An Eagles Pass Rush Worth Keeping

With the bottle still spinning in the Eagles presumed search for a new defensive coordinator, the fate of defensive line coach Jim Washburn is up in the air. Will Steve Spagnuolo, the free agent front runner, see working with Washburn, or are the tactical and personality differences too great to overcome?

All I know is, it would be an absolute shame if Spagnuolo or any other new coordinator failed to incorporate Washburn into his scheme. The numbers bear out what an amazing job Washburn did with the Eagles defensive line, turning it into the best pass rushing front four in the whole NFL.

Pro Football Focus has a great statistic on this, Pass Rushing Productivity (PRP). The stat measures the percentage of pass rushes in which players record a sack, hit, or hurry (weighted 75 percent for the latter two).

Here’s what PRP had for the Eagles defensive ends in 2010, with Jason Babin’s year in Tennessee included for reference. “25% Rank” is the player’s standing next to all other pass rushers with at least 25 percent of their team’s defensive snaps.

As you can see, the Eagles defensive line was very effective under Sean McDermott. Darryl Tapp was the worst regular contributor, and he ranked 29th among all defensive ends. Trent Cole led the league in hurries and Brandon Graham showed promise before his knee injury.

But what about 2011:

There were a number of changes. For starters, even without Graham, substitutions were up. Cole was in on over 100 fewer passing plays. Also, the zone coverage attempts by defensive ends that marked 5-10 percent of plays in 2010 were largely eliminated.

The result of these changes and the new Wide Nine technique was an across the board jump in pressure from the ends. Cole moved up to number one in the NFL, Babin improved on his Titans production, and Darryl Tapp — still the laggard — brought up the rear at 10th best in the league. Moreover, even the back ups scored highly in limited snaps.

That is a remarkable improvement. To be complete, let’s also check the defensive tackles’ pass rushing:

Broderick Bunkley had the highest PRP among Eagles defensive tackles in 2010. In 2011, the Eagles had three (almost four) who scored higher than Bunkley. That says pretty much everything that needs to be said there.

All the numbers above are interesting, and you can pull out other nuggets in the comments (such as Hunt’s efficiency or Laws’s ineffectiveness), but overall this tells a clear story about the positive impact Jim Washburn has had on this defensive line.

I’m optimistic that a good coordinator can adapt to Washburn’s strengths, but I fear that whoever the Eagles bring in will be too stubborn to do so. Cross your fingers.

Photo from Getty.

Spagnuolo to Eagles Not a Sure Thing

Les Bowen lays out all the reasons not to assume Steve Spagnuolo is already on his way to Philly. Spags taking his time to “see what develops” isn’t proof either way, but I do think there’s a sizable chance that one of the other contenders without a defensive coordinator could offer him a more attractive opportunity, and perhaps more money. Whatever negotiations are going on behind the scenes, all of his (agent’s) comments suggest that Spags is definitely playing the market.

Best Case Scenario

Spags to Philly, Juan to Minnesota. I don’t have any faith that this will actually happen, but Andy Reid managed to find a nice landing spot for Sean McDermott, too.

(via Jason Hutt)

League Source Weighs in on Losing Grigson

Les Bowen:

A league source who has dealt with Grigson called his departure “a big loss to the Eagles.” He said Grigson was a “low-ego guy” who was “very bright” and could recite a scouting report on a player off the top of his head.

Tom Heckert really liked Ryan Grigson.

This Indecision's Bugging Me

Philly.com has the results up from their annual “Stay or Go” online voting feature, and there are some interesting findings. The highlights:

• DeSean Jackson lost a lot of support since last year’s version, but not nearly as much as fellow starter Asante Samuel. Jackson dropped from 90 to 73 percent approval, while Samuel tanked from 87 to only 39 percent. Asante was the only year-over-year starter to go from positive to negative fan support.

• Other major losers included Jamaal Jackson, Brandon Graham, Juqua Parker, Trevor Laws, Moise Fokou, and Nate Allen.

• Meanwhile, Joselio Hanson, Jason Peters, Clay Harbor, and Mike Patterson all jumped at least 20 percent.

• Howie Roseman, once synonymous with Joe Banner, is officially the most hated man in the NovaCare offices. Just under 20 percent of responders want him to stay in Philly.

To the Haters

Public discourse today suffers from a startling number of self-proclaimed victims. Everybody has a viewpoint, and whatever view that is, each person thinks it’s an endangered minority opinion.

Let’s take the unsurprising example of Eagles coverage. If you have a positive outlook in the team, you probably feel hemmed in by the negativity demonstrated on the radio and in newsprint. On the other hand, a negative observer reading pro-Eagles coverage in the national news or seeing a positive spin coming from the front office feels the need to shout their views from every possible rooftop and unfilled Philly.com comment box.

Mostly this kind of rhetoric passes in the night and we all go about our business. The problem comes when everyone’s a paranoid victim, lumping analysts together with partisans, treating reasonable arguments as opportunities to accuse rational folks of unfair bias.

Lets just put it out there: sometimes the facts have a decidedly anti-Eagles bias. Sometimes it’s the opposite.

You can choose to trust the people who always agree with your natural tendencies toward positive spin or pessimist judgments. That’s your right. But then, don’t expect to be happy here.

I’m not going to cater to anyone’s opinion other than my own, nor am I going to neuter my conclusions to preserve a fake semblance of objectivity. 

Feel free to debate with me, that’s healthy and important, but don’t complain about some perceived bias.

When I look at the evidence and think it warrants a Super Bowl outlook, I’ll tell you. When the data says the Eagles are flailing, I’ll tell you that too. I’m often wrong, and sometimes right, but either way I’ll do my best to sift through the chaff and tell you what I think is important.

If that’s not the type of commentary you value, the door is only one click away. And for the rest, I’m happy to welcome you to this humble corner of the Internet.

Photo from Getty.

No, Seriously, Howie's Doing a Great Job

Chris McPherson, for the Eagles website:

The Eagles’ prolific run in free agency last offseason overshadowed the fact that the foundation for the team’s long-term success has been built in the past two NFL drafts.

Through aggressive maneuvering and clever moves, the Eagles have acquired eight starters in the past two drafts. None of the 2011 playoff teams in the NFC and only one playoff team in the entire league, the Denver Broncos, has drafted more starters in that timeframe…

Among the playoff teams this year, seven of them have first-round picks from the past two seasons that have yet to crack the starting lineup. The Eagles, overall, have drafted two starters on offense, five on defense and another on special teams in the past two years.

Those eight “starters” would be:

• Brandon Graham — Not a starter, not healthy, not Jason Pierre-Paul.
• Danny Watkins — Below average 27-year-old starter at right guard.
• Jamar Chaney — Chaney is closer to the CFL than the Pro Bowl.
• Brian Rolle — Better than Chaney, but shouldn’t be more than a 4th LB right now.
• Kurt Coleman — Good backup, bad starter.
• Jason Kelce — Promising young player, best rookie season of the bunch.
• Nate Allen — Inconsistent, needs improvement to really own starting spot.
• Alex Henery — He’s fine, but he’s also a kicker.

And yet, surprisingly, the Eagles are not in the playoffs. There’s a disconnect somewhere, I just can’t find it.

Eagles Director of Player Personnel to the Colts

Jonathan Tamari:

Grigson would take the GM job a team facing huge decisions, with the number one pick in April’s draft and a choice to make on franchise quarterback Peyton Manning.

Grigson, 39, was promoted to director of player personnel in 2010 after spending four years as the team’s director of college scouting. He helped scout top college players and NFL free agents. He previously worked with the Rams.

Tough to tell: will the Eagles drafting improve or get even worse?