Eagles Pass Rush Critical Against Matthew Stafford, Lions

Trent Cole and Brandon Graham combined for four sacks against Carson Palmer, limiting Larry Fitzgerald's impact. They'll have to repeat that success against the Lions Sunday. 

Matthew Stafford gets rid of the football quickly and when he does, it's usually to the awaiting hands of Calvin Johnson. 

That combination could present quite a quandary for a Philadelphia Eagles defense that has been on the rise for the past two months. 

While pressuring the quarterback is essential to any defense's success in any game, it's almost more important that the Eagles get to Stafford and knock him around especially early on in Sunday's game to set the tone. 

If Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis had his druthers, he would never blitz and simply rely on his front three to get to the quarterback and be a disruptive force in the pocket. However, it doesn't always work out that way. 

“The math alone, when you send more than four, you are weakening your coverage,” Davis said. “Absolutely, yeah, I'd love a three‑man rush to be honest with you, the three‑man rush to get there. That's the perfect world.

“But the four‑man, and that's what a lot of the four down [linemen] teams do, they get the four best rushers and defensive linemen they can get and they only rush four. You would rather not have to add the extra rushers. You would rather add the coverage, plus get your pressure.”

Two of Davis' linebackers combined for two sacks apiece last Sunday against Carson Palmer and the Arizona Cardinals in the form of Trent Cole and Brandon Graham who are each getting more and more comfortable in a new scheme as each game goes by. 

Statistics show that Stafford doesn’t handle the blitz nearly as well as some of the NFL’s other top quarterbacks. He’s completing just 52 percent of his passes against extra-man pressure with 10 of his 27 touchdowns and an 80.0 passer rating, according to Pro Football Focus.

"There's definitely a lot of trust in our d-line to get to Stafford and hopefully we can rely on our coverage from there," Graham said Thursday. "Pass rush is valuable when you play anybody, we have to make sure we get home and do our part to make it easier on the back and and vice-versa." 

Against Palmer last week Cole once again showed the benefits he's felt from playing standing up as a linebacker this season as well as the sports science principles implemented by Chip Kelly. 

The nine-year veteran knows the value of getting to Stafford goes well beyond notching a sack on the stat sheet. 

"It's very important, when you have those kind of receivers you've got to get to [the quarterback]," Cole explained. "You have to get to him. Those guys are the type of receivers that anybody in the league would want to have on their team. They're tall, they're fast. They're the type of guys that nine times out of ten they're going to go up and pull the ball down over your head as a corner or safety." 

 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.