Kiffin Defense vs. Kelly Offense - revisited

[jazzcat22]

Since this off season is an emphasis on rebuilding our Defense, and going from Kiffin to Marinelli.
will be interesting to see thoughts on this, and since Jackson is no longer an Eagle.

Recap.
Last year, almost everyone, including the mediots kept harping on Kelly vs. Kiffin in college games. Which I didn't think meant anything coming into the NFL.

So last year in the 2 games.
Game 1, Cowboys 17 Eagles 3
Cowboys 368 yards to Eagles 278
TOP 36:13 Cowboys to 23:47 Eagles

Game 2, Cowboys 22 Eagles 24
Cowboys 417 yards to Eagles 366
TOP 30:17 Cowboys, 29:43 Eagles

The 1st game was with Cowboys defense still somewhat healthy, but were missing some players, the 2nd game, totally decimated with injuries. But yet held their own against Kelly's offense. But yet it seemed no one wanted to say they were wrong of the Kiffin vs. Kelly showdowns, that they were so sure Kelly would get 600 yards easily on.

Now this is very early and pre draft. So without Jackson, even though his stats haven't been all that great against the Cowboys, he did cause other issues helping other players get open. And with a healthier defense this year. And with Marinelli now DC, but basically the same style. How do you see it playing out this year.
I know, there will be the replace Ware / Hatcher comments, but just wondering opinions if people think it will be better or worse. There is a years worth of game film now on Kelly and Foles to study.

Jackson 2 games last year, 3-21, 0 TD's, 16 long, 3-28, 0TD's, 20 long
Dez for comparison, 8-110, 0 TD's, 19 long, 8-99, 1 TD, 32 long.

 

[Risen Star]

I guess people didn't care since the rest of the season was an historically bad defense.

 

[Future]

Hard to say...but don't expect the Dallas defense to hold them to three any time again soon.

Foles might just stink against the cover 2, for whatever reason. He was brutal in the first game.

 

[yentl911]

We seem to match up pretty good against them. We seem to struggle with teams that have a power running game and/or physical receivers.

 

[gmoney112]

Didn't we run primarily nickel in both matchups?

 

[CyberB0b]

They played a lot of man coverage against the Eagles, both games.

 

[BigStar]

The D really fell off a cliff after the first PHI game (in general). We played them tough last year. Defend the run and bump their receivers with a cover 1 high safety. Carter was ON the first game so it was in him for at-least for a few games last season. Without DJ it should be easier to defend the run.

 

[morasp]

It seemed pretty obvious that Kiffin's experience against that offense on college payed dividends. Our players were coached well on what to expect and knew the play before they ran it. A lot times Foles just threw the ball away.

 

[Kevinicus]

The D really fell off a cliff after the first PHI game (in general). We played them tough last year. Defend the run and bump their receivers with a cover 1 high safety. Carter was ON the first game so it was in him for at-least for a few games last season. Without DJ it should be easier to defend the run.

It fell off a cliff after Claiborne went down. The defense is fine against Washington and was doing alright against Detroit before he got hurt.

 

[casmith07]

It fell off a cliff after Claiborne went down. The defense is fine against Washington and was doing alright against Detroit before he got hurt.

Impossible. Claiborne is the worst draft pick in the history of the NFL and is complete garbage and should be cut. I read it on this site.

 

[TonyRomo17]

It fell off a cliff after Claiborne went down. The defense is fine against Washington and was doing alright against Detroit before he got hurt.

id say the lee injury was huge too, esentially every time the MLB that got practice reps went down the defense went full no-punt mode

 

[Vanilla2]

Kyle Orton.

 

[AbeBeta]

The D looked great in the first game b/c Foles was playing on a bad leg and then Barkely came in a threw horrible passes.

I will say game 2 was encouraging. The D fought hard. Had Romo been healthy, it would have been a win

 

[sbark]

1st game we offset Lee which really helped him flow to the RB.........2nd game no Lee, but also they countered with a crossbuck play with McCoy hiding behind the OLine and coming toward Wilbur from the other side several times that went for good yardage in critical situations.

 

[Hoofbite]

The D looked great in the first game b/c Foles was playing on a bad leg and then Barkely came in a threw horrible passes.

I will say game 2 was encouraging. The D fought hard. Had Romo been healthy, it would have been a win

Game 2 is far more impressive IMO as well.

Game 1 looked like replacements snuck on to the field and started playing QB for Philly.

 

[Oh_Canada]

Sorry but I'm just not that impressed by the Eagles. Dallas was clearly the better team, had they had even half there defensive lineman they would have won the division last year, the Eagles on the other hand had a historically lucky season injury wise and still barely squeaked out a final week victory without the Cowboys starting QB to boot.
If the Giants straighten out there oline issues they will return as the team to beat in the east with the Eagles, Cowboys and Commanders all capable of winning the division or finishing 5-11.