Not to make excuses for Gannon because he is paid to put his players in positions to succeed but I think personnel is the issue with him. He comes from the Zimmer tree- what is Zimmer defense known for....GOOD LINEBACKERS...who can cover and shoot the gaps in the run game...which the Eagles are really lacking. I think if we had good LBs, he would be more aggressive
But he has to do better than this...he is basically less aggressive than Schwartz...which I cant believe
Agreed.
I’m not excusing Gannon at all, because Schwartz – for all the shyt he got – was at least able to work with mediocre defensive talent, and never had a defense worse than average during him time here. But there is no scheme in the world that was ever going to turn this defense into a unit capable of stopping the Cowboys or Chiefs. Those teams, much as I hate to admit it in the former case, are actual Super Bowl contenders. And the only actual playmaker on the defensive side of the ball is Hargrave. When the defense met offenses closer to their level, the Falcons and Niners, they did much better. That tells me that the chief problem there is the talent, not the coaching.
If you really want to blame someone, you have to look at Howie Roseman. The front office has spent the last four years dumping all its high-end resources into the offense. In 2018, they spend their 2nd Round pick (Eagles traded out of the 1st) on Goedert. In 2019, they spent their 1st on Dillard, and their two 2nds on Sanders and JJAW. In 2020, they spent their 1st on Reagor and 2nd on Hurts. In 2021, they spent their 1st on Smith and 2nd on dikkerson. Their major defensive additions in this period all came via Free Agency, and were usually for veterans pushing 30, like Bennett and Slay. Hargrave being the only exception, and is of course the only defensive player actually playing at a high level right now.
And as a guy who’s admittedly biased towards offense (I think it’s the more important side of the ball in today’s NFL), I could actually forgive this had Howie’s offensive picks actually worked out. Smith and dikkerson are rookies, so I won’t rate them yet, though early signs look promising for Smith, at least. But the jury’s still out on Hurts, who’s been up-and-down this season, Dillard and JJAW are busts, Sanders is okay, and Reagor might be a bust himself. Goedert is the only offensive player taken in the first two rounds, in four years, who has a realistic chance of being a long-term starter for the team right now. And
that’s what the Eagles have sacrificed the defense for.
tl;dr - the Front Office is really the culprit that got us into this mess. They invested heavily in the offense while the defense got castoffs from other teams, then got very little return out of those offensive investments, all the while the defense was left to get old and decline.
The Eagles will have four picks in the first two rounds next year. If they don’t take a QB (we’ll see how Hurts progresses, and who emerges as the top QB prospects out of college), then I’m in agreement with the consensus that they all have to go to the defense – DE, CB, LB, Safety, whoever’s the BPA at any of those positions. And the FO absolutely has to hit on these guys. If we come out of the 2022 draft with more Derek Barnetts and Sidney Joneses, I better not see ANYONE argue with me that Howie Roseman needs to go.
No bullshyt, tho, one of my fondest memories as a sports fan!
