There’s a synergy that’s involved with pass defense – when it works well, it jumps off the tape.
If a quarterback feels pressure, he’s more likely to make an errant pass or a bad decision – against the Giants, when the Panthers only managed one sack, New York was able to counteract this hypothetical pressure by getting the ball out of Eli Manning’s hands on 21 of their 38 pass attempts in less than two seconds; but if a defense can take away that quick pass, the quarterback must go through his progressions, which leads to more time in the pocket, which leads to pressure, which hopefully leads to sacks.
Taking away that first look was one of the focuses against the Washington Redskins, and while they gave up two passing touchdowns, their focus did work – for the most part.
“In terms of the overall picture and the passing game, I was pretty pleased with how we rushed the quarterback and how we controlled and even negated some of the passing concepts that we got from their offense as a whole,” said defensive coordinator Eric Washington about a defense that only allowed four yards per pass and 156 overall a week removed from the Giants hanging 382 yards on them. “When that quarterback looks out there and where he wants to go with his first look and he can’t go there, that’s a benefit and a bonus for us [and] the rushers have got to be on the scene – we’ve got to make quarterbacks “one-look” players.”
One of the first looks for Carson Wentz on Sunday will be tight end Zach Ertz, who has had five or more receptions in every game this season and has caught a touchdown in two straight games, including last Thursday against the Giants.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson called Ertz a ‘security blanket’ for Wentz, who is working his way back from a knee injury that cost him the final three games of the 2017 season and the Eagles’ Super Bowl run, a season in which he was one of the favorites to win MVP before going down in Week 14 – the Panthers allowed a combination of Vernon Davis and Jordan Reed to beat them from the tight end position last week in Washington; the pair combined for eight receptions, 82 yards and a score on 12 targets.
In their five games thus far, the Panthers have allowed 28 receptions on 38 targets (74%) for 297 yards and three scores to tight ends – only three teams in the NFL have allowed more touchdowns to the position – and the Eagles plan to use Ertz to his full potential, but the Panthers have a plan.
“You’ve just got to give him different looks – you’ve got to give him press, you’ve got to give him off [and] a bunch of different things, and you’ve got to find out within your technique what is working the best for you,” said rookie safety Rashaan Gaulden. “He’s a very good tight end; all over their passing game, he’s finding soft spots in their zone – I saw him beat a DB on a corner route in the end zone, so he’s a very sharp player.”
It will likely be up to either a safety or a linebacker – or a hybrid like Shaq Thompson – to try and slow down Ertz as the Eagles essentially try to get the 6-5, 250 pounder matched up with either a linebacker or a safety by utilizing motion or personnel to dictate matchups.
“When we play man coverage, the person assigned to any particular receiver, whether it’s a slot receiver or a tight end, he’s got to control that receiver in order for the rush to affect the quarterback,” said Washington. “Our coverage concepts are designed to address passing concepts – when we do a great job with that, we feel like we can limit whomever and when we’re a little bit off with that and the quarterback has time, in this league, he can find an open receiver.”
Wentz is one of the best quarterbacks in the league at buying time – the media called him an escape artist after his miraculous avoidance of a sack against the Redskins last season on Monday Night Football – and the Panthers defensive line will need to play both disciplined and effectively to get Wentz off of his spot and keep him away from his security blanket – however the Panthers plan to contain Ertz, they’ll need to do better than they did last season, when the tight end had only two receptions and 18 yards, but both of them went for scores.
“Zach has to be on his game Sunday,” said Pederson.
The Panthers had better be, too.
Clips via NFL Game Pass.
