Daily News | Inside Jonathan Gannon’s Vic Fangio-influenced defensive turnaround with the Eagles
An eastern Pennsylvania native, the veteran NFL coach is a longtime Phillies fan whose voguish defensive scheme has been the template for Eagles coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s system the last two seasons.
If Gannon was a finalist for three head-coaching vacancies last offseason, it seems only likely that he will snag an opening once the Eagles’ season is over. Interested owners may have to wait until after the Super Bowl to hire him, though. The Eagles’ number of explosive plays allowed — plus-16 yards passing and plus-10 running, by their definition — aren’t actually much better than they were a year ago through seven games when they opened 2-5. Through the air, their improvement is minuscule , and on the ground, they’ve done worse .
Fangio’s scheme, especially for the back seven, isn’t for the faint of heart. Gannon has added wrinkles from other systems, but his base quads coverage has manifold built-in adjustments for any alignment or formation a defense may encounter. A high football IQ is imperative. Cornerbacks and safeties must be able to identify route concepts pre- and post-snap and be able to communicate those ideas in an instant if duties are to be passed off. There are also various split coverages, which are often used to cloud coverage toward No. 1 receivers .
Cover 3′s simplicity appealed to some coordinators, but when the Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom” defense had great success with it, others soon followed. Gannon ran up against this problem last season as Mahomes, Tom Brady and eight other quarterbacks completed more than 70% of their attempts vs. the Eagles. No one has eclipsed that bar this season, but there have been more Cooper Rushes than Kyler Murrays under center thus far.
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