As the coaches and players dispersed at the Novacare Complex at the end of their regular Tuesday meeting, Philadelphia Eagles safety Kevin Byrd approached Sean Desai personally and laid out the defensive coordinator’s new plan.
“Hey, let’s do the scouting report this week,” Byrd said.
By “we,” Bayard means the defensive backs. By “scouting report,” he means a position-by-position breakdown of their upcoming rival, the Seattle Seahawks.
It’s a task the Eagles’ coaching staff typically handles. From Nick Siriani to Desai to the most obscure assistant, the staff spends the first few weeks of the season building comprehensive game plans that begin to be implemented within the first few days of practice.
The scouting report is just a percentage of what rookie linebacker Nolan Smith described as “workdays worth.” Some days are dedicated to one or two levels. Round of meetings on first and second-down situations, followed by practice. A meeting round in third-down situations, followed by practice. A round of red zone meetings, then practice. And, at every meeting, coaches are giving players “dissertations on everything,” Smith says.
Notes. Trends. Expectations.
“We do a really good job of detailing everything,” Smith said. “To the outside world, it may not seem like it.”
That last observation sparked Byrd’s thought. The Eagles wreaked havoc on defense, and Desai, the team’s first-year coordinator, suffered the brunt of the offense. Still, after the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys scored on 10 straight possessions (giving up a game-ending touchdown) and Philadelphia’s 30th-ranked third-down defense dropped to the NFL’s worst, Sirianni said he’s not changing anyone’s play-calling practices. – and he was sure that his employees would find a solution.
“I feel good with the people we have in this building,” Siriani said. “We’re 10-3. We are in control of our own destiny, and we continue to roll with the people we have and find answers.
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Siriani made a slight change this week. The Eagles now play the Seahawks in the NFL’s first-ever “Monday Night Football” tilt, giving them an extra day in their schedule. So Siriani opted to hold a full practice Thursday because he felt the Eagles needed to “work on our fundamentals.” A bad tackle cost the 49ers a blowout at home, and the Eagles lost three against the Cowboys.
But Bayard and a handful of veteran defensive backs believed the players, at least in the secondary, should take more responsibility. There were too many breakdowns in coverage, and too many players were beaten in critical situations. In the last three games against the Buffalo Bills, 49ers and Cowboys, Josh Allen, Brock Purdy and Dak Prescott have achieved a perfect passer rating (158.3) in third-and-intermediate situations (4-7 yards) while completing 12 of 13 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns.
Desai and his crew are not lacking in creativity. They set up the secondary in three different ways. They put cornerback Darius Slay on the opponent’s No. 1 receiver. Bradley Robin used Bradley Robin in short thirds and long situations. They started rookie Kelly Ringo at outside corner in dime packages.
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However, the leaks continued. Desai told reporters on Tuesday that checking for upgrades “always starts with a play call,” noting how he added, “at least for me.” By convincing Desai to let the defensive backs handle his scouting report, Bayard confirmed that he is doing his part to find a solution, including a young secondary that includes three starters.
“There is ownership in all of this,” Byrd said. The athletics. “We all take ownership. When the coaches do interviews (with the media), it’s one of those things where they say, ‘Hey, I’ve got to do better.’ . We’re in the solution business. It’s not a complaint business. We don’t complain here. We all stick together. We fix it together. We play better,” he said.
Desai agreed to the arrangement. Bayard relayed the message to the rest of the defenders, and they parted ways to scout.
“He picked every type of player,” Bayard said.
Bayard took quarterback Geno Smith. Safety Reed Badonship took over Seattle’s tight ends. Other defensive backs The athletics Talked this week — veteran cornerback James Bradberry, rookie corners Ricks and Ringo, and rookie safety Sidney Brown — took some wide receivers and running backs. Slay was absent from practices and the locker room while listed with a knee injury.
Wednesday (a rest day for the players this week) was spent diving into their film studies. Byrd observed Geno Smith’s tendencies. (“I’m not going to give you everything,” he said.) Bradbury watched the receiver’s past three games and took detailed notes. Was it lined up in the receiver? out of? Where did the targets come from? What are the broad technical strengths and weaknesses of the activities? Blankenship said he’s been huddled at home, cranking out some music and typing pages of notes on an iPad. Ricks compiled a breakdown of the players’ 40-yard dash times, size and weight, as well as the lines they liked and disliked running.
