Eagles-Cowboys Film Review: Most annoying defensive performance of the Vic Fangio era

I have made plenty of excuses for the Eagles’ defense this year. There have been games when I thought this unit fought hard and received very little help from the other side of the ball. There is absolutely no excuse for this one. Monday Night Football. At home against the Cowboys. Most of the defense’s best players were available, including the expensive “superstars” up front. And this was the performance? I can’t remember coming away from a game this annoyed about a defense since the Super Bowl LVII defeat vs. the Chiefs.

The Cowboys scored on seven of nine possessions, rushed for 204 yards, and finished with 416 total yards at 6.4 yards per play. The Eagles recorded zero sacks, zero quarterback hits, and zero rushing tackles for loss. After the offense opened the second half with a 17-play touchdown drive that took 9:16 off the clock, the defense immediately surrendered another touchdown. We cannot blame the offense for that. This defense had a long rest and a lead, and still couldn’t get a stop.

As always, the advanced data here comes courtesy of Fantasy Points Data Suite. What really annoyed me was the combination of Dak Prescott’s 13.12-yard average depth of target (!), 2.95-second average time to throw (!!), and the Eagles’ lack of pressure. The Cowboys were giving routes time to develop downfield, and the Eagles still couldn’t affect the quarterback. Vic Fangio deserves criticism, too. The Eagles appeared prepared for the short throws and middle-of-the-field passing that had characterized the Cowboys’ offense, then looked shocked when the Cowboys attacked vertically and leaned on the run. Let’s get into an ugly one.

Defense

The Cowboys’ use of jumbo personnel was a disaster for the Eagles all game long. The Cowboys brought on a sixth offensive lineman, Broderick Jones, and created some of the biggest gaps you will see in an NFL game multiple times. Look at the space between Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter here. You cannot invest this much in the defensive interior and get this little resistance. Davis and Carter slide in different directions to avoid the double teams, which creates this massive gap. I think Jihaad Campbell has to do significantly better, too. I’ve defended his play this year, so this game was a real letdown. He was way too passive. He must get downhill quicker.

Jones played nine offensive snaps. On the eight runs he was on the field, the Cowboys gained 74 yards. That’s 9.3 yards per carry! Remove those eight runs, and you’re left with 30 carries for 130 yards, or 4.3 per carry. That tells you how damaging the Cowboys’ jumbo package was. I hated how often the Eagles maintained a two-high safety look against it, including looks with George Pickens as the only wide receiver. I understand that Fangio wants to keep a split-safety pre-snap look, but I think at times you have to bring a safety into the box if you simply can’t stop the run.

The Eagles had early success showing six potential rushers on the line of scrimmage before dropping two into coverage. I like creating uncertainty about who is coming, and this was an example of the idea working on the first 3rd down of the game. The problem was what happened as the game developed. The Cowboys became increasingly comfortable because the threat of extra pressure rarely became actual pressure. This kind of look works because linebackers often drop into short hook zones and can take away quick slants. Eventually, the Cowboys just stopped throwing short routes against this look and threw vertically. The Eagles had no answer.

The Eagles sent five or more rushers on eight of 28 dropbacks. Those plays allowed 4.1 yards per dropback and minus-0.01 EPA per play, compared with 10.0 yards per dropback and +0.69 EPA when they sent four. The blitzes only generated one pressure, so I’m hardly claiming it was great. But when your four-man rush is this ineffective, you have to find another way to challenge the offense. Showing pressure and then repeatedly dropping bodies into the middle also left the outside corners with some difficult assignments, which we will get into later. Sometimes, I hate to be basic, but you need to blitz.

This is where the individual execution becomes impossible to defend. Davis and Moro Ojomo have one-on-one matchups and do nothing with them. The center barely needs to touch Davis before climbing directly to Jihaad Campbell. Campbell has to do a better job shedding the block, but look at how cleanly that blocker reaches him. At the very least, I expect Davis to make it difficult for the center to leave. That did not happen here.

Davis and Carter risk becoming what we call in the UK a “flat-track bully.” For those unsure, a flat-track bully is a player who dominates inferior opponents but struggles against top-tier competition. For too long, both Davis and Carter have dominated bad opposition but get dominated by elite competition. Carter in particular has struggled against the Cowboys multiple times.

I’m also unsure where Zack Baun is going while being blocked by a tight end. The Eagles looked confused on multiple snaps about who was setting the edge, and that uncertainty made already poor execution worse. It was rough.

The pass coverage is just off this year. On this snap, the Eagles show six rushers and drop two, but Baun and Campbell end up in essentially the same area. The coverage leaves three defenders against three eligible receivers on the boundary side, and the communication breaks down. I’m pretty sure Cooper DeJean is badly at fault here, sadly. These coverage busts are following him this year. The out route is wide open before Tariq Woolen makes it worse by missing the tackle completely.

