It Isn't About Replacing Jordan Davis, It's About Persevering
Life was not fun on Thursday night without Jordan Davis, the 6-foot-6, 340-pound monster in the middle of the Eagles’ five-man fronts on defense.
Philadelphia was able to persevere, 29-17, to move to 8-0 for the first time in franchise history against a talent-deficient 1-6-1 Houston Texans team, but Davis’ absence was notable.
The Eagles understand players like Davis don’t exactly grow on trees and started in four-man fronts from the get-go.
Talented Texans rookie running back Dameon Pierce immediately took advantage, however.
After 60 minutes, Pierce, who Eagles’ edge rusher Haason Reddick compared to New Orleans Saints star Alvin Kamara, piled up 139 yards on 27 carries with a mind-numbing 102 of them coming after contact.
Overall, Houston ran for 168 yards, not a comforting thought when you start to look forward and see Jonathan Taylor and the Colts and the Packers’ 1-2 punch of Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon on the horizon when it’s known Davis will not be available.
The hope is Davis will miss only the four games he has to while on injured reserve with his high-ankle sprain and you can cross one off, albeit without style points when it comes to stopping the run. The next three games are Washington at home, and the aforementioned games at Indy and vs. Green Bay.
Dec. 4 against Tennessee and perhaps the NFL’s most dominant back, Derrick Henry, is the first game Davis would be eligible to return for and the fingers are crossed.
Truth be told when it comes to defense, run support has been the biggest issue even with Davis for the Eagles. Philadelphia came into Houston with the third-ranked defense but the unit was middle of the pack when it comes to stopping the ground game (No. 15).
Much of that is easily explained with common sense.
Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon admits that every defensive play call has weaknesses and some positions are handed “tough duty” depending on the stress of a particular call. By extension, playing defense in the modern NFL means there is always a little give and take.
The Eagles have correctly assessed that the passing game is the more important aspect of things and have filled up their back seven with undersized playmakers.
The results have gone gangbusters thus far with 12 interceptions and six fumble recoveries through eight games, and a gaudy plus-15 turnover ratio in a league where No. 2 is only plus-6.
Players like Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, who leads the NFL with five receptions, James Bradberry, Darius Slay, and White are exceptional when facing obvious passing situations but the downside to that is if you want to strap them up and go downhill as an offense, they are not necessarily equipped to take on big-time backs in this league when they get to the second level.
The Eagles are also a poor tackling team that often tries to strip the football instead of wrapping up and missed 14 against the Texans, one behind the egregious 15 missed-tackle performance in the season opener when Detroit’s D’Andre Swift piled up 144 rushing yards.
The answer to all of that is to keep the back seven as clean as possible and that’s where Davis comes in as a dominant 1½-gap zero- or shade-technique who demands double teams because of his sheer size and athleticism.
The Eagles, of course, have terrific veteran defensive tackles in Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave and a nice young player with upside in Milton Williams. But, they are all best suited for three-technique in four-man fronts and none is equipped to hold up on the nose effectively.
Williams himself joked that “that's not my strong suit,” when talking about Davis’ impact on the Eagles’ “big packages” up front.
Those who are at least more equipped are Marlon Tuipulotu and Marvin Wilson, with the latter given the most opportunities in Houston in Davis’ usual role with the practice squad elevation playing a career-high 19 reps. Tuipuloto played 26, with many as a 4i next to Wilson.
Every single one of the Eagles’ DTs tasked with replacing some of what Davis does graded out as less than 50.0 on the Pro Football Focus grading scale in run defense from Tuipulotu’s 45.5 the best down to Wilson’s 33.9 against the Texans. By comparison, Davis was the seventh-best run-defending interior lineman in the NFL through seven games at 77.7.
“I felt like we need to put our guys in a better position, and when they were in those positions and be able to tackle better,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “It always starts with us as coaches putting the guys in better spots. We need to do that, and it starts with us as coaches.”
Sirianni, though, also admitted the obvious and the goal in run defense without Davis is going to be similar to what went on in Houston – persevere.
He said, “Any time you have a player of Jordan’s caliber and how he is against the run, and you’re without him, of course that makes you not quite as good against the run."
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
