Playoff Comparison: Secondary

By: Jesse Larch, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Leading up to the Eagles playoff matchup against the Atlanta Falcons on Saturday Sports Talk Philly and Eagledelphia will compare the personnel of the two teams each day until gameday is here. 

In this edition of our week-long comparison we will look at the secondaries. 

Atlanta DBs | Desmond Trufant, Ricardo Allen, Keanu Neal, Robert Alford, Brian Poole, Kemal Ishmael, Damontae Kazee

The Falcons' secondary is led by safety Keanu Neal. Neal finished second on the team with 116 tackles and was tied for the team lead in forced fumbles (three) with cornerback Damontae Kazee. 

Neal plays downhill at all times and Eagles' fans will remember him best for denting Jordan Matthews's facemask on hit last season when the Eagles hosted the Falcons. 

Playing the other safety position for Atlanta is Ricardo Allen. Allen has actually declined considerable in his third season, posting career-lows in tackles, interceptions, and passes defensed.

Desmond Trufant leads the cornerbacks for Atlanta. Atlanta missed Trufant last season throughout the playoffs and could have helped them maintain their lead in the Super Bowl that they infamously surrendered. Trufant is one of the bright young cornerbacks in the NFL and re-staked his claim as a premier cornerback in the league. 

Robert Alford is the other outside cornerback and proved that he is not a player to be picked on. Alford defended 20 passes in 2017, eight more than Trufant who was the next closest Falcon. 

Brian Poole plays in the nickel, and Ishmael Collins and the aforementioned Kazee are the extra defensive backs. 

Philadelphia DBs | Ronald Darby, Malcolm Jenkins, Rodney McLeod, Jalen Mills, Patrick Robinson, Corey Graham, Rasul Douglas

The Leader of the Eagles' secondary is Malcolm Jenkins. Jenkins finished third on the team and first among secondary players with 76 tackles this season. Jenkins plays multiple roles on the Eagles defense that allows the Eagles to adapt their coverages and schemes to fit whatever the opposition attempts against them. 

Jenkins is joined by Rodney McLeod in the back end of the defense to form one of the most efficient safety tandems in the NFL. 

Ronald Darby leads the cornerbacks, often drawing the opposition's top receiver. Darby was remarkable in 2017 with 34 tackles, nine passes defensed, and three interceptions in just eight games. 

Jalen Mills lines up on the other side of the defense and made huge strides in sophomore season. Mills collected 64 tackles, 14 passes defensed, and three interceptions – one of which was a pick-six. Mills shed the label of being the defense's weak link and teams started to be punished for picking on the physical cornerback. 

Like Mills, Patrick Robinson also surprised fans with excellent play this season. Robinson led the team with four interceptions and 18 passes defensed. Robinson plays in the nickel and is as active in the run game as he is in the passing game. 

Corey Graham and Rasul Douglas are the extra defensive backs, and combined for 15 passes defensed and four interceptions this season. 

Edge

The matchup between defensive backs is a very even one. The Eagles secondary created more turnovers but allowed more yards than the Falcons' secondary. 

The Eagles secondary accounted for 21 turnovers including 19 interceptions while the Falcons' secondary only had 11 turnovers and five interceptions. 

The Falcons' allowed 214.3 passing yards per game – 13 less than the Eagles who allowed 227.3 yards in the air per week. 

The Eagles have received balanced production from their secondary all season, but it lacks two shutdown forces like the Falcons' secondary with Trufant and Neal.

The personnel is relatively equal as a whole and this matchup is a draw due to one side being superior in generating turnovers but the other being superior in limiting yardage.