After the universally condemned outing of their defensive secondary last season, the Philadelphia Eagles nearly had nowhere to go but up in that department.
Last season, they permitted 18 of what in-house they called “X-plays,” completed passes of over 40 yards, the most in the NFL, and they were one of only five teams all that year to allow at least 30 touchdowns through the air.
Rightfully, cornerbacking tandem Bradley Fletcher and Cary Williams were shown the door and Walter Thurmond and Byron Maxwell were brought in to make it all better.
Though that plan didn’t look to be in working order last Sunday against the Colts, they more than made up for it on Saturday night in the Eagles’ 40-17 exhibition victory over the Baltimore Ravens.
It couldn’t have gone too much better than it did.
Philadelphia’s two banner defensive acquisitions intercepted Joe Flacco on his first two drives in the opening quarter, leading to two Eagles scoring possessions. Baltimore had been successful on the ground to that point. They should have stayed there.
Thurmond teamed up with safety Nolan Carroll in pursuit of Kamar Aiken in the end zone, Carroll tipping the ill-fated pass for Thurmond, who returned it 31 yards to set up what became Ryan Mathews’ 14 yard touchdown.
“We think so,” defensive coordinator Bill Davis said when asked if Thurmond can be someone to force turnovers this season. “This is the first time that I’ve been around Walt for any length of time. Since day one of OTAs, he’s been forcing the offense to turn the ball over. That was a pretty interception, wasn’t it? One-handed grab.”
The Ravens followed with what was until then a winning combination, end rushes to Justin Forsett. But the Eagles, infused with confidence over their first offensive showing, held Baltimore to five yards on two attempts, forcing Flacco into another throw.
They covered even better the second time.
Byron Maxwell, the Eagles’ $63 million man at the corner, was lurking and made the play on a high pass, darting 31 yards the other way to set up DeMarco Murray’s first touchdown in Philadelphia.
Head coach Chip Kelly said he thought his pass stoppers showed their full potential.
“I think they understand what [their coaches] are trying to get accomplished back there. I think they are lactose intolerant, in terms of they do not bite the cheese in front of them.
“When they have a deep zone, they play the deep zone. A lot of mistakes we made in some of those deep balls last year were we were just biting each either a play action fake or we are biting an underneath route when that’s not our responsibility. I think our guys are playing their responsibility. So right now we are good lactose intolerant secondary.”
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