Eagles' Offense Put On Its Heels From Vic Fangio's Aggression

The veteran defensive coordinator isn't known for his blitzing but Vic Fangio has amped that up this summer.

Eagles DC Vic Fangio / John McMullen/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA - It’s not like Vic Fangio showed up to the NovaCare Complex Saturday morning and chose violence.

But the veteran defensive coordinator unleashed hell on the Eagles’ offense with a wide array of blitzes coming from every angle possible. 

It was almost like Minnesota DC Brian Flores, the NFL's most prolific purveyor of the blitz, arrived in South Philadelphia a few days early because no one blocking for Jalen Hurts and Co. was safe as a persistent light rain complemented the misery. 

If Devin White wasn’t rolling downhill with his 4.42 speed crashing the interior, Isaiah Rodgers was jetting from outside the numbers or Cooper DeJean was timing a slot blitz.

“It’s been frustrating because Vic has one of the exotic defenses in the world,” left tackle Jordan Mailata admitted after the whistle finally blew waiving off practice No. 13 of training camp.

It’s not too often that Fangio’s rebuilding defense has gotten the best of Philadelphia’s uber-talented offense. Saturday was the first day you could make a declarative statement and say the session tilted dramatically toward the defense.

"Coach Vic got a great system," White said. "Obviously as a linebacker, you gotta show him that you're capable of blitzing. So every time we get our number called, we just try to put it on film and execute so he can be comfortable calling it in a real game."

“This defense comes with a lot of different opportunities for a lot of people,” linebacker Zack Baun added “I think what Vic is really good at historically is putting guys, using their best attributes, and putting it in the system and letting them go. 

“So if we have a guy that can blitz, he's gonna blitz him and that's what he expects. If we get 1-on-1s with the back, running back, we gotta win. And if we get 1-on-1s with the tight ends, we gotta win."

The defense won more than they lost on Saturday.

That hasn't always been the case.

"When a person is feeling blitzed, he's eager to go," White said. "So if [Hurts] gives you a hard hut and if you kind of show [the blitz], he can kind of point it out. That's what he's been doing a lot lately.
He's kind of been taking his time and really picking the defense apart. ... We're trying to show a
dummy disguise so we can get them."

“For us, it was just testing how much … (working) our protections, and game-planning around blitzes, everything,” said Mailata. “That’s what we’re testing and I think we did OK.”

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