All the talk leading up to the start of the new NFL season has been about the “dream team” the Philadelphia Eagles have put together. While Howie Roseman did go out there and make the moves to put together, on paper, one of the best looking teams in the entire NFL. With the additions of CB’s Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie via trades and free agency it seems very likely that teams will have a very hard time passing against the Eagles secondary this year something that was a big problem last year. However, there still is one side of this unit that could turn this “dream team” into a nightmare season, the run defense. Last year the Eagles averaged giving up 4.2 yards per carry, 110.4 yards per game on the ground, including a staggering 6 games of 130 rushing yards or more, numbers that left the Eagles run defense in the bottom half of the NFL last year. Too add insult to injury, the Eagles also lost 4 out of their top 5 tacklers from last year in the offseason. Moise Foku and Jamar Chaney two guys who played about half of the year last year due to the starters being injured or playing poorly will get their crack at starting for the first time in their careers. Neither of these players came highly touted out of college but they have shown some glimpses of potential in their playing time last season. Filling in for Quentin Mikell at safety will be Kurt Coleman, a seventh round pick in the 2010 draft out of Ohio State. Kurt doesn’t have too much playing time under his belt, we know Kurt is a hard hitter but can he be smart enough to be in position to make the hit. Dimitri Patterson had the fifth most amount of tackles for the birds last year with 50 but his replacement, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, was one of the worst tacklers in the NFL last year, yes even worse than Asante Samuel. The biggest move in the defense, however, has to be the loss of Stewart Bradley in the middle in favor of rookie fourth round pick Casey Matthews. Casey comes to the Eagles from the University of Oregon where he led the Ducks defense all the way to a tough loss in the BCS National Championship Game. Matthews has the bloodline and the physicality for him to be a top linebacker in this league, but as we saw in the Steelers game he still has a lot of work to do and will be forced to learn on the fly this season. Defensive Tackles Trevor Laws and Mike Patterson, both run stoppers, have had their share of injuries in the pre-season although they look able to play in week one. The Eagles heightened ability to stop the pass is very critical, especially in today’s NFL, but if they can’t stop the run all of that work could be all for not.
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