What should the offense be worried about here? There is no pass rush, and the extra bodies in coverage aren’t closing the available throws. These looks have to create some hesitation or force the quarterback to speed up. Instead, Prescott has time to wait for the coverage to break down. At some point, you have to actually send the pressure you keep threatening. If you read my preview, you will know that Dak has a very low average depth of target this year. This offense normally gets rid of the ball quickly. They changed it up this week, and the Eagles didn’t adjust.

I thought the Eagles asked too much of their light boxes, especially given how their safeties were playing. If you defend the run with six or fewer in the box, the defensive front has to control space (it didn’t) and the safeties need to arrive quickly (they didn’t). Look at the gap between the defensive tackle and edge defender here, with Byron Young moved far too easily.

Baun misses the tackle, and Campbell cannot get off the tight end’s block. I want Campbell to be aggressive and take that contact instead of avoiding it. The left guard can also climb immediately to Baun because nobody up front requires a double-team. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. struggled to escape blocks, too. The linebackers weren’t playing well, but the defensive line and the structure kept putting them in horrible positions. I think Campbell was bad, but I put more blame on the defense’s structure and the defensive line for this poor showing.

Cooper DeJean’s coverage on CeeDee Lamb is far too easy for a quarterback and receiver of this quality. DeJean has no help outside, so his leverage has to account for that. Zone defenders are in the middle of the field, so he should play with outside leverage. He can’t let Lamb beat him so comfortably into the area the coverage cannot protect. Add another clean pocket, and the Cowboys barely have to work for this.

I also don’t think Fangio gave his corners enough help against Lamb and Pickens. These were the two obvious receiving threats, and they repeatedly aligned outside. I would have trusted Quinyon Mitchell to survive on an island and tilted more coverage toward the other side. Instead, the Eagles kept creating situations where defensive backs had to win a difficult individual matchup with little help. Too often, that defender wasn’t Mitchell. I get that Fangio’s system has specific rules, but I just struggle when I see a defender on Quinyon Mitchell’s side when he doesn’t need any help. Let him line up by himself and shift coverage to the other side. That’s the great thing about having an elite cornerback!

The late rotation to a five-man front has become a problem. The NFL changes fast. Go back 2 years, and this was a cheat code for the Eagles. When Baun rotated to the edge, the resulting alignment put Jalyx Hunt inside. This worked well when Brandon Graham kicked inside a few years ago, because he is a big body who can handle moving inside. That is a demanding interior run-defense assignment, and Hunt could not hold up. The rotation also pushed Davis wider and moved Carter to nose tackle. The Cowboys repeatedly ran to their right, away from Davis and toward Hunt. The Cowboys had an answer.

You can criticize Hunt for losing the matchup, but why keep creating it? The Cowboys seemed to recognize exactly what the rotation would give them. This is where Fangio’s responsibility becomes significant. A disguise loses its value when the opponent understands the result and actively attacks it. Some of these ideas aren’t working this year, and sticking with them while the offense targets the same weakness is incredibly frustrating.

I had to include Quinyon Mitchell in at least one clip because he deserved much better from the players around him. Mitchell was probably the only Eagles defender who could feel happy with both his performance and his effort level. He remains an elite cornerback. The Eagles had an opportunity to build more of the coverage plan around that strength, and I don’t think they did enough with it.

I could spend a bit of time talking about Andrew Mukuba completely ignoring the chance of an interception, hitting the receiver, which could have resulted in a penalty, and also bouncing off the wide receiver like he is half his size. But we will get to him later…

Back to jumbo, and this fourth-and-1 conversion is far too straightforward. The tight end blows up Hunt on the edge, and the Cowboys have the room they need.

Watch Carter. Actually, don’t, unless you want to get angry again. Tyler Booker absolutely wrecked him throughout this game. Carter was horrible against the run. If he isn’t healthy enough to compete, shut him down, because this level of play helps nobody. I don’t know what is going on physically, and I’m not going to pretend that I do. But the performance was brutal, and the contract looks like a giant, giant leap of faith when this is what the Eagles are getting from him. Players with that level of investment have to give you more than this.

This is an unbelievable throw by Prescott and catch by Pickens. Sometimes the opponent deserves credit, and both players deserve it here. But I don’t need to see Mitchell covering a tight end outside while Andrew Mukuba is left with Pickens and no help. That assignment distribution gives the Cowboys a matchup I would much rather avoid. The Cowboys don’t even motion into this, like the Panthers did last week. They just line up with Pickens in the slot, and the Eagles do nothing to adjust.

