After the numbers on the scoreboard, turnovers are the number one statistic that contributes to winning. If you turn the ball over you lose, if you force the other team to turn the ball over you win.
Turnovers is the number one reason the Eagles beat the 49ers, last night.
The Birds forced five San Francisco turnovers and it allowed them to win their third game of the season, despite not playing great football.
The first Eagles defender to force a turnover was new starting strongside linebacker, Moise Fokou. He violently cut Frank Gore’s legs out from under him as the Niner running back ran through a hole, which forced him to cough up the football. The Eagles turned that turnover into three points, which was ultimately was the margin they won by.
Fokou was put into the lineup because of his aggressiveness and it paid off for the Birds. Credit for that decision goes to Eagles young defensive coordinator Sean McDermott for making the move.
The run defense did a much better job against Gore than they had done the week before versus the Redskins. It put the game in the hands of Alex Smith and he eventually gave the game to the Birds. This was a major key to the game because Smith has a always been a turnover factory.
Later in the second quarter, the Niners were driving and not far from being in position to kick a field goal, when San Francisco wide receiver Ted Ginn took off deep down the right sideline. Eagles left cornerback Dimitri Patterson who was alternating at the left cornerback spot on nickel defenses, with rookie Trevard Lindley, kept his distance from the speedster Ginn.
Pattterson had done his homework on Ginn. He knew that when he opened up his speed, it meant he was going deep. The Eagles young cornerback did a nice job of playing the ball in the air and coming down with it. Again it was a big play because it stopped a Niner scoring drive.
In the second half, weakside linebacker Ernie Sims finally contributed a turnover, by wrestling the ball out of Gore’s arms. The Niners are a team which usually tries to take the ball away from ball carriers, but Sims turned the tables on him.
Quintin Mikell was able to come in and get the football. The Niners had just converted a big third down off of their goalline with Smith passing to his tight end Vernon Davis. As a defense you have to be thinking about going after turnovers. It’s always a big key in the game and it’s what Sims was thinking about when he decided to go after the football.
Later in the second half, one of the biggest plays of the game occurred when rookie Brandon Graham pressured San Francisco quarterback Smith, who was rolling to his left and trying to throw. Smith made a big mistake when failed to throw the ball early to his open tight end, Vernon Davis, versus the Eagles blitz. Rather than throw the ball, he pulled it down and scrambled to his left.
Graham didn’t allow Smith to get the ball off. Smith let the ball slip out of his hands as he tried to throw it. It fell to the ground, safety Quintin Mikell picked it up and ran 52 yards for a touchdown. That touchdown gave the Eagles a 24-10 lead at the time.
You have to give Eagles defensive tackle Trevor Laws credit for locking up the win over the Niners. He ran a pass rush game, where he and the defensive end fake like they’re going to do an inside out stunt. Laws fakes like he’s going to go outside, so that the guard turns him loose, then he comes back inside.
Just like he had hoped, the guard turned him loose and Laws got in Smith’s face and hit him as he threw the ball. It caused the underthrow that wound up being an interception, which won the game.
Rookie Lindley was playing left cornerback in a nickel defense with the game on the line and he had a gift come his way and he was able to catch it, then he wisely got on the ground.
I’m sure the Eagles coaches had talked to the Birds defenders about how Niners cornerback, Nate Clements had intercepted a ball which would have secured a win for them last week against the Falcons. He tried to return the ball rather than getting on the ground and letting the seconds tick off. Atlanta wide receiver Roddy White, chased him down and knocked the ball out.
The Falcons recovered and went on to win the football game. Lindley made sure that didn’t happen by getting on the ground to lock up the the Eagles third win of the season.
Ive been saying all along the Mcdermot and this entire defense are not getting enough credit. I think across the board on D we have tons of talnet and it showed last night. I think people judge Mcdermot unfairly cause this guy is one hell of a coach. As the season goes on i really this D unit will come ino its own.
Did anyone notice how active Coach AR was when the Defense was on the field,
It appeared he was even calling some plays and formations. That was the most active I have ever seen
him during a game in 12 Season with the Defensive group during a game..
Defensive Stars of the game were Patterson,DIxon,Parker with solid contributions from Tapp,Laws,Graham. LB Sims played his best game of the Season, Fokou was very active and physical and the Secondary kept routes in front of them and make tackles and INT’s when given the opportunity. The only negative was LB Bradley attempting to cover TE V DAvis which is a mis-match.
