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"Eagles defense owes a debt to Texans"

I

IDEXAN

Hall of Fame
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PHILADELPHIA -- The timing is convenient for Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis. Since the end of the regular season is right after Christmas, he can send his thank-you note to the Houston Texans along with those for the other gifts he receives.
Without DeMeco Ryans and Connor Barwin, linebackers who learned their craft in Houston, it's hard to imagine Davis' defense making the progress it has over the past few months.
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http://espn.go.com/blog/philadelphia-eagles/post/_/id/2147/eagles-defense-owes-a-debt-to-texans
 
That thank-you note to Houston should be a pleasure for Davis to write.
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PFF has Connor Barwin rated 29th/42 3-4 OLBs, 4 spots ahead of Mercilus. DeMeco is rated 49th/53 ILBs. (>25% snaps)

Barwin's cap number is 8th on the Eagles at $5,000,000. DeMeco's cap number is 3rd on the Eagles at $7,000,000.

[IMGwidthsize=100]http://smallbusinesswebhelp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/ywc-logo-design.png[/IMG]
 
This article is just more evidence that our 2011 team was the Texans best to this point in time.
 
infantrycak said:
This is an example of things which make me question PFF's rankings.
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I understand, but if you watch the all-22 and chart a game you'll see it. These fluff pieces talk about DeMeco being 7th in tackles, pro-bowl year. Yeah, but he's 7th in tackles because he taken more defensive snaps than anyone else -- over 100 more than Navarro Bowman.

It goes both ways...

Mercilus has 8 sacks, 7 QB hits, 23 hurries.

Barwin has 3 sacks, 6 QB hits, 21 hurries in 150 more defensive snaps.

Clearly Mercilus, who's 8th in 3-4 OLB sacks is having a better year, no? But Barwin is rated just above him, with both in the bottom third.

Now I'm not surprised because I've watched Mercilus' every play. But the local sportscaster might be talking about Whitney's "great year", while most are missing what is a better year than last for DPOY JJ Watt. Amazing work he's doing.
 
Playoffs said:
I understand, but if you watch the all-22 and chart a game you'll see it. These fluff pieces talk about DeMeco being 7th in tackles, pro-bowl year. Yeah, but he's 7th in tackles because he taken more defensive snaps than anyone else -- over 100 more than Navarro Bowman...
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I'm not totally kicking PFF. They are useful. There are some things however which are hard to fit in their matrix like how much he is getting the people around him in better position to make plays, funneling plays to others, etc. Cushing blocking a RB's intended path leading to a cut into Sharpton doesn't show up very well. Doesn't apply to every player (or position) so much as leadership guys like DeMeco.
 
infantrycak said:
This is an example of things which make me question PFF's rankings.
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I find more faults with their secondary rankings than the stuff you can see on the broadcasts but my understanding is that Barwin has been mostly invisible this year and Ryans is good but having a bunch of crap as your DL won't help you much as an ILB.

I work with an Eagles fan and he thinks Barwin was a complete waste of money but the DeMeco trade has turned out alright, nothing spectacular. Those rankings are cumulative and if I remember right the Eagles defense started off this season really really badly.
 
They forgot Jason Babin who turned his career (somewhat) with the Eagles and then returned and racked up 18 sacks.
 
infantrycak said:
... There are some things however which are hard to fit in their matrix like how much he is getting the people around him in better position to make plays, funneling plays to others, etc. Cushing blocking a RB's intended path leading to a cut into Sharpton doesn't show up very well. Doesn't apply to every player (or position) so much as leadership guys like DeMeco.
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I agree, and I love me some Demeco as a leader. Huge intangible.
 
Playoffs said:
PFF has Connor Barwin rated 29th/42 3-4 OLBs, 4 spots ahead of Mercilus. DeMeco is rated 49th/53 ILBs. (>25% snaps)

Barwin's cap number is 8th on the Eagles at $5,000,000. DeMeco's cap number is 3rd on the Eagles at $7,000,000.

[IMGwidthsize=100]http://smallbusinesswebhelp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/ywc-logo-design.png[/IMG]
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I enjoy their stats, but their entire ranking system is bogus.
 
"Barwin said Davis' defense is more complicated than the 3-4 run by Wade Phillips in Houston. It relies on more communication on the field"
Connor barwin.

Yet another guy throwing wade under the bus.
 
welsh texan said:
"Barwin said Davis' defense is more complicated than the 3-4 run by Wade Phillips in Houston. It relies on more communication on the field"
Connor barwin.

Yet another guy throwing wade under the bus.
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Meh, so it's more complicated. Wade's been saying from the start that he keeps it simple and puts his guys in position to do what they do best. That was part of his selling point that he keeps it simple.
 
HJam72 said:
Meh, so it's more complicated. Wade's been saying from the start that he keeps it simple and puts his guys in position to do what they do best. That was part of his selling point that he keeps it simple.
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Yeh but when you've got loads of people saying how easy it is to read our D pre snap it starts to ring alarm bells.

I think it took a little over a year before teams realised what Wade was doing with our scheme, and until the pats handed it to us twice in a row before they realised that there is no plan B if you sellout against plan A you beat us at will.
 
welsh texan said:
I think it took a little over a year before teams realised what Wade was doing with our scheme...
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How does this make any sense? Wade has been running the same system for years. He isn't some first time DC with no tape on what he does. Heck, even if he was a brand new coach it wouldn't take NFL coaches two years or even one year to figure out something so simple.
 
I would like to see more disguise to the blitzes, but I could say that about most D's. We couldn't beat the Patriots because they had Tom Brady and we had Matt Schaub. As far as the D goes, we desperately needed a healthy Cushing, or a healthy Demeco, somebody good in the middle. You can't just have JustYourGuys out there or Brady will eat them for lunch. I don't believe there is any scheming to account for that problem. Best you can do is hope Watt has the game of his life and breaks right through the line like a turn-style all day.
 
welsh texan said:
"Barwin said Davis' defense is more complicated than the 3-4 run by Wade Phillips in Houston. It relies on more communication on the field"
Connor barwin.

Yet another guy throwing wade under the bus.
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Wade himself routinely says that he keeps his schemes simpler and wants the players to not have to spend a lot of time thinking and hesitating.
 
The Eagles defense owes a debt to Rick Smith's inability to manage the cap and having no room to re-sign our good players. You can't tell me Reed/Mercilus is an upgrade over Barwin. You can't tell me that [insert ILB] is an upgrade over DeMeco.
 
HJam72 said:
I would like to see more disguise to the blitzes, but I could say that about most D's. We couldn't beat the Patriots because they had Tom Brady and we had Matt Schaub. As far as the D goes, we desperately needed a healthy Cushing, or a healthy Demeco, somebody good in the middle. You can't just have JustYourGuys out there or Brady will eat them for lunch. I don't believe there is any scheming to account for that problem. Best you can do is hope Watt has the game of his life and breaks right through the line like a turn-style all day.
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If you've got ILB's that can cover, you can have "JustYourGuys" out there b/c then they don't need to come off the field except for breathers.

This is what i was campaigning for after our 1st shelacking by the Pats. It was so obvious how they were attacking us...getting their faster skilled (vereen, hernandez) guys on our slow, non-coverage lbs. Then when wade attempted to adjust by bringing more db's on the field, they switched up, & ran it down our throats.....They did that just enough to make the play-action effective & that allowed Brady to be able to set up camp in the pocket with no pressure & throw over our heads................
 
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