The Philadelphia Eagles have surprised fans and NFL pundits this season, not with their stellar record but with the way they win games.
Everyone knew the Eagles would be able to run the ball with Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts, but the Eagles defense became arguably the best unit in the league and led them to a divisional round matchup against the Los Angeles Rams .
One of the biggest reasons for their resurgence on that side of the ball under new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has been the emergence of linebacker Zack Baun. Baun wasn’t even a full-time linebacker before this season, but he has become one of the best in the league at his position.
Ahead of the massive playoff clash, cornerback Darius Slay raved about Baun’s performance this season and said he thought Baun won Defensive Player of the Year.
“I don’t want to criticize anyone because those guys are amazing as well, but if Roquan Smith had the same stats as Zack Baun, there would be no doubt who is the Defensive Player of the Year,” Slay said. “If Bobby Wagner had those kinds of stats, there’s no doubt he would be Defensive Player of the Year. Just the fact that it’s Zack Baun, a guy that moved from somewhere, I just think they’re not giving him the green light to be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. If Fred Warner had those stats, you wouldn’t tell me Fred Warner wouldn’t be Defensive Player of the Year.
Eagles defense leads them to divisional round
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The Eagles defense put on a show Sunday in a 22-10 drubbing of the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round. Although the Eagles couldn’t get anything going in the passing game on Sunday, their defense forced four turnovers to put their offense in a number of advantageous situations to earn the victory.
Zack Baun and company have become a stifling unit that poses a difficult task for all opponents, regardless of the quality of the opposing offense. The Eagles defensive line can attack the passer from both the interior and the edge, they found two very good rookie defensive backs in Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell, and Baun ties it all together as one of the best middle linebackers in the league.
Moving forward in the playoffs, this Eagles defense will have a lot to do against a handful of good offenses. The NFL’s three remaining offenses outside of the Eagles, Rams, Commanders and Lions, are three of the best offenses in the NFL, and a potential Super Bowl game would come against one of the best quarterbacks in the world .
Despite that, this Eagles team showed they could handle whatever was thrown at them on the defensive side of the ball.
