The Philadelphia Eagles‘ defense has been questionable all season long, but it has become an even more prominent problem over the last several weeks.
The Eagles were blown out in each of their last two games, losing to the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 33-13 this past weekend and falling to the San Francisco 49ers to the tune of a 42-19 drubbing in Week 13.
Even in Philadelphia’s last win, which came over the Buffalo Bills in Week 12, it surrendered 34 points.
Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai was asked about the issues this week and said that third downs and poor red-zone defense have been their biggest troubles.
“I think it’s just we have been inopportune,” Desai said, via Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “We have not been able to get off the field when we need to get off the field. Yeah, in third down and situational football we got to be better, third down, red zone. Those have been our bugaboos. Not going to lie to you. That’s been our Achilles’ heel right now.”
Dallas went 9-of-16 on third down and 3-of-3 in the red zone last Sunday. Meanwhile, San Francisco completed eight of its 11 third-down opportunities and went 4-for-4 in the red zone two weeks ago.
Philadelphia’s third-down defense ranks last in the NFL, and it is 30th in red-zone defense.
All of that being said, Desai thinks Philly will be just fine.
“I feel really good about where we’re going with it, feel really good about our planning process towards it, and our players’ mentality in approaching that situation, being able to put guys in spots to go win those,” Desai said. “Again, we won a lot of third downs early in the year. We just haven’t been able to do that this year. That’s hurting us as [a] defense. Increases our play counts. But it hurts us as a team.”
The Eagles rank 22nd in yards allowed and 28th in scoring defense in 2023. They have also been particularly poor at defending the pass, placing 28th in that category.
Philadelphia is 10-3 and will take on the Seattle Seahawks next Monday.
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