Breaking down the Birds' defense

With less than two weeks remaining until the Eagles’ season opener against the Carolina Panthers, it’s time to break down the Birds’ roster for 2009, and because “defense wins championships,” I’ll start there.

Last year, the Eagles ranked third in the NFL in total yards allowed and fourth in points allowed, however, missing from that unit are Brian Dawkins, Stewart Bradley and coordinator Jim Johnson.

In previous columns, I have explained my thoughts about the loss of Jim Johnson, but from a purely football perspective, Johnson was a teacher, and new defensive coordinator Sean McDermott had been one of his students for nearly a decade. I think McDermott will take the torch and run with it, just like John Harbaugh, Steve Spagnuolo, Ron Rivera and Leslie Frazier did when given the opportunity to move up.

On the field, the biggest loss of the preseason was Stewart Bradley, who tore up his knee. Bradley was expected to be a big contributor, and the new heart of the defense, but I don’t think the loss is that big of a concern because of how little value is placed on linebackers in the Eagles’ defense.

Since 2000, the Eagles’ defense has ranked in the top 10 in points allowed seven times, and five of those times, they ranked fourth or better. The only constant throughout those nine seasons was change at linebacker!

During that run, 17 different linebackers have been declared a starter for the Eagles, including nine different weakside linebackers, five middle linebackers, and three strongside linebackers. In case you are forgetting some of these guys, I’ll throw out memorable names like Levon Kirkland, Barry Gardner, Nate Wayne, Keith “The Bullet” Adams, Matt McCoy, Shawn Barber, and last, and certainly least, Mark “I missed two tackles on one touchdown run in the 2003 NFC Championship game” Simoneau.

With names like that, it is amazing that the defense didn’t stink for the last decade.

Last week, I wrote that the entire linebacker corps totaled just 5.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and 1 interception in 2008, but as bad as those numbers look on their own, it is actually worse when they are compared to the rest of the NFL.

In 2008, ten linebackers registered more sacks, individually, than Bradley, Chris Gocong, Akeem Jordan and Omar Gaither combined. It gets even worse, because 14 linebackers picked off more passes than all four of our linebackers combined.

These names and stats show that it doesn’t really matter who is playing linebacker for the Eagles, so Gaither, Joe Mays, and Matt Wilhelm would all be able fill-ins for Bradley, but as a graduate of the University of Maryland, I’d like to see rookie Moise Fokou get the starting nod.

Moving to the secondary, losing Dawkins hurts in the locker room, but on the field, he was a liability in coverage, which is an essential skill in the NFC East because of the talented tight ends in Dallas, New York and Washington.

Regardless of whether Quintin Demps, Macho Harris or Sean Jones joins Second Team All-Pro Quintin Mikell at safety, the Eagles secondary will be stronger in coverage. Throw in the fact that Asante Samuel is no longer forced to play press coverage, and that Sheldon Brown is playing this season with the hopes that someone will give the Eagles enough incentive to send the unhappy corner packing, and the secondary could be sending three players to the Pro Bowl, like it did in 2004.

In the trenches, the Eagles have been up and down this decade, sending out defensive lines that either couldn’t stop the run or couldn’t get to the quarterback, but this year seems to be a perfect mix.

Defensive tackles Mike Patterson and Brodrick Bunkley are playing better than ever, finding their way into the backfield throughout the preseason. If they can continue their strong play, Trent Cole should see more one-on-one time against offensive tackles, and Chris Clemons, Victor Abiamiri, Jason Babin and Juqua Parker will each have an easier time getting to the quarterback from the left defensive end spot. Throw in Darren Howard (10 sacks in 2008) playing a hybrid position on the line, and this group is deeper than any defensive line in recent memory.

Adding it all up, I don’t know if I would expect the Eagles to be in the top four in yards and points allowed, but a top 10 finish is more than likely. While they may give up more yards this year, I am expecting more big plays out of the secondary because the front four will be wreaking havoc in the backfield, forcing quarterbacks to make plenty of mistakes.

Next week: A look at the Eagles’ offense, and a quick analysis of the rest of the NFC East.

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Like the “On the Edge” blog? Hear more of my opinions about Philadelphia sports every Friday at 3:30 p.m. on WBCB 1490 AM during the Coffee with Kahuna show. This week, we’ll talk about the decisions made to get the Eagles down to their 53-man roster, along with the latest on the Phillies as they coast into September.