Eagles inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans is making a strong case to be just the fourth Eagles linebacker to make the Pro Bowl in the past 30 years this season.
He was miscast in a 3-4 defense, they said.
His best days were behind him, they said.
But after ten games of returning to an elite All-Pro level, Philadelphia Eagles inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans is proving his doubters wrong week after week this season.
“DeMeco is the leader of our defense, and he’s having an outstanding Pro Bowl year and we couldn’t be happier with everything DeMeco is doing for us,” Eagles defensive coordinator Billy Davis said Tuesday.
“I cannot overstate what DeMeco means to this defense and the way he’s leading the group. We couldn’t be happier with DeMeco.”
The numbers back up Ryans' claim earlier this week that he is back playing at the peak levels of his career.
Through ten games Ryans has already posted a team leading 89 tackles and two interceptions while serving as not only the quarterback of the defense but emerging as the catalyst of Davis' turnaround in recent weeks as his unit is allowing just 17 points per game over the past five weeks, good enough for sixth in the league over that span.
“He quarterbacks the defense,” Davis said. “We give him a lot of leeway. He can get us in and out of defenses. Gets us in the best defense possible. And as the season has gone on, we as a staff have gotten more and more comfortable in his ability to put us in good situations, and he has."
Ryans, already a two-time Pro Bowler as a member of the Houston Texans in 2007 and 2009, is on pace to be just the fourth Eagles linebacker to play in Honolulu in the past 30 years.
Despite his torn Achilles in 2010, the 29-year old never questioned that he would return to an elite level.
“I never had any doubts,” Ryans said. “I was coming off an injury, I knew I still had work to put in to get back to where I wanted to be, but I never had a doubt in my mind I couldn’t get back to this level.
“This is the level I was playing at [in Houston],” Ryans said. “It’s fun to be back at that level, being able to make plays, and it’s not just me beating my chest about myself, it all starts with the guys in front of me.”
While outsiders have been quick to criticize the work of Davis and a defense that has certainly been on the rise, Ryans made it clear earlier this week that his teammates were on-board from Jump Street.
“Everybody bought into the system early,” Ryans said. “It was just a matter of continuing to do the same things and get better at what we were doing.
“It was new to all of us, so all of us were trying to kind of find our way and now I feel like everybody is comfortable with what we’re doing, everybody knows their role, guys are able to play fast and within their techniques and you see us start to make more plays.”
If there has been one take away from the first ten games of this season it is that Ryans is far from a misfit in the 3-4, and those who claimed he would never return to his pinnacle level of 2010, it's that both of those claims are being proven erroneous.
Matt Lombardo is the Editor-In-Chief of Eagledelphia and also an on-air personality on 97.5 FM The Fanatic in Philadelphia. Join the conversation and follow Matt on Twitter.
