Andy Reid was asked Wednesday what Colt Anderson’s shown to earn one of the starting safety spots.
“We asked him to fill in the line of scrimmage and be a physical player in there and he did a nice job with that,” Reid said. “We needed that at that time and so we’re going to need it this week. They [the Redskins] run the football and do a good job with that so we’ll leave him in that position and let him continue to do that.”
In the past two games, Anderson has 19 tackles, according to team stats, and has made several plays at the line of scrimmage. Below are some examples of what he’s done well – both in run support and coverage.
On one play in the red zone vs. Cincinnati, BenJarvus Green-Ellis got the ball at the 2-yard line.
It looked like he had a hole and was headed to the end zone.
But Anderson and other Eagles closed in, stuffing him for no gain.
Later in the game, Anderson starts inching towards the line of scrimmage pre-snap. You’ll notice Trent Cole is lined up in the Wide-9.
But Cole doesn’t rush upfield, which would have taken him out of the play. Anderson comes untouched to tackle Green-Ellis after a 1-yard run.
In coverage, Anderson hasn’t been asked to do too much. On the season, the Eagles have allowed 10 pass plays of 40+ yards and 44 of 20+ yards. But the Bengals’ longest pass play last week was just 19 yards. Anderson is often the top of the defense and has done a good job of not letting receivers get behind him.
He’s also made some nice plays on the ball. For example, A.J. Green tried a double-move in the first half. You can see Anderson starts the play deep.
As Green makes his move past Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Anderson maintains his depth and takes a good angle to the ball.
He breaks up the pass and nearly comes up with the interception.
The Eagles have had issues with play-action all season long. Here, Anderson takes a couple steps up on the fake.
But he recovers and stays behind the receiver on the incompletion.
That discipline will be key this week against the Redskins, one of the league’s best play-action teams.
Anderson has been great on kick and punt coverage since he arrived, but the free-agent-to-be is showing he can make plays on defense too.
Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
Become a fan of Birds 24/7 on Facebook.
