By Patrick Del Gaone, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Is the Eagles’ defense elite?
Following a scintillating performance in which the group held Atlanta's top-ranked offense to less than half of their average points per game, head coach Doug Pederson believes so.
At Wednesday morning’s press conference, the Andy Reid disciple digressed admirably when asked if his unit should be discussed among the best in the league.
“I think so, if you look at the numbers,” Pederson said. “Defensively, it’s one of the top defenses in the National Football League. [We're] not giving up many points, yeah, we should be mentioned [among the elites]. Sometimes, you get overshadowed a lot by how your offense is performing, but that by no means has overshadowed anything that our defense has done.”
Constant pressure from Philly’s front-four flustered MVP candidate Matt Ryan throughout the afternoon at "The Linc", causing Kyle Shanahan’s prolific playmakers to gain just 11 first downs, Atlanta’s lowest total since 2007.
Heading into Qwest Field, Philadelphia’s defensive front must sustain similar pressure against Russell Wilson, yet another brilliant signal-caller. The first-year head coach spoke of his time working out the two-sport phenom prior to the 2012 draft.
“I came away saying, ‘This guy’s a special kid’,” Pederson said. “He’s got it, he’s a pros-pro. He knows how to practice, he knows how to lead. The things that you see on the field, are also the things that you see off the field. He’s a man of his word, [he has] integrity. I came away thinking that if we didn’t have an opportunity to take him, someone’s gonna get a special player.”
Losers of four-in-a-row away from home, the Eagles face undoubtedly their toughest road test of the season this weekend against Wilson and the Seahawks.
Seattle is flying high after their most impressive win of the year, defeating Bill Belichick’s Patriots 31-24 in Foxboro on Sunday night.
Today, Pederson was elaborate when asked about how he game plans for a particularly stingy defense.
“We do a three-game breakdown,” Pederson said. “I start with coverage, and just wanna see… Is it one-high [safety]? Two-high [safeties]? Then within that, is it man [or] zone? Then knowing that, taking who we consider playmakers on offense, and going, ‘how can we get this guy in this position or that position,’ and come up with a game plan that way. See what carries over from the plan against Atlanta that we didn’t use in that game. I think that’s important, to have carry over. Then, you look at their blitz packages, third-downs become critical. Later in the week, you’ll spend some time with the redzone. This unit is fast, obviously they feed off of their crowd at home. They want you in third-and-long, and that’s how they get most of their hits on the quarterback.”
A few weeks in the doghouse sparked Philadelphia running back Ryan Mathews last weekend, who dashed his way to the second 100-yard, two-touchdown game of his career. The former Utah Ute became the 5th Eagle since 1950 to record 7+ rushing touchdowns in the first nine games of the season.
While Atlanta’s numbers defensively are impressive on the surface, much of their success came from the fact that opposing offenses are forced to go pass-heavy in order to keep up with Shanahan’s high-octane offense.
Entering Qwest Field, Pederson understands the magnitude of facing an imposing defense like Pete Carroll’s.
“This group stunts and games,” Pederson said. “They’re fast-flow, their linebackers are downhill. It’s still an eight-man box. [Kam Chancellor] is down around the box a lot. He’s an extremely big, physical player. They try to take your run game away from you, and they’ve been successful doing that. That’s why they get you into those longer-yard situations where you might have to throw the ball, then they get that pass rush after you. A little more man-coverage than we saw this past week.”
You can watch the full press conference from Pederson below.
