The problem with the Eagles defense isn’t Jonathan Gannon’s scheme. It’s Howie Roseman’s personnel. | David Murphy

The offense belongs to the coach. The defense belongs to the organization. Look around the NFL, and that’s what you’ll see. There are exceptions, as with any maxim. Billy Davis’s defense? That belonged to Billy Davis. For the most part, though, an organization gets the defense to which it commits. Regardless of who is calling the plays.

I’ll offer plenty of evidence for these points. First, I’ll offer the reason I raise them. The Eagles are about to enter an offseason that will play a significant role in determining their trajectory over the next five years. Inevitably, the public focus will spend an inordinate amount of time trained on the quarterbacking and the coaching. This is inevitable because the coaching and the quarterbacking are the easiest aspects to change.

Nobody wants to believe that mediocrity is a homeostasis that sets in gradually and must gradually be unwound. Everybody wants to believe that 2021 was ground zero. That it’s onward and upward from here. That seven years of feast will follow this seven-year stretch of unsatisfying meals plus one wild party. Nobody wants to believe that the Eagles’ 58-54 record over the last seven seasons is the record that they deserve, that undoing it will require a lengthy reverse-engineering process that is equal and opposite in meticulousness to the one whose layers of missteps laid its foundation. It’s much more comforting to focus on the quarterback and the coach. And, by extension, the defensive coordinator.

The irony of that one wild party: It fooled everyone into thinking that the same process that led to it can lead to a bacchanalian norm. Whatever you think of Jonathan Gannon, or the performance of his defense this season, or the absurd notion that one of the league’s 32 head-coaching positions could soon belong to a 39-year-old first-year coordinator whose unit struggled to stop any non-third-string quarterback that it faced, he has become the latest in a long line of convenient scapegoats for a fan base desperate to deny the obvious. Gannon is not the reason the Eagles struggled on defense. The reason is that they are the Eagles.

Again, I’d encourage you to look around the league. Look at the units you want this Eagles defense to be. Do you see tactical brilliance, or do you see a focused commitment to building a roster? Do you see the importance of scheme, or the importance of synergy between the folks choosing the players and those choosing the plays? Do you see a marriage between an organization and an individual coach, or do you see a marriage between an organization’s talent and its identity?

With all of these, the historical record suggests the latter. Good defense is about the logo on the helmet as much as it is the name on the headset. The Steelers, the Ravens, the Patriots, the Broncos — quick, name their defensive coordinators. Half of that group finished in the bottom half of the league this season. Do you have any doubt the Ravens and Steelers will soon be back?

Therein lies the point.

The last time the Patriots did not have a top-10 scoring defense was 2011. Before that, it was 2005. Matt Patricia was the coordinator for six of those seasons, Dean Pees for another four. In six, Bill Belichick served as the de facto coordinator.

How about the Ravens? Since we mentioned Pees, it’s worth mentioning that he followed his stint in New England with six years in Baltimore. In five of them, he finished in the top 12 in either yards or points. This season, he was with the Falcons, who were 26th and 29th in yards and points allowed.

With or without Pees, the Ravens have been the Ravens. They finished this season with one of their worst defensive performances in franchise history, finishing outside the top 12 in both points and yards allowed for the first time since 2002. But in the three previous seasons, they were in the top seven in both points and yards. In all four, the coordinator was Don Martindale.

To bring the point home, consider the Broncos’ 10-year run among the NFL’s top defenses. In 2011, before that run began, their coordinator was Dennis Allen. Denver finished 24th in points and 20th in yards allowed. The next five seasons, Allen oversaw teams that finished no better than 28th in scoring D. This included two years as the DC in New Orleans, where the Saints finished 32nd and 31st in points. In the five years since, all with the Saints, Allen’s defenses have finished no worse than 14th in scoring, and have been top-7 in points and yards the last two years.

These are the facts that the Eagles must consider as they review Gannon’s first year at the helm. The rebirth of the Saints’ defense coincided not with Allen’s arrival, but with the drafting of cornerback Marshon Lattimore, safeties Marcus Williams, and Vonn Bell, defensive tackles Sheldon Rankins and David Onyemata, and defensive end Marcus Davenport. Since 2016, the Saints have made 15 picks inside the top 80. Ten have been on defense.

Compare that to the Eagles. During the same time span, they have spent four top-80 picks on the defensive side of the ball. Two of them were Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas, neither of whom was signed to an extension.

To get a defense, you must build one. You get what you pay for. Over the last four drafts, the Bucs took nine defensive players in the top 100, including Antoine Winfield Jr., Devin White, Vita Vea, Jamel Dean, and Carlton Davis. The Eagles took one. If you spend six top-60 picks on skill position players in a four-year stretch, as Howie Roseman did, you better end up with an offense with a lot of skill. Because that’s six top-60 picks that won’t be contributing to your defense.

There’s a chance that Gannon’s trio of head-coaching interviews are a reflection of other organizations. There’s a chance it says something about an NFL hiring process that is wholly unmeritocratic. But there’s another way to look at the league’s willingness to overlook Gannon’s rather unimpressive rookie season. If people don’t think he underperformed, what do they think of his personnel?