linebackers needed to be poised to stop Henry. On Baltimore’s first drive, the Ravens anticipated the Eagles linebackers would bite on play-action. Indeed, on a first-and-10 play, both Dean and Baun surged forward. Andrews crossed both backers in a route in the opposite direction. The tight end initially had open space, but Mitchell passed off his receiver to safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and cut down Andrews for a 2-yard gain.
The Eagles defense continued to play orderly in coverage. On Baltimore’s first drive of the second half, with Philadelphia leading 14-12, Jackson had to settle for a checkdown pass on a first-and-10 situation. Baun swiftly closed on running back Justice Hill. Jackson’s pass sailed incomplete. Three plays later, safety Reed Blankenship quickly cut down Tylan Wallace on a swing pass that only gained two yards. Justin Tucker later missed a 47-yard field goal on the same drive.
The Ravens converted six of their 16 third-down opportunities. Blankenship surrendered one that could’ve been costly. During that first drive of the second half, Jackson lobbed a third-and-8 downfield throw to Andrews, who had to leap to catch the pass. Blankenship, who closed quickly, was in position to do however much damage to Andrews he desired. The safety attempted a light nudge. Andrews broke through for a 23-yard gain to the Philadelphia 20. Blankenship’s hesitation — perhaps due to a penalty or potential injury to a defenseless receiver — swung a potential 60-yard field goal attempt turned into a red-zone opportunity in a two-point game.
“He needs to make that play one way or another,” Fangio said. “He needs to either pick it off or break it up.”
The Eagles at last define ‘palpable’
Back in 2023, during his first team meeting, former defensive coordinator Sean Desai told the Eagles defense he wanted them to adopt a word few of them knew nor could pronounce: Palpable. It was a heady way of saying Desai wanted their opponents to feel them. He wanted them to be physical in a way that the unit never quite fulfilled.
These 2024 Eagles are defining that word under Fangio with visual cues anyone can understand. Baun had a game-high 13 tackles, a half-sack and a critical punt-forcing tackle for loss on Derrick Henry that set up Philadelphia’s go-ahead drive in the second quarter. Carter, Davis, Williams and Moro Ojomo consistently mauled blockers along the interior.
And enter Cooper DeJean. On a critical third-and-11, the Eagles leading 21-12 with 6:18 left in the game, Lamar Jackson dished a quick pass to Derrick Henry in the flats. DeJean, listed at 6-foot, 198 pounds, wrapped up Henry, picked the 6-2, 247-pound running back up and drove him into the ground. DeJean got up and started waving his arms, as if he were fanning himself. The entire defense joined him. DeJean later explained it was a team celebration they had just come up with that week. DeJean’s hit on Henry has become the key image of the defense’s heavy-hitting identity.
“It was good technique,” Fangio said. “Good job of wrapping up. Good job of targeting where to hit him. It all came together for a really good play.”
Sirianni said the defense’s “physicality” emerged from the way they played within their fundamentals — in how they beat blocks, took the right angles, ran through contact on their tackles and joined in after other teammates initially wrapped ball-carriers up. The Eagles began emphasizing tackling fundamentals after playing dismal defense during a 2-2 start in which they averaged 10.5 missed tackles per game, per Pro Football Focus. As Fangio later quipped while quoting Jim Mora: “If you emphasize something, you’ve got a chance to get it.” The Eagles have missed just one tackle more during their eight-game win streak (43) than they did during that initial four-game stretch (42). Their 85 total missed tackles are the sixth-fewest in the NFL.
The Eagles strong-armed the Ravens along the line of scrimmage while playing out of their base 3-4 structure a season-high 22.5 percent of their snaps, per TruMedia — more than double their second-highest percentage against the Cincinnati Bengals (10.3 percent) and more than four times their total average entering the weekend (4.8). As Fangio said, “Every game has its own personality,” and the Ravens are the first of the NFL’s seven teams the Eagles have faced who have a listed fullback on their active roster. (The Steelers are the only other remaining on the schedule.)
The Ravens rushing attack often features fullback Patrick Ricard. They ran two-back packages 39.5 percent of the time entering the weekend, per TruMedia. Beyond Ricard, the Ravens also reinforced their run game by deploying two-tight end packages on 28.7 percent of their plays. The Eagles combatted such looks by fielding base structures that featured either their three usual interior defensive linemen or by dropping an edge rusher down in a four-man front (Hunt was featured on three of those four occasions; Sweat on the other).
The Eagles held the Ravens to 3.8 yards per carry out of their base packages. They did so with minimal substitutions along the defensive front. Carter, who played the entire Week 10 game against the Washington Commanders, missed only one play. Smith recorded a career-high eight tackles while playing a career-high 81 percent of the defense’s snaps. Sweat (71 percent) and Hunt (49 percent) subbed more frequently. The edge rushers needed to take on a heavier load in the wake of Brandon Graham’s season-ending tricep tear. Although the Eagles claimed former Carolina Panthers defensive end Charles Harris off waivers, Smith, Sweat and Hunt are likely Philadelphia’s most reliable trio until Bryce Huff returns from injured reserve. Fangio insisted a three-man rotation is sustainable, saying he played with three edge rushers an entire season as defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers.
Smith’s emergence supports Fangio’s statement. The 6-2, 238-pound former first-rounder has credited position coach Jeremiah Washburn for his increased ability to battle blocks against the run. On Baltimore’s second drive of the game, the Ravens attempted a toss to Henry to Smith’s side of the field. Smith shoved tight end Isaiah Likely backward and forced Henry inside for a 4-yard gain that could’ve been more. Smith played disciplined as a backside defender, twice cutting down Henry in the backfield. In the fourth quarter, he ripped through Ravens right tackle Roger Rosengarten and tackled Henry to force a third-and-2 situation at the Baltimore 13.
“Nolan Smith is physical,” Sirianni said. “He was physical in college. He didn’t just turn physical. He was physical in high school, and I imagine he was physical when he played Pee Wee football. It’s huge to have guys like that on your team that seek out hits, and want to hit, and know the way the game changes when you deliver hits.”
Carter battled through blocks, some legal, some borderline, one Fangio referred to as a blatant hold. Still, Carter totaled a career-high three tackles for loss. He consistently fought through right guard Daniel Faalele, a 6-8, 380-pound converted tackle the Ravens moved to the interior this season. Carter beat Falaale on Baltimore’s second-to-last drive, tackling Henry for a loss of one, which set up the third-and-11 situation in which DeJean delivered his resounding blow.
But on Baltimore’s first drive of the day, Carter also demonstrated quickness and discipline that likely altered the course of the game. On second-and-6 at the Eagles 13, the Ravens attempted a jet sweep to Flowers. Carter wasn’t fooled. He quickly swallowed Flowers for a 3-yard loss that eventually limited the Ravens to a 34-yard Tucker field goal. Fangio, a coordinator or head coach in 24 seasons, wouldn’t attempt a comparison to the player Carter is becoming.
“I don’t ever like to compare people because, at the end of the day, somebody ends up feeling slighted,” Fangio said. “But he’s a damn good player, and he’s improving.”
(Top photo: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)