The Eagles seemed obsessed with protecting the short middle, often leaving both linebackers in hook zones, while the Cowboys attacked beyond them. Their single-high coverages got hammered. As it often does. Look at his pocket again. The coverage was struggling, and the rush offered no rescue.

This looks like rookie-year Mukuba. I’m pretty sure this is Cover 6 (Quarter-Quarter-Half), a split-field coverage with 3 deep defenders (think Cover 4 to the passing strength, Cover 2 opposite). On Mitchell’s side, Mukuba should help form a four-defender “box” around the three receivers and close the intermediate route across the middle. Instead, he seems to follow Prescott’s eyes to the other side and leaves the route open. I can’t know the exact coaching instruction, but that is how the breakdown looks to me. Mukuba had a real issue with his eyes his rookie year, then he got better before getting hurt, but I think he’s playing poorly again.

I have no idea what Mukuba is doing on some of these reps. His coverage is supposed to be a strength, and I haven’t been impressed over the past few weeks. Campbell receives an enormous amount of criticism from fans, but I think Mukuba has been worse this year and has largely escaped the same scrutiny. The Eagles have a serious issue at safety, and these mistakes are making the corners’ jobs even harder.

I think we have seen enough of Woolen in Fangio’s system to question whether this is going to work. This is an embarrassing rep in off coverage. He looks uncomfortable, and the Cowboys have no reason to stop testing him.

I would absolutely be shopping him to teams that want a press-man corner. That is where his skill set makes more sense to me. Repeatedly asking him to play in ways that expose his weaknesses doesn’t help the defense, and reps like this don’t help his trade value either. The fit deserves scrutiny alongside the player’s execution.

This is what I said in my film review of Woolen…

This is a true story: I typed this take out last week, and deleted it because I backtracked and worried it was too soon. But screw it, I’m going to say it again! I think the Eagles would be a better defense with Adoree Jackson and Reed Blankenship in the secondary right now than with Tariq Woolen. Anyway, moving on…

Here we go again. No pass rush, defenders sitting in the middle of the field, and Woolen left alone against Lamb. I do not understand why Fangio thought this was a matchup he could keep asking Woolen to handle without help. Both linebackers occupy short middle areas while the Cowboys are trying to throw outside and downfield. Their presence does very little to affect what Prescott actually wants to do.

This is why I wanted more pressure. The Eagles were already giving up difficult outside matchups without generating any disruption. The four-man rush allowed all three passing touchdowns, and the defense offered no convincing answer as the game went on.

When DeJean is struggling to cover tight ends, you know something is wrong. His drop-off in athleticism and coverage ability is remarkable. I almost hope there is a physical explanation, because I’m struggling to reconcile these reps with the player we have seen before.

What I do know is that the Eagles cannot build a coverage plan around what a player used to be able to do if he is currently struggling to do it. The assignments still have to reflect the performance they are getting. DeJean’s problems have become another major concern in a secondary that already has enough of them.

Another jumbo run, another enormous hole. DeJean takes a horrendous angle coming downhill from safety, which has been a recurring issue for me. I have said for a while that he does not come downhill well. Playing the run from that depth requires something different of him, and I don’t think he is a good safety against the run. His angle here gives the runner far too much room. I do not want him playing as a safety next year. He is not good there.

Nobody can get off a block, which is no surprise. The left guard is looking for someone to block while there is still a hole this big! Javonte Williams finished with 155 yards on 25 carries, including 61 yards before contact and 94 after it (both season-high numbers). The Cowboys entered this game with an ordinary rushing attack. The Eagles made their offensive line look incredible.

I know how easy it is to criticize effort while sitting with a coffee and staring at a laptop. I also know the game was getting away from them. But I do not want to see this level of effort in a Monday night game at home against the Cowboys, regardless of the score. This group should have enough pride to keep competing when things go badly.

This was a bad look for everyone involved. The lack of juice was startling, especially on defense with this much talent and investment. You can lose a matchup. You can get beaten by a good play. The standard still has to be higher than this.

Final Thoughts

I have defended this unit enough this year. The offense has created difficult circumstances in previous games, but this performance belongs to the defense. The defensive line was ridiculously poor. The run-defense fundamentals were horrendous, and the secondary made mistakes that the pass rush gave them no chance to survive.

Fangio has to take his share of the criticism. The Cowboys attacked differently from what the Eagles appeared to expect, and too many of the answers involved returning to the same ideas. The jumbo package, the interior matchup created by the late rotation, and the isolated corners all kept causing problems. There was absolutely no excuse for this. This was a rough defensive performance.

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