Eagles Run Defense Comes Up Missing, As They’re Pummelled By Marshawn Lynch

The Seattle Seahawks are by no means a team filled with household names.  The most recognizable player on the team is running back Marshawn Lynch, who has been in what many have referred to as “Beast Mode” recently and has emerged as the Seahawks primary weapon.  Therefore, one would think that it would have behooved the Eagles defense and coaching staff to focus the game plan on stopping him and forcing quarterback Tavaris Jackson to try to beat them with a less-than-stellar receiving corps.

Since week nine, the former Buffalo Bills cast-off is the NFL’s leading rusher, amassing an impressive 591 yards (including last night’s effort).  Planning the scheme to bottle him up would have made sense, but instead the Eagles defense allowed Lynch to continue his dominance, rushing 22 times for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns, resulting in a mind-boggling 6.7 yards per carry average.

It was yet another comedy of errors for an Eagles defense that appears to have thrown in the towel for the remainder of the season.  There is absolutely no excuse for the lack of defensive execution in terms of fundamentals like tackling.  Seattle started 4 players on their offensive line with fewer than 30 starts, with the only exception being veteran Robert Gallery, who had 98 starts before last night’s contest.

When looking at the matchups before the game, I thought that the aggressive nature and talent of the Eagles’ front four could present serious problems for a young Seattle offensive line that had given up 28 sacks on the year already.  The pass rush of the defensive line was adequate at times, collecting 3 sacks (2 by DE Jason Babin, giving him 12 on the year), but the run defense was absolutely horrid.

Lynch’s 15-yard jaunt in the first quarter for a touchdown epitomizes this Eagles defensive group and the team as a whole in my opinion:  the Eagles thought they had something accomplished before they really did (stacking up Lynch at the line of scrimmage) but the opposition wanted it more and continued to fight, ultimately ending in an Eagles defeat (Lynch continued to keep his legs moving, eventually busting through the pile and ending up in the end zone).

Any time the opposing team’s running back is averaging 6.7 yards a clip against your defense, there are major problems that need to be addressed, primarily with the defensive front and linebackers.  The Eagles poor play was a direct result of undisciplined play (not maintaining proper gap control) combined with the Eagles being “out-hearted” by a Seattle team that simply wanted it more.

That type of outing is indicative of a dominating performance by the offensive line, which was certainly the case for the Seahawks.  I am about as far from being in “football shape” as a 30-year old can get, but I am confident that I could have scored a touchdown in the second quarter when Lynch took a handoff to the right side through a hole that would’ve fit a Peterbilt.  Combine that with poor angles taken by players in the 2^nd and 3^rd levels, and you have a 40 yard touchdown run during which the running back is barely touched.

The pressure that the front four were able to get for a portion of the year has been absolutely non-existent as of late.  The ability to harass the opposition with nothing more than the four-down linemen was a major advantage for the Eagles because it put their young group of linebackers in a better position to succeed.  Since the pass rush by the front four alone has been relatively ineffective as of late, defensive coordinator Juan Castillo has had to dial up more blitzes, putting the linebackers in more precarious positions and allowing them to be exposed.

I was discussing the game with my wife last night, in the midst of this epic fall from a greatness that was never achieved, and she made an interesting point.  It wouldn’t be nearly as frustrating to watch this group underachieve if they had done it all year; if they had not shown glimpses of brilliance and had not filled us with a glimmer of hope that the talent on this team could overcome the lack of leadership and camaraderie.  But, alas, it wasn’t to be.  It takes a team to win football games.  A group of individuals, regardless of how immensely talented each may be, will never defeat a team, even a team who only has one recognizable name.