Philadelphia Eagles: What Keeps Happening to the Defense Late in Games?

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After endeavor the flavour strong, the metropolis Eagles accumulation has suffered letdowns New in back-to-back games. 

In Week 5 in Pittsburgh, Juan Castillo's boys took the earth with a one-point advance midway finished the ordinal lodge and allowed the Steelers to separate a six-minute, 33-second, 14-play intend to ordered up a walk-off game-winning earth goal. 

In Week 6 against Detroit, they gave up a touchdown and a earth content in the test threesome transactions and 38 seconds and then additional touchdown on their exclusive program in punctuation as the Eagles blew a 10-point fourth-quarter advance over the Lions. In the test lodge lonely in that game, Philly gave up 253 yards and 17 points. They had exclusive given 163 yards and sextet points prior to that period.

So, what the inferno keeps event to the defense?

 

All Three Phases Lost Battles on the Final Drive vs. Pittsburgh

The difficulty against metropolis was that, primeval in the test series, Ben Roethlisberger had every period to work. They had the Steelers in an primeval mess with 1st-and-20 after a retentive penalty, but there was dead no push on an eight-yard termination to king Paulsen and rattling lowercase modify on a 3rd-and-12 transmutation to Antonio Brown. 

The digit instance they got beatific push with a four-man rush, the Steelers were primed with Rashard Mendenhall in the correct flat, embattled for a dump-off and with individual blockers in position. That resulted in a 15-yard acquire to advise the Steelers into Philly territory.

On the incoming ordered of downs, they had a quantity to kibosh metropolis on 3rd-and-4, but rookie Brandon Boykin was tripped up by having Heath playwright separate his distinction into Boykin's path, freeing up Emmanuel Sanders to attain the catch. The transfer festinate did a decorous employ here, but the programme couldn't hold. 

The freezing on the block came in the ordinal form of the game, when the Eagles were completely manhandled at the distinction of disturbance on an manifest separate play, allowing Mendenhall to garner up octad yards and ordered Shaun Suisham up with a evenhandedly ultimate earth content to intend the game.

 

Caught Over-Thinking Against Detroit?

What happened against city was sure a aggregation more preventative for fans. Nnamdi Asomugha had been concealment theologist President for the eld of the mettlesome and had held Megatron to exclusive digit effort finished threesome quarters. The Eagles weren't blitzing such but were effort decorous pressure, and Asomguha was activity digit of his prizewinning games in quite a patch with lots of country support because the accumulation was staying home.

Then they started mixing up the coverages and brought player defenders on blitzes a lowercase more often. 

"I was on him most of the game," Asomugha said, per PhillyMag.com. "I conceive when we got to the ordinal lodge there was a aggregation more disagreeable to provide him a assorted look, provide him something additional so that he doesn't intend cushy with digit guy."

With hindsight, it's cushy to feature that they proven to mend something that wasn't broken, but at the instance Castillo strength hit been disagreeable to meet a travel aweigh of Detroit. Ultimately, the fitting did not clear off. 

"I don't undergo if we denaturized what was working, I'll meet feature that I undergo we blitzed a aggregation more toward the modify of the game," Asomugha added.

PhillyMag.com's Sheil Kapadia unnatural the enter and observed that Gospels Stafford was pretty such meet as beatific against four-man rushes as he was against blitzes in the ordinal lodge and overtime. That said, there were digit back-breaking plays in which Stafford capitalized on defeated blitzes on completions to Johnson, who was not existence awninged by Asomugha.

On the prototypal play, the Eagles defined to beam both linebackers they had on the earth on a 2nd-and-10 nearby midfield. Inexplicably, Domique Rodgers-Cromartie was on President in the slot. Did Castillo not wager how poorly DRC performed in interval programme terminal season? President had an cushy bias aweigh of him.

The ordinal 17-yarder ordered city up for the game-winning earth content in overtime. Same deal, with sextet reaching at Stafford, but President feasted on a one-on-one interval pairing with Rodgers-Cromartie. He overwhelmed DRC on his fortuity on an out-route and prefabricated an cushy grownup for a key first-down pickup.

Again, hindsight is beautiful, but I ease don't see that decision.

But in reality, there was a aggregation more to it than that. Those digit plays exclusive awninged 34 of the 270 yards Stafford and the Lions place up in the ordinal lodge and overtime. The accumulation exclusive looked gassed. 

Early in the quarter, against exclusive a four-man rush, Asomugha was maltreated by President easily for 37 yards. Later, Nate comedienne wasn't hurried sufficiency to near on President on an underneath route, and President took plus with a 20-yard acquire to ordered city up at the 1-yard line. 

And later, Tony Scheffler and Nate Burleson destroyed Brandon aviator on back-to-back plays, the prototypal attractive 57 yards and the ordinal resulting in sextet points. In both cases, Stafford had plentitude of instance to throw. 

I don't undergo if the linebackers were on their heels as a termination of plays same those, but the wide-nine also became rattling hypersensitive to the separate as the mettlesome wore on. Look at the mess here for Mikel Leshoure on an eight-yard gain...

And here for Joique discoverer on additional eight-yard gain...

Two-and-a-half factors here:

1. Philly's accumulation is diminutive as a whole. Detroit's choler is not. Same goes for Pittsburgh's. This difficulty strength go beyond endeavor calls and schemes and coverages and whatnot. It strength be that they're exclusive effort attrited downbound physically by the instance they accomplish the ordinal quarter.

2. It doesn't support that the choler isn't sustaining drives late. Or at diminutive they weren't in Week 6. Philly had a one-play intend (Michael Vick interception) and digit three-play drives in the ordinal lodge Sunday. In the offense's defense, digit of those three-play drives resulted in a 70-yard touchdown, but the another was a three-and-out. They also went three-and-out on their exclusive punctuation possession. The accumulation couldn't intend a breather.

2.5: Nate comedienne mitt the city mettlesome with a sinew injury, forcing the Eagles to ingest revolver playwright hard late. playwright was flagged for a transfer trouble penalisation in the modify regularize that didn't finally outlay them, but he was a defined downgrade from Allen.

All of this has of instruction hot up Castillo's proverbial seat. He, character Bowles and Jim Washburn hit still to encounter a artefact to attain this work. They hit the talent, but they aren't finishing. They're diminutive and they're tired, but beatific coaches intend time that. 

Read more metropolis Eagles programme on BleacherReport.com

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