Defeating the Dolphins: Eagles Edition
Sean Desai and the Eagles put together a masterfully simple plan to stop the vaunted Miami Dolphins offense.
The blueprint to beat the Miami Dolphins was already out there, thanks to the Buffalo Bills in Week 4. Until their game in Buffalo, the Dolphins had not played a D-line that could control the line of scrimmage (LOS) with four defenders. According to ESPN’s Pass Rush Win Rate (PSWR), the Bills are currently ranked second in that metric behind the Cowboys (who the Dolphins will play Christmas Eve).
Last year, the Eagles defensive front dominated the NFL. They had 70 sacks! Currently, the Eagles sit third overall in the NFL with 24 sacks behind the Bills, as mentioned earlier (x25), and the top-ranked Ravens (x29). Philly’s D-line sits sixth overall in PRWR but, more importantly, holds the #2 spot in the Run Stop Win Rate (RSWR) metric. The Eagles have arguably one of the best D-lines in all of football.
One of the critical elements in the Bills game was the ability of the Buffalo defense to control the line of scrimmage, stop the run, and change the math in the secondary. The Eagles have built a similar roster regarding having a dominant D-line. The combination of Haason Reddick, Fletcher Cox, Jordan Davis, Josh Sweat, and others allows the Eagles to allocate numbers in the secondary. It is a simple math problem I explained in my breakdown of the Bills game plan versus Miami:
…If the Bills can use their four D-linemen to occupy the five O-linemen, they can use seven defenders in coverage. The offense can only send out five receivers, so the defense ends up with a net +2. If the D-line can cause issues up front, forcing the offense to leave a TE or RB in protection, that number can move to a net +3 (7 - 4 = +3).
In their game with Buffalo, rookie RB De’Von Achane went off for 101 yards on eight carries and 2 TDs. Outside of the rookie, no one had production in the run game. Achane’s play calls, in reality, were like home runs, not sustainable hits that could carry the team. Once the Bills got up on the Dolphins (It was 31-14 at half), Miami had to shift away from the run game and focus on passing to gain yards and points.
Once the Dolphins became one-dimensional, the Bills had already won. The D-line could now pin their ears back and rush the passer. Tua would finish with a statistically good game, but his QBR would sit at a pedestrian 45.1.
More importantly, the sacks the Bills acquired were not from their edge rushers but from the interior. Philadelphia has a deep interior D-line. Jalen Carter sits atop the DT PSRW metric and has been a force all year. The ability to control the LOS with the front has allowed Defensive Coordinator Sean Desai to focus numbers in the secondary. Currently, PFF has the Eagles at a 22.9% Blitz Rate (7th lowest) and a Passing Blitz Rate of 23.1 (5th lowest). In short, Philly plays coverage overpressures.
Desai opts for passive pressure in the secondary. According to PFF, the Eagles use middle-of-the-field (MOF) disguises 32.1% of the time. Enough to come in fourth overall. Coming from the Fangio system, it is not a shock that the Eagles don’t blitz at volume and opt to use disguise, primarily from an ‘open’ look, to combat offense.
Against the Dolphins, Desai chose to play static defense similar to how Buffalo played Miami, who only disguised their coverages 10.8%. Against the Dolphins, who use a high rate of motion and have a track team at skill positions, moving post-snap from depth can put defenders in bad spots. Desai used disguise on select 1st Downs or obvious passing downs.
The plan in both the Buffalo and Philly games worked tremendously. As I wrote in my recent article on defending Ja’Marr Chase, the overall defensive philosophy in the Fangio tree is mitigating risk and eliminating fatals. The Dolphins are going to target Hill, and Tua is going to throw a volume of passes. Coverage is used as a tool that ‘caps’ vertical routes and cuts off crossers and push motions. Desai took these tools into their game with Miami and was able to contain the explosive offense.
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