Adrian Fedkiw
The $103 million dollar man Fletcher Cox’s production continues to be minuscule.
He only had a half of a tackle Monday night during the Philadelphia Eagles’ 27-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers and many are wondering why he hasn’t recorded a sack since Week 5 after putting up four over his first four games.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson commented on the matter during his press conference on Monday afternoon.
“Well, I think he draws a lot of attention. He draws a lot of double teams. He gets a lot of hands on him. He still is very — at times is very disruptive and can be a force inside. It’s just, mentally he’s good, physically he’s good. It’s just a matter of just the sheer determination and wanting to get the job done. He’s still a very capable defensive lineman for us. We do expect, and I do expect, a lot from guys like Fletcher. And he does, as well,” he said.
This is certainly true, but Cox’s teammates haven’t benefitted from the double teams either. The Eagles posted 20 sacks in their first six games and just six over their past five.
“What we’re seeing in games is obviously teams know we have a good defensive line. We have a good pass rush. They are keeping tight ends and backs in. Some teams are using two tight ends in protection. Seven-man protection, six-man protection. They are chipping our defensive ends which secure your ‘A’ and ‘B’ gaps. And then your pass rush lanes become a little tighter. It’s just something that we keep working games, you keep working pick stunts, you keep working all the things that you do to try to free up these guys, whether it be linebackers and tackles, tackles and ends, ends and tackles, and just keep working at it. We do the same thing a lot with backs and tight ends, trying to add an extra element of protection, knowing that a team has a good defensive line. This is what we’re seeing. This is why good defensive lines in the NFL get this type of attention. I can remember the days when we were constantly going against the Giants with [former Giants DE Michael Strahan and those guys. We kept constantly keeping tight ends and backs and more protection elements in the game plan to nullify the pass rush. So we got to keep working. It’s tough. They know it. We just keep working on a daily basis,” Pederson said.
The Eagles’ front seven didn’t pick up one sack against Aaron Rodgers on Monday and when they struggle getting after the quarterback, the secondary gets exposed. Rodgers threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns and Green Bay converted 10-of-14 attempts on third down.
It wasn’t pretty.