Defensive tackle Isaac Sopoaga and his defensive line teammates will be crucial to the Eagles success against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos Sunday. Image courtesy Philadelphiaeagles.com
Amidst all the uncertainty that surrounded the Philadelphia Eagles 26-16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs last Thursday night, one thing was certain. They had a nine day layoff before their next game.
That was a relief.
The fact that Peyton Manning and the powerhouse Broncos awaited on the other side of the break was not.
The task is as daunting as it sounds. Stopping the league's best offense, led by the league's best quarterback is no easy task. The Broncos are scoring over 42 points per game, racking up over 486 yards a game, and are undefeated, all of which are best in the NFL.
If the Eagles, whose secondary has been exploited time and time again this season, want to have a shot at stopping Manning and the high powered Broncos, the key is not the secondary. The key is the front seven.
The Eagles need to get pressure on Manning, which is harder said than done. The Broncos offensive line has allowed just four sacks on the season, and have provided the comeback player of the year ample time to find his plethora of weapons downfield.
Through the first two games, the Birds had only accounted for four sacks of opposing quarterbacks. Things changed in week three, and it had much to do with the activation of Vinny Curry.
Curry, a second year defensive end, was a frequent visitor to the Chiefs backfield on Thursday night, causing more havoc than his one sack stat line shows. Chip Kelly was pleased with his performance after the game.
“Yeah, I think Vinny did a really nice job rushing the passer tonight,” Kelly said after the loss. “And that's what Vinny has done. He's continued to develop. I was happy to get him out there. I thought Vinny did some nice things.”
Curry, along with the rest of the defensive front have a challenge at hand. They showed strides of improvement against the Chiefs, and have to continue that trend going into week four.
“You have to take it one game at a time,” linebacker Connor Barwin said Thursday night. “For the defense, the Chargers game was tough, but we came out tonight, rebounded and played a lot better on defense. We will look at a couple of plays we would want to take back, but I think there were a lot of positives to look at.”
“We did a pretty good job, but we could do better,” safety Earl Wolff added. “We could always be better. Our goal is to keep getting better.”
Their improvement over the nine day layoff will be thrown directly into the fire Sunday afternoon. Along with having the most potent passing attack in the league, the Broncos still manage 112 yards per game on the ground. This forces the line to not pin their ears back and go for Manning all out, because Knowshon Moreno is waiting in the backfield to slice up the blitz.
This could pose a problem for Kelly and the Eagles, especially on third down. They have struggled to force three and outs, giving away third and long situations with missed tackles and blown coverages.
“We had them in third-and-long situations, we missed tackles and they made plays,” linebacker DeMeco Ryans said following Thursday's game.
On the season, the Broncos have completed 21 of their 39 third down attempts, good for just under 54 percent. They have accumulated 78 total first downs in their first three games. The secondary will surely have a lot of pressure on them to defend the great Wes Welker and Demariyus Thomas, but it starts up front.
If the Eagles can get pressure on Manning with exotic blitzes and mixed packages, they could force Manning to check down to shorter receivers, and have success on the defensive end. If not, the four-time NFL MVP will pick apart the Birds defense, just as he has done with the rest of the league.
Andrew Albert is a senior writer for CityofBasketballLove.com, as well as a sports desk intern with the Philadelphia Daily News. You can follow him on Twitter at @AndrewJAlbert01