I think they do need to figure who will cover all these athletic TE’s that they will face..Maybe use
Sims for his Speed, Fokou for his long-reach and athleticism…or even a Safety…but Bradley was getting burned right off the line of scrimmage and scrambling just to keep up
eaglez, I think there’s a lot of talent and potential on this D, including McD. But you’re getting a little ahead of the game. Those who said McD sucks, and the D can’t stop the run, and all the other definitive negative stuff, they were overboard in the other direction.
I think this young D – you can’t argue that it’s not a little ‘green’, need some serious time to Gel. But over the course of this season, and into next, I think Graham, Fokou, Stew Bradley, Sims, Laws, Dixon, Lindley, Allen, etc…. all those guys will develop together and improve. In the meantime, vets like Cole, Mikell and Parker will contribute consistently – and they will take advantage of the good plays the young developing players make, like Mikell scooping up fumbles forced by others, and Parker benefiting from push across the line from Graham, Laws, Tapp, Dixon etc….
Too early to call McD a great one, but it’s also way too early to say he’s a bum, as many have.
Well put schill and agreed. It is rather early to be making judgement calls but i think its got to make you feel good about the immedaite future from what youve seen as a whole from this group.
anybody would take 5 turnovers and a td from their defense
were blitzing less and have changed our approach to “bend but dont break”
were giving up yardage but have good stats on 3rd downs and in the redzone for the most part
i just dont like playing zone against a mediocre qb, make him throw the ball in tight coverage
I also noticed 49ers F Gore was running very tentative last evening,
Not sure if his 1st fumble shook his confidence or the fact they were hitting hard and often..
I noticed he was losing his footing early in the game and appears to be timid most of the game
Either way, it was nice the see the Eagles gang tackle and swarm to the ball..
I think Dixon and Fokou made a nice difference and SIms played his best game as an Eagle to date
I still think this defense has serious flaws when it comes to size and strength. BIg offensive lines will exploit our undersized tackles and ends. Smart coaches will find ways to exploit our “all defensive ends” package. Tight Ends will exploit our average linebackers. It’s funny, as our offense has added more playmakers over the last few years, our defense seems to have gone the other way. I’m not sold on Brandon Graham, he just looks so small and overwhelmed out there. The defense still seems to have the same flaw they’ve had for many years now, the other team always seems to score early on them.
I do like some of our young defensive secondary players, Patterson, Allen Lindley all seem like they have potential. I think Samuels and Hobbs are playing pretty well too.
It was a solid effort by our “D”, and the takeaways were excellent. Good pressure throughout the game, and it payed off. However, we gave up more points to the Niners than any other “D” this season, and we were playing a 0 win team. Can we get a winning streak against playoff caliber teams before we consider the Defense (and the Offense) ready for the big time and full of potential?
We’ve proven that we can win against inferior teams, that our defensive line has some great depth this year, and that our Safeties are becoming a relative strength this season compared to our corners (but our young corners need more time on the field). We have a lot of youth, so we potentially will have a dominant defense over the next few years, but will we even have the same lineup over the next two weeks? Let’s see how different this D looks if we lose next week against the Falcons.
How much will we be complaining about our inability to stop the run vs. the Falcons and the Titans?
Eaglez, Shill, that is what i have been saying brothers. We have a young defense as well as a good number of new guys in here. I McDermont and wish him much success not just as a fan but on a personal level. I think that JJ would want him to hang around. The D has issues I was about to cry when it looked like the niners were going to come back, same thing with the Lions. I think the D gets a bit worn.
Anyway as always LONG LIVE THE EAGLES
Not to change the SUbject
Did anyone watch Broncos Safety B Dawkins missed tackles and get run over a couple of times
by the Ravens W MAghee/R Rice… Dawkins should retire for he looks like an old,aging player
And Sheldon Brown was toast city yesterday giving up a big pass plays versus the Falcons,
He clearly has lost a step and the Eagles did right by moving him out and getting at least something (a Draft Choice in return)
I saw Dawk yesterday, commented on it in a thread. He doesn’t look like himself anymore, kinda hard watching our guy just playing out the string elsewhere. Sheldon just looked like an over 30 CB, that position is very unforgiving of older guys.
I think Dawkins will retuire after this season and may finish the Season on the bench, especially if the Broncos are out of Plyoff contention in which they will play some of their younger players…