There is a reason why the Philadelphia Eagles are considered to have a shutdown defense. Behind their pass rush, they have arguably the best secondary in the NFL. Most successful defenses are anchored by cornerbacks on the outside.
They went from having the12th ranked pass defense DVOA (3.6%) in weeks 10-14, to the 4th ranked (-25.4%) from week 15 through the NFC Championship game. In their last three games, they’ve had the highest score differential in the league, at +20.3.
Their cornerbacks are a big reason for this!
In matchups including Brandon Aiyuk, Justin Jefferson, Terry McLaurin and in their last matchup against Darius Slayton, the Eagles’ cornerbacks have only allowed eleven receptions for 138 yards.
Let’s dive into the film and see how the Eagles might plan to defend Patrick Mahomes and limit the Kansas City Chiefs high-flying offense.
Zone coverage specialists.
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is considered one of the best in the league. He swooped in and signed cornerback James Bradberry from the New York Giants. Bradberry responded with his best season in his seven-year career, allowing 44 catches on 94 targets for 473 yards, four interceptions, two touchdowns, 12 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 51.4.
James Bradberry has been a dream offseason addition for the Eagles pic.twitter.com/CngyVPSfzb
— PFF (@PFF) February 2, 2023
The Eagles brought him in as a zone coverage specialist and he’s a big reason why the Eagles are the sixth best defense vs. Tight Ends, -12.9% only giving up 49.2 yards per game, per football outsiders. Also, when defending the middle of the field, the Eagles have the sixth best defensive DVOA, with -10.2%. Then when defending the deep middle, they sit at the top of the NFL with an -120.1% DVOA and this matches up perfectly for them against Kelce, who runs the most deep over routes in the league, per Sports Info Solutions.
One of Bradberry’s best attributes is using his eyes to watch the quarterback and close-in quickly. This is how he was able to pick off a pass over the middle going to Darius Slayton.
“The New York Giants have released CB James Bradberry”
— Eagles Nation (NFC Champs) (@PHLEaglesNation) January 22, 2023
The Eagles will play a combination of coverage against offenses that have a tight end and a quick receiver on the same side of the field and Darius Slay playing lockdown on the opposite side.
Against the Dallas Cowboys, they showed this look. Bradberry was in match coverage, which means that he gets to keep his eyes on the quarterback and picks up any player running into his zone.
In this case, it was CeeDee Lamb running a quick out, and Bradberry jumped it forcing Cooper Rush to avoid the interception.
This will work well against the Chiefs when they decide to come out in a similar two tight end look. Which they have been running more of, as of late.
Bradberry is a much better zone defender than man coverage defender. He can be beat off the break against quicker receivers. To prevent the usage of man coverage, the defense will call less blitz schemes. When Mahomes faces a blitz, his completion percentage only decreases by 2%, from a 67.6% to 65.5%. So, it’s likely that the Eagles will allow their defensive line to win one-on-ones without help from a blitzer leaving Bradberry will be in more zone coverage which is an ideal matchup in Super Bowl LVII.
Bradberry, Maddox and CJ Gardner will be able to bracket Travis Kelce from a zone coverage leaving Darius Slay one-on-one on the other side of the field. Maddox hasn´t allowed a single touchdown this season. So, if the Eagles want to retain their success, they might want to run a nickel defense with him lined up on the inside.
Our own Doug Farrar ran the numbers, and “When Maddox is on the field Philadelphia´s EPA allowed drops from -0.03 to -0.17, (EPA allowed is better when it’s negative). Philly’s passing EPA allowed dropped from -0.05 to -0.25, completion percentage allowed went from 67.2 to 60.0, yards per attempt from 7.3 to 5.4, touchdown rate allowed from 5.7% to 2.1%, and interception rate rises from 2.7 to 3.3.”
Winning the scramble drills.
When it comes to man coverage, Darius Slay has proven time and again that he can handle the best receivers in the league mano-a-mano. Against Justin Jefferson he allowed only one reception for seven yards.
This is important because where Patrick Mahomes excels is during his scramble drills and finding his guys downfield late into plays.
Despite his injured ankle, @PatrickMahomes completed every single pass when he was outside of the pocket or on the run 🤯 pic.twitter.com/cfrwaPfAXp
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 3, 2023
In the first half of the AFC Championship, Mahomes had five passing attempts from outside the pocket, which all were completed for 58 yards.
So, if there is one thing the Eagles need to do, it’s stick with receivers until they hear that whistle blowing the play dead.
Slay has not only shown that he can stick with receivers, but he’s made some of his best plays during these scramble drills when quarterbacks are outside the pocket. Against the Green Bay Packers earlier this year, Slay shadowed Allen Lazard when Aaron Rodgers was attempting to throw him open.
The play resulted in an interception.
Slay has allowed only 44 catches on 80 targets this season so far for 536 yards, four touchdowns, three interceptions, nine pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 76.9.
Slay´s success has a lot to do with the pressure up front from the defense. Without that, he wouldn´t have the opportunities to play the ball.
BIG. PLAY. SLAY.
Another @Eagles INT in the first half! #FlyEaglesFly @bigplay24slay
📺: #DALvsPHI on NBC
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/exBLpcJhjS pic.twitter.com/UVEl4n2yeS— NFL (@NFL) October 17, 2022
How the Chiefs can win this battle.
Expect the Eagles secondary to come out in a ton of disguised looks with rotations in the deep part of the field. If the defensive line can put pressure on Mahomes and the cornerbacks can stay in front of the receivers, it should be a long day for the Chiefs passing offense. When looking at the individual matchups, the Eagles cornerback’s vs the Chiefs receivers, I’m going with Philadelphia.
The one part of the Chiefs game that has been a big surprise has been Isiah Pacheco from the backfield. If there is one area where the Eagles need to show improvement, it’s stopping the run.
It will be up to Andy Reid to get out of his own way and make sure he relies on the run game if he wants to come away with his third super bowl ring as a head coach.
