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**RoyWilliams** · 08-16-2007, 12:37 PM

Don't get down on Eagles' defense yet | Daily News | 08/16/2007

Quote:

Maybe it isn't quite fair to write off the 2007 Eagles' defense on the basis of the Baltimore Ravens' first drive in Monday's 29-3 preseason loss.

Just in case you were thinking of doing that.

Defensive coordinator Jim Johnson and several of his starters said yesterday that when they looked at the film, mental mistakes were to blame for the Ravens going 93 yards in 12 plays, including the three third-and-6-or-more conversions that especially brought back a bad taste of last season to Eagles fans.

"It's horrible. There's no excuse for mental mistakes," said cornerback Sheldon Brown. "The effort was there, it's just that you can't be pleased with mental mistakes. I'd be very shocked if the problems aren't corrected in tomorrow's home preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers."

"The good thing is, there weren't that many physical mistakes," said new starting strongside linebacker Chris Gocong. "It's things that we can correct."

The Ravens averaged 5.1 yards per rush, but obviously, most of that was backups playing backups. Middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter noted that the top defensive unit gave up only one run of consequence, a 16-yarder to Willis McGahee, who otherwise picked up 4 yards on three first-drive carries.

Johnson said the first drive obviously was "disappointing, because that's one of the things we wanted to see, was how these guys were going to come out of the box."

Johnson said mental mistakes figured into six snaps of the 12-play drive. "The next three drives, they were three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out, we didn't have one mental mistake. It tells me we weren't quite mentally ready."

Johnson said he was happy with several key performers. He said 2006 first-round draft choice Brodrick Bunkley, now a starting defensive tackle despite meager production as a rookie, "was probably our most productive lineman . . . Bunkley was what we were hoping he was going to be."

He said he was "happy with what I saw" of Gocong, who missed his rookie season with a neck injury. Johnson said he got Gocong out of the game sooner than he'd originally thought he might, because he plans to play him a lot against the Panthers.

"I saw a guy who felt like he belonged," Johnson said of Gocong.

Johnson acknowledged he was surprised by the strong performance of sixth-round rookie corner Rashad Barksdale, who frequently got an earful from Johnson at Lehigh. Barksdale played college baseball until walking on to Albany's football team last fall. He looked like a long-term project who might be bound for the practice squad. That still might happen, but Barksdale did not seem lost against the Ravens.

Johnson said that Barksdale and undrafted rookie corner Nick Graham, from Tulsa (whose decent performance was less of a surprise; Graham has had a strong camp), "showed that they can play corner."

"They ran with those guys, tackled, and were very physical," Johnson said. "I have kind of been on [Barksdale] all camp. He stepped up and he played. That was probably the biggest surprise."

Barksdale said dealing with Johnson's criticism was difficult.

"I took it to heart," he said. "It put me down, thinking about the things he said. But I think about it as I'm thinking about the things I'm doing wrong and getting on me because he wants me to stride forward and become a better football player. So with him getting on me and stuff, it definitely made me a lot stronger. You don't want Jim Johnson yelling at you - he's a scary guy, but he's a great coach."

Barksdale said Johnson sought improvement from him in "my press technique, my responsibilities, playing with vision - the little things you need to be able to do.

"Sheldon [Brown], Lito [Sheppard] and Will [James], they've already been in the league for a while, they already know what can happen before the play even starts. Myself, being a rookie, I get out there and think too much."

Barksdale said he tended to do less of that in the Ravens game.

"You can't think that much in a game; there's not time to think," he said. "You have to move on to the next play."

**ball in the baskett** · 08-16-2007, 02:08 PM

alot of starters were out so it doesent mean anything on the 93 year drive william james was getting burned every time they threw his way if litto played that wouldent happen and dawkins not playing made a big diffrence our defense has the potential to be top 10 this season

**smeagle** · 08-27-2007, 12:51 PM

so what should we think now after that 1/2 half performance ?

AF4 · 08-27-2007, 08:51 PM

I'm not worried about the defense just yet. Considine can't be much worse than Michael Lewis was and I'm confident he'll get it together. It's only preseason, week 4 of the regular season, I'll make my judgement, because they still need some time to gel as a unit. There are a lot of guys in positions this year.

**Professor** · 08-28-2007, 12:35 AM

they acutally showed a lot of hustle and being the last preseason game where the starters will see significant time, I think they really wanted to hit somebody, JJ never shows his cards in preseason and does pretty basic stuff, even in his blitzes. we got caught over pursuing a bunch but that can be fixed. We have a lot of speed more than last year and the Dline play has me feeling better than going into last season that is for sure.

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