The defensive backs arrived Thursday and presented their findings during their team meeting, which included second-ranked conference defensive backs coach DK McDonald, assistant defensive backs coach Taver Johnson and nickel coach Ronell Williams. He said the coaches “obviously gave their own scouting reports” during team meetings, but “gave us the level” after breaking into their team session at a different location.
“Boys had a really good thing,” Bayard said. “You can tell the guys have watched a lot of film, they’ve studied these guys. I hope it helps us to be able to play sooner. But I also understand how these guys want to play. This is what this league is all about. It’s a league of players, and you have to know the people you’re up against.
“It was good to hear from other guys, guys like Sidney and Kelly, to see what they got from watching film based on the players they saw,” Bradberry added. “They had a breakdown. … It was good to hear them talk, because they don’t talk much.”
Ringo, who recorded a team-high 22 defensive snaps against the Cowboys, said he took the depth the Patriots dig into their approach.
“Little things like downs and spacing, what kind of guys you’re going up against, separation, things like that,” said Ringo, a fourth-round pick. “Some lines that can go in certain spots all over the line. The more you get that, just like guarding someone, it makes it easier to cover.
These are habits that Bayard and Bradbury had already developed. Byrd, whom the Eagles acquired from the Tennessee Titans in an Oct. 23 trade, has developed an eight-season streak that has earned him two first-team All-Pro selections. “He wasn’t watching film the first two years,” said Bradbury, a 2016 second-round pick of the Panthers. But finally seven-time All-Pro linebacker Luke Kuechly got down to business during his time in Carolina and began to understand the bigger picture when he was on the field.
When Bradbury signed with the New York Giants after his rookie contract expired, then-cornerbacks head coach Joe Judge required players to submit their own scouting reports. You will be assigned a specific player, conduct research, develop a report, and then present at team meetings at the facility. Bradbury He earned a Pro Bowl selection in 2020 and in 2021, his four interceptions against the Giants are tied for 12th in the NFL.
Judge Bradbury enforced what he believed the players should have done themselves.
“You really get a lot of information here, once you get your information here you feel like you’ve got everything you need,” Bradbury said. But just apply the information you get and apply it while watching a movie. ‘Oh, that’s a tendency.’ or ‘Oh, he does.’ You have to visualize it.
Those are the tidbits that add important perspective to game plan meetings, Byrd says. Bradberry, Blankenship, Ricks and Brown all expressed their firm belief that the NFL is a “player’s league” and love the “back-and-forth” relationships their players build with their coaches. Brown said he’s learning how players can provide key information that makes the plan the best it can be. But they need to seek that information and speak up when they find it.
“It really instills confidence in everyone, doesn’t it?” said the third-round pick, who started three games and played 25.8 percent of the snaps. Because if someone isn’t doing their job, everyone in the room knows it. I think it’s harder in the film room than on the field. They will only continue to the next game on the field. When you’re in the movie room, s—, you’re on the spot until you know it.”
Such meetings are sometimes at the risk of being violent, especially during the loss. The Eagles’ defensive backs agreed, Brown said, “We have to approach it differently.”
“I felt like it brought us closer together to be able to hear everybody’s voice,” said Blenship, who is in his first year as a full-time starter after signing with the Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2022. As good as it is for young people, he probably hasn’t seen a lot of movies. Hold everyone accountable. That’s the great part. That is the leadership role. In times of crisis, they want to hear everyone’s voice so they can be confident in what they see and do.
There is a sense of optimism among the defensive backs that they will be more than ready for the Seahawks, who enter the weekend with the NFL’s 15th-ranked passing offense (232.9 yards per game). Several said they will continue to do player-by-player scouting reports for the rest of the season.
“We’re trying to find a lot of ways to prepare better, to prepare harder — especially as we go on the road,” Byrd said. “It’s very important. So that’s all I’m concerned about is our preparation, our process, just how we go about things. So just trying to do more. Obviously I’ve been here for a while. I’m just trying to do as much as we can as players, just to make sure we’re ready there. We hope it will be evident in the games.
(Top photo of Reid Blankenship and Kevin Byrd: Mitchell Leaf/Getty Images)