By Patrick Del Gaone, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Even though Philadelphia’s defensive front is comprised of central components throughout the Chip Kelly-era, they’ve been consistently showered with praise for the Eagles’ defensive metamorphosis in 2016.
Today, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz was abundantly clear that it’s his safety tandem, Rodney McLeod and Malcolm Jenkins, which is the glue that holds his unit together.
The Eagles ranked 28th in the NFL with 267 opposition passing yards per game in 2015, and allowed a franchise record 36 touchdown passes. This season, they’re 7th in the league with 222 yards allowed through the air, and have given up just 13 passing scores in nine games.
While many blame Kelly and his fast-paced offense for the extremely lackluster defensive performance in recent years, the additions of McLeod, Leodis McKelvin and Jalen Mills have provided invaluable stability on the back-end of Schwartz’s exponentially improved defense.
“Both of those guys are really good players,” Schwartz said. “They’re doing a good job for this defense. Both are multi-dimensional. They’re the glue that holds our defense together. Their communication has been outstanding. We have very few missed assignments in the back-end, if we get beat in the back-end, it’s generally a physical thing. A lot of that credit goes to Rodney and Malcolm.”
“One of the things that has happened at our cornerback position is we’ve been very competitive. We haven’t always played great, but we’ve played competitive. In this league, you’re not gonna make plays unless you contest some things. I can play over the top of everything, [but] I can’t defend anything underneath. The safeties have done a good job communicating [with them], and in most circumstances, have done a good job bailing those guys out when they have given up a play.”
Qwest Field in Seattle is one of, if not the most intimidating place to play in the National Football League. Nicknamed the “12th Man”, Seattle’s rowdy fan base has a tendency to rattle opposing offenses into a variety of pre-snap penalties which create nearly impossible long-yardage situations.
The Seahawks’ defense in particular feeds off of their crowd’s enthusiasm, and that of their head coach, Pete Carroll, who has transformed the team since his arrival from the college ranks.
Incredibly, Seattle has led the league in points allowed each of the last four seasons.
“It’s a big challenge for us,” offensive coordinator Frank Reich said. “We obviously had the penalties last week, which is unacceptable. Then you go on the road, in this environment, which as we all know, is challenging. It’s a matter of concentration, it’s a matter of trusting it and being focused. You still have gotta be able to get off the ball. The good thing is, we practice this all the time, we just have to be better in eliminating pre-snap penalties.”
According to Pro Football Focus, Nelson Agholor is among the least productive starting wideouts in the entire league this season, ranking 118th out of 119 pass catchers.
Against Atlanta, Agholor had just two catches in 72 snaps. This morning, Reich was asked about the USC product’s seemingly regressive role in the offense.
“I really believe in our guys,” Reich said. “We go in with a lot of confidence. The more plays you call, the more chances you get. We just keep dialing them up, and we figure that the ball is gonna get distributed where it needs to get distributed to win the game.”
You can watch the full press conference from Schwartz and Reich below.
