Eagles Mailbag: Who’s to blame for the defensive problems?

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I.

I plan to pack two mail bags this week. Someone sent me a nice in-depth question that I’ll be addressing on my own in a few days. If you would like to submit a question for a future mailbag, you can tweet me or email me at [email protected].

As for this week’s questions …

@ JustinF_89: Who or what is to blame for the Eagles’ defensive woes over the past two weeks? Gannon? A lack of talent? Injured to Brandon Graham? Something else?

When I got this question from Justin earlier in the week, my first thought went straight to Brandon Graham.

Graham will forever be a Philadelphia legend for his Super Bowl exploits and go on to become one of the most beloved Eagles of all time. Graham will be remembered primarily as a hit because of that iconic backpack against Tom Brady, but Eagles fans, myself included, may have taken his stopping abilities for granted. .

Due to the parsimony with which he was used early in his career, Graham is the rare defensive lineman who improved in his early 30s. Even though he became known to rush the passer, his back pursuit in the running game has been incredible since the Eagles moved up to 4-3 in 2016. When he made the Pro Bowl for the first time at 32 years old in 2020, he was doing it with eight sacks and continued to be excellent against the run.

Once Malcolm Jenkins left the last offseason, Graham truly became the heart and soul of this Eagles defense. Not only are the Eagles missing their best defensive player, they are missing a leader, an infectious personality who has worked harder than any Eagle in recent memory to get to where he is. Its crushing.

When Graham left the field with an injury against San Francisco, he was deflating. It was bad. It hit Eagles fans in the gut and I’m sure the same was true for a lot of other members of the squad and the organization.

I will say, however, that this tweet made me a little nervous about defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon:

Jonathan Gannon: Weren’t a dime team, when asked why the #Eagles don’t go with 6 DB to 11 on 3d and longs.

We go with four down and 2 LB.

Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) October 5, 2021

I was sipping the Gannon Kool-Aid during the offseason. Maybe it’s a personnel issue and it goes back to the front office, but it’s a line where the fans think, Uhhh, I really hope this guy knows what he’s doing. Trying to put a linebacker on Tyreek Hill hurts, doesn’t it?

Gannons’ defense has been very good in the first two games of the season. It may not be a coincidence, these are the two games Graham played before the end of his season with an Achilles tendon tear.

Mike Hyde (via email): Should the Eagles consider trading Miles Sanders for the Pats or the Ravens?

There is a lot less player swapping in the middle of the NFL season compared to other sports, so I doubt that will happen early on. I also don’t think the team should do it if the opportunity presents itself now.

I haven’t always been the biggest fan of Miles Sanders, but he’s better than his use the last couple of weeks people would have thought. Besides the fact that I can’t imagine you getting a ton for a running back in the penultimate year of his rookie deal, it’s not like he’s filling out the stats sheet and increasing its commercial value at the moment.

The Eagles traded a fourth-round pick to the Dolphins for Jay Ajayi in 2017. Ajayi was in his 24-year-old season, as Sanders is now. Ajayi had just finished a season where he rushed for 1,272 yards. He was more valuable than Sanders now.

Sanders is still a productive player. This is ultimately the point. Teams shouldn’t be bothered to trade productive players for minimal return.

While I am criticized for saying I could imagine Nick Sirianni would be a one-time head coach, the criticism I received for saying it was at the start of the season should apply to the hypothetical trades as well. Considering what we’ve seen of the Cowboys and Eagles, the Birds, as much as it pains my soul to write, aren’t in the same class as Dallas in terms of 2021 on-time contention. current. Still, I don’t want to give up completely this year. I’m concerned the Eagles are in a lame duck, stopgap type season and Sanders would only hammer this house.

The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday, November 2. It comes two days after the Eagles’ Week 8 game against the Lions in Detroit. Do Eagles fans want the team to sell if they’re 2-6 and it boils down to that? They could! If the Eagles could get a third round pick for Sanders, go for it, but I don’t see that happening.

@killakow: What would you do if I said I wanted to be a cheetah man?

I will have the seats!

@SixersRy: What’s worse this season or Iron Man 2?

Iron Man 3.

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