October 20, 2024   6 MIN READ

Junkyard Birds

Dean, Eagles D Showcase Grit Vs. Giants

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – When it finally operated at peak form, the Eagles’ defense would adopt an identity of a sound and gritty unit.

That’s how linebacker Nakobe Dean always envisioned it.

Much like – in his words – a “junkyard defense,” where the unit is banded together with intent and attacks with ferocity.

It was on a 3rd-and-3 Sunday against the Giants, the fourth play of the game, when Dean served as the thermostat, setting the temperature after pressuring Giants quarterback Daniel Jones into an incompletion.

While Dean didn’t get home on that particular play, the third-year linebacker registered a pair of sacks, accounting for two of the team’s eight overall in the 28-3 pummeling.

The polarizing unit, orchestrated by veteran defensive mastermind Vic Fangio, was fresh off a convincing 20-16 home win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 6 in which the defense held the offense out of the end zone.

But even after an outing that could have quelled concerns, skepticism about the Eagles’ defense remained.

The common thread throughout the week, at least across the Delaware Valley and beyond, was that the performance was most likely a byproduct of a woeful Browns offense.

The consensus wanted to see the defensive dominance replicated against a relatively listless Giants offense.

Dean and the rest of the defense did just that, extending the streak of not allowing a touchdown to nine quarters.

“I feel like, as much as I wanna say we’ve been locked in with each other and been had a lot of chemistry with each other – the chemistry now is exponentially better,” Dean said after the game. “I feel like we’re getting comfortable playing around each other.

“We’re getting more comfortable with the coaches, with Vic [Fangio] and everybody. And we actually trust what he got going, and we trust in each other to make plays. And we’re practicing hard.”

Eagles Giants getty

GETTY IMAGES: Eagles LB Nakobe Dean led a defensive effort that for the second straight game held the opposing offense without a TD.

For a multitude of reasons, Fangio’s bunch is clicking after a turbulent season start.

In addition to holding the Giants to under 120 yards of total offense – a rare feat – the sack brigade from the previous Sunday traveled up the New Jersey Turnpike, notching eight more.

Six different Eagles factored into the sack column.

The defense, Dean said, has begun to gel. He attributed the success to a cohesion boiled down to a simplistic formula.

“Buying in,” he said. “We gotta buy in and execute our jobs. And we just gotta continue to do that.”

The cerebral Dean, who serves as one of the defense’s voices, has been scrutinized, specifically for his tackling and ability to play in space, which Fangio acknowledged last week.

Fangio specifically noted that Dean needed to limit biting on pump fakes and clean up his tackling.

Against the Giants, Dean stood out, registering a game-high 11 tackles in addition to his two sacks and four hits on Jones.

The Eagles have cut-ups for intel into how different running backs pass protect, and because Dean showcased on tape considerable power in his rushes, he’s not surprised in how opposing running backs have schemed to neutralize his downhill tendencies.

On one of his rushes, the Giants tried to cut him with a running back, but he still managed to get back on his feet and take down Jones.

Dean, an effective blitzer at Georgia, responded favorably attacking downhill in pursuit of quarterbacks during the summer during training camp and in preseason play.

He’s had some other close encounters throughout the season, though not with the consistency that warrants blind faith.

And even though Fangio’s defenses traditionally don’t blitz heavily, he found ways to maximize Dean’s opportunities, and Dean repaid his trust, playing hard through contact.

In simple terms, Dean whittled down his effectiveness as a blitzer to working a move and timing it perfectly.

He acknowledged that he didn’t do it earlier in the season before adding that he felt like he did when he was blitzing last year prior to the foot injury he suffered that knocked him out for the season.

Dean said he’s no longer as anxious to get up there and blow his cover. But otherwise, Dean said there wasn’t anything in particular that he saw on tape that forecasted his breakout game.

“No, other than me actually going out and working a move, finally,” Dean explained. “We don’t blitz much, but we always preach when your number gets called, take advantage of it.

“I felt like earlier in the season, my number got called and I didn’t take advantage of it. So, he just kinda stopped calling my number. And he called it today, and I tried to take advantage of it.”

In any cohesive defense, the pass-rush and coverage work in concert, complementing one another from front to back.

Against the Giants, all three levels of the Eagles defense functioned in-sync. That includes a young secondary that minimized the impact of Giants rookie phenom receiver Malik Nabers, the sixth overall pick who was held to to just 41 yards on four catches.

“We’re just working together,” rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell said. “Us and the d-line, we work together, just showing different looks and stuff like that. And trying to get him off his first read, and just make him go through his progressions.”

Dean views the identity of the unit as a “no-name defense,” one in which one person can’t be highlighted and everyone thrives due to the collective buy-in and attention to detail.

As for whether or not the defense is close to establishing the faceless, rugged, junkyard-style identity that Dean envisioned, the third-year MIKE linebacker believes it has, though he also intimated that they won’t get too far ahead of themselves and remain a work in progress.

“We gotta take it a day at a time,” Dean said. “We can’t do this in one day. One good win and we’re great. Last two weeks, we’ve been playing good, but we just keep on building on it. We’re gonna enjoy the ride home, we’re gonna enjoy this today. And then tomorrow, we’re gonna watch the film and we’re gonna be off of it.”

– Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is a Staff Reporter/Content Producer for InsideTheBirds.com.

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