Jonathan Gannon on his Eagles defense giving up 35 points in Detroit: ‘We need to improve quick, and we will’
After the Eagles defense didn't look its best against the Lions, Gannon looks forward to cleaning things up.
By the time Jonathan Gannon got to the tunnel at Ford Field, he knew his work would be cut out for him the following week.
Even though the Eagles had escaped Detroit with a win against the Lions on Sunday, his defense surrendered 35 points thanks to a mixture of poor tackling, missed assignments, and head-scratching player usage.
During a Tuesday news conference, Gannon conceded that his defense, full of high-profile additions expected to accentuate his scheme, needed to fix the mistakes in a hurry.
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“Obviously a lot of things we need to clean up and looking forward for that opportunity,” the defensive coordinator said. “I think it’s very clear to the coaches and the players after watching the game, what we need to improve on quickly and from an execution standpoint, from a technique standpoint.”
“I thought we did some good things, but 35 points is not good enough,” Gannon added. “... Overall, happy that we won the game, but that is not the standard that we need. We need to improve quick, and we will.”
The Eagles surrendered 386 yards to the Lions in the 38-35 win, including 181 rushing yards. Lions lead running back and Philadelphia native D’Andre Swift had 144 yards, including a 50-yard run on Detroit’s opening series.
The Eagles opened the game in a nickel package with an even front with four down linemen and two inside linebackers. They stayed in that formation for most of the first quarter, with safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson dropping into the box to help against the run at times.
Even when Gardner-Johnson was helping against the run, the Eagles got gashed on several occasions. Detroit often capitalized on the defensive tackles’ aggressiveness with trap plays and exposed the drawbacks that come with playing out of sub packages with lighter boxes.
“You can’t get gashed like we did,” Gannon said. “Just from a fit standpoint and a tackling standpoint, I think our execution needs to be a little bit better. Obviously that starts with me; we’ve got to coach it a little bit better to make sure our guys know exactly where they’re fitting on certain runs.”
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The Eagles’ front performed much better against the run when using odd fronts, particularly with first-round rookie Jordan Davis at the center of them. Davis was the team’s most effective run defender, according to Pro Football Focus’s run-stop percentage metric.
The 6-foot-6, 336-pound nose tackle was credited with two tackles but was disruptive against the run on multiple occasions. Still, he played just 22 snaps, something Gannon said was a product of the defensive-tackle rotation being so deep.
“He did a good job when he was in there,” Gannon said. “I thought that he played his technique well in what we’re asking him to do. He did a good job of executing. The 22 snaps — those guys all played, the five D-tackles that were up — and they’ll continue to all play. I think Jordan will keep maximizing his opportunities.”
The Eagles added Davis in the draft, traded for Gardner-Johnson, and signed Haason Reddick, James Bradberry, and Kyzir White in free agency to help bolster the team’s defensive talent and better fit Gannon’s schematic preferences.
Reddick and Davis, especially, were expected to help the Eagles’ pass rush improve after it finished 31st in sack production last season. The Eagles registered one sack against the Lions — Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham got to Lions quarterback Jared Goff once because of a fumbled snap.
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Gannon, who believes pass-rush productivity is about much more than sack production, said he was happy with the pass rush in the opener.
“We hurried him a couple times, we hit him a couple times,” Gannon said. “... How they played that game, the ball was coming out fast, they maxed us up a couple times. When you see that, you kind of adjust a little bit. I think I was happy with how it was and we want to improve that part of our game, too.”
After giving up a touchdown on the opening series, the Eagles’ defense forced three consecutive three-and-outs and had a pick-six the following drive. But in the second half, they gave up three touchdowns on four series, to let Detroit back in the game.
The Lions went 9-for-14 on third down, which was the root cause of the second-half struggles, according to Gannon.
“A lot of it came down to situational ball,” Gannon said. “We had our chances to get off the field a couple times and we didn’t do it. We were getting it to third down a good amount, the one drive I think they had five third downs converted. You’re going down a long, hard road if you’re not getting off the field on third down.”
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Gannon’s group will face a much stiffer test next week with the Minnesota Vikings and star receiver Justin Jefferson coming to Lincoln Financial Field for a prime-time game Monday night. Jefferson is coming off a dominant Week 1 performance that featured nine catches, 184 yards, and two touchdowns against the Green Bay Packers.
“He’s a special player,” Gannon said. “I don’t rank guys, but he’s up in that top group. He can beat you all types of different ways. When you’re looking at his game, he’s not a one-dimensional guy. He can take the roof off, he can beat you underneath, he can beat you with yards after the catch. They do a really good job of deploying him different ways, so it’s hard to have a plan for him to always have two guys on him.
“It’s going to be a good challenge for us and we’ll be up for it.”