How do the Eagles finally stop opposing tight ends?


Since the Ernie Sims trade went down, the talk of the Eagles' defensive woes against opposing tight ends has come back to the forefront. Many are hoping Sims can be the guy to stick with the multiple great tight ends in the NFC East, but Sims is a WILL linebacker -- the SAM is usually the one covering the tight end.

However, there's still an incredibly easy solution to the problem. A solution so easy that it's incredible a great defensive mind like Jim Johnson couldn't figure it out, and now neither can his protégé Sean McDermott.

If you watch the Eagles' defense pre-snap, they always have the SAM lined up a good five yards away from the tight end. When the ball is snapped, all the tight end has to do is run at the linebacker, whomever it may be, and cut one way or another -- leaving said linebacker in the difficult position of having to cover ground and regain position on the tight end.

It happens game after game after game after game, but nothing is changed. The linebacker stays in the same area, and that's precisely the problem.

All McDermott has to do is tell that SAM linebacker to get up in the tight end's face and give him a shot coming off the line. That way, the 'backer is the one with the position, and not the tight end. The shot knocks the tight end off his pattern and can create that half-second of hesitation that will lead to an extra half-second for the front four to get to the quarterback.

This will all-but eliminate the big plays we consistently see against the Eagles' defense, so I'm not sure why this hasn't yet occurred to anyone on the Eagles coaching staff.

I've been preaching this solution for a couple years now, but yet and still the Birds continue to get burned by tight ends week in and week out. And, until they figure this out for themselves, they will continue to have issues.

Perhaps they feel like giving the linebacker a cushion will help him gain position on the tight end, or perhaps they don't trust any of their linebackers to be that close to the line of scrimmage, or perhaps there's simply something I don't understand, but something needs to be done because the way they cover the tight ends now is going to continue to lose them games.

And if McDermott can't figure out a way of his known of fixing the issue, it might be time for the Eagles to look elsewhere for 2011.