It’s been quite the week for Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles. A pair of free-agent defensive tackles with a combined age of 69 (nice) have been signed and they’re notable names too. Linval Joseph and Ndamokung Suh join a depleted defensive tackle room as Roseman seeks to keep the championship push alive.
Not all sunshine and rainbows
The Eagles started the 2022 campaign 8-0 and while fans will rightfully defend the Birds in the ‘Strength of Schedule’ argument, I think everyone can agree that it certainly could’ve been much harder. Even so, Howie Roseman deserves all the credit in the world for seeing this schedule and going all-in on building a team that can really make the most of a slate of winnable games.
But after the team’s first loss of the season on Monday night, an Achilles Heel was revealed. it had been there for some time, but as we know, winning cures all. The Commanders did all they could to exploit a chink in the armor of the Eagles and it worked wonders.
Ron Riviera watched on as Dameon Pierce ripped the Eagles to shreds during the previous week’s Thursday Night game. The Eagles got out with their tails between their legs. But this wasn’t exactly anything new.
The Cowboys put up 134 yards on the ground against this defense, the Steelers added 144, and the Cardinals punched in 124 of their own. Philly is giving up 4.7 yards per carry, ranking them 25th in the NFL. Sloppy tackles and some debatably lazy efforts from the likes of Fletcher Cox has seen this unit topple down the order in recent weeks and the loss of Jordan Davis only expedited the process.
With Davis off the field, the team allowed nearly 5 yards per carry to its opponents. With him on the field, that number dropped down close to 3. Clearly, there was a Davis-sized hole in this defensive line.
The straw that broke the camel’s back
Washington were the first team to really capitalize on this and decimate the time of possession stat. The best way to suffocate such an explosive Eagles offense is to keep it off the field, and when running the ball is so easy, that job becomes so much easier. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles had a lonely 19 minutes of possession in Monday Night’s loss and the blueprint is now out there for all to see.
With Jonathan Taylor, Aaron Jones, and Derrick Henry all forming an orderly queue, the Eagles had to do something, be it schematically or otherwise, to stop the bleeding before things got critically bad.
Howie Roseman stepped up to the plate.
Howie Roseman reacts
Sure, Linval Joseph is in the twilight of his NFL career and hasn’t played since January. Suh has been a free agent since the end of last season and is now 35-years-old. But this is a GM who sees an 8-0 team that was built to dominate this season, and for the most part, it has. But that doesn’t mean that the job is done.
Things change. Jordan Davis is on IR. Marlon Tuipolotu is also injured. Depth is thin at defensive tackle and if Joanthan Gannon cannot find what’s causing his players to tackle like they’re covered in vaseline, or to change up a very conservative scheme in order to stop being gashed over the middle, then the GM has a decision to make. Like it or not, this is very much Howie Roseman’s season, and he wasn’t going to let that slip away.
We don’t really know how Robert Quinn (acquired at the deadline), Linval Joseph, and Ndamukong Suh will factor over the next few months. But what we do know is that Howie Roseman is far more aggressive than the majority of GM’s in this league. For better or worse, this is it. It’s all-in. The kitchen sink is being thrown and Roseman knows that he has a rare chance to send this team deep into the postseason.
He believes in the coaching staff, he believes in the quarterback, he believes in this roster. The fact that Roseman had the conviction to go out and make two urgent signings just mere days after a loss to Washington that was drenched in run-defense woe, says everything you need to know. While other teams will sit back and let the game play out, Roseman wants to ensure he has the very best hand of cards at his disposal.
Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire
