Here’s our weekly look at the Eagles’ defensive line production.
The Eagles had quite a few “close but no sack” moments against Robert Griffin III. In fairness to Jim Washburn’s unit, Griffin makes defensive linemen look silly on a weekly basis.
Here are the numbers. Sacks, hurries (a stat kept by the coaches) and pressure percentage (frequency with with each player notches a sack or hurry, given the opportunities).
| Pass-Rushing Opportunities | Sacks | Hurries | Pressure Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trent Cole | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Jason Babin | 15 | 1 | 1 | 13.3% |
| Fletcher Cox | 13 | 1 | 0 | 7.7% |
| Cullen Jenkins | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Mike Patterson | 12 | 0 | 2 | 16.7% |
| Brandon Graham | 8 | 0 | 1 | 12.5% |
| Derek Landri | 7 | 0 | 2 | 28.6% |
| Darryl Tapp | 7 | 0 | 1 | 14.3% |
| Cedric Thornton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
We know the Eagles are not looking forward to facing Griffin for years to come. I’m guessing they’re not going to enjoy going up against left tackle Trent Williams either. Williams held Trent Cole to no sacks and no hurries. Cole has a total of seven hurries in the last four games. He doesn’t have a sack since Week 3 against the Cardinals.
Jason Babin was actually very active. He had one sack and was really responsible for the other one. Babin’s pressure forced Griffin to step up, and Fletcher Cox was the first person to touch him. Babin also had four tackles.
My upcoming All-22 post is going to focus a lot on Cox. He is coming on strong. The rookie had 10 tackles. He’s had two double-digit tackle games in the last month. No other Eagles defensive lineman has one all season. Cox was all over the place against the Redskins, even though it might not show up in the numbers here.
Brandon Graham only had eight opportunities, but he hasn’t done much in the last two games (one tackle, two hurries). This was the most active Mike Patterson’s been since returning (two hurries, three tackles). Derek Landri had two hurries in his previous five games, but notched a couple in this one. Darryl Tapp had five tackles.
Going forward, it looks like Vinny Curry is going to get a shot against the Panthers, per a CSNPhilly.com report by Geoff Mosher. So who does he bump? The Eagles could go with five defensive ends and sit Cedric Thornton, who’s being phased out anyway. Or they could have Curry take Tapp’s place behind Cole.
Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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