Eagles great Donovan McNabb joined 94WIP's Jon Marks and Ike Reese this afternoon after the 49ers' 42-19 beatdown of the Eagles and continued to express his concern about the state of the Eagles defense.
"I've been concerned all year [about the defense], I've been concerned all year," McNabb said. "If we're not able to get our pass rush going to get to the quarterback, now it becomes 7-on-7. And when it becomes 7-on-7, we're going to have issues. And that's exactly what happened yesterday."
What happened, specifically, is San Francisco running off six straight touchdown drives of 85 yards, 75 yards, 77 yards, 75 yards and 48 yards respectively. The 49ers had -6 yards at the end of the first quarter, then finished the contest with 456 total yards, 310 of which through the air.
To make matters worse, a large chunk of those air yards came after the catch. The Inquirer's Jeff McLane put the struggles into perspective:
Today's headline after the deflating loss was the team signing former All-Pro linebacker Shaq Leonard to help the desperate need at linebacker. But McNabb is signaling toward a larger issue with the unit, that when Hassan Reddick, Josh Sweat and the pass rush gets neutralized, there doesn't seem to be enough talent on the back end to hold up.
Yes, injuries are holding Avonte Maddox, Zach Cunningham and Nakobe Dean out of action. But still, the unit has two aging cornerbacks in Darius Slay and James Bradberry, another aging veteran in Kevin Byard, a young safety in Reed Blankenship and two linebackers who were cut entering the season.
94WIP midday host Joe Giglio shared his thoughts on the matter during the game last night. He doesn't think it is a championship-caliber defense.
For context, the team's 2022 defense under coordinator Jonathan Gannon still had linebackers T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White and safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson. That unit ranked No. 8 in the NFL in yards per play with 4.8.
The 2023 defense under coordinator Sean Desai ranks No. 24 with 5.4. Yes, the 2023 schedule has been much tougher. But the Eagles' struggles on defense have been evident for weeks, and now cost the team in a massive game.
Up next is a gigantic matchup with MVP candidate Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys. It's possible the NFC East comes down to the result of Sunday's game.