Eagles Film Room: Did Halapoulivaati Vaitai really shut down Everson Griffen?

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Halapoulivaati Vaitai faced the matchup from hell against Minnesota in veteran pass rusher, Everson Griffen. With 13 sacks on the year, Griffen has been a monster while Vaitai’s had his fair share of struggles. Surprisingly however, it was the Eagles LT who came out on top. Why? Let’s find out…

“I thought Big V played, gosh, extremely well, extremely well.” Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson said after the monumental win. “We did help him from time to time, but there were also times he had to be on an island and block a tremendous defensive end who has had a heck of a year. Had a lot of confidence in V. These are obviously the things we’ve seen in him: his maturity, his growth as a left tackle, and he played extremely well last night.”

All things considered, for Vaitai to only allow two quarterback hits and no sacks against such an experienced and elite pass-rusher has to be an encouraging sign. But when you take a look at the tape, it’s clear there is still a very long way to go before he replaces Jason Peters. The Birds have an interesting tackle conundrum on their hands and it’s something we will look at in much more depth as the offseason approaches. Do you think Vaitai is the heir to the LT throne? Let us know!