Vic Fangio didn’t spend much time pretending Sunday will be simple.
With the Eagles getting set to face Washington and a new offensive coordinator in David Blough, Fangio said the early-week prep comes with more guesswork than usual. On top of that, the edge-rush picture is still in flux as Jonathan Greenard works his way back and the defense figures out how to handle his ramp-up.
Greenard’s return, Fangio said, is still “day-by-day.” The edge rusher has barely practiced, and the Eagles want to be cautious with him. After Greenard’s first practice back on Wednesday, Fangio said he did, “Okay.”
“There’s a minimal amount of practice, real practice, that you have to go through, especially for a guy coming off an injury. It’s like the guy, [Aaron] Donald did with the Rams, he’s just coming off rustiness, no injury, and wasn’t ready this week. So, we’ll see.”
For now, Fangio said it will take some time before Greenard is ready for a full workload, which means the Eagles will lean on a rotation of rushers. He also said he feels good about using OLB Arnold Ebiketie and OLB A.J. Epenesa in coverage, pointing to the improvement both players made during camp.
The uncertainty doesn’t stop with the pass rush. Fangio said preparing for a new offensive coordinator is different because there’s no real history to lean on.
“It’s a little different than normal. You really don’t know a whole lot about the offense either way, what it might [or] might not be, you make the assumption, right or wrong.
They’ll still do some of the stuff that [Jayden] Daniels was good at and comfortable with, they’ll do some stuff the new guy wants to do. So, it’s a little bit of a crapshoot.”
He added that early in the season, the Eagles may need to rotate players more often up front, but that’s more about how the game unfolds than any fixed snap count. If the defense is forced to spend 8-10 plays on the field and then the offense goes three-and-out, that adds stress and pushes the rotation.
At safety, Fangio confirmed Marcus Epps will start against Washington. He also made it clear Michael Carter III still has a real role.
“[Epps] was just solid the whole way through, but we still like Michael [Carter III], and we have the ability to play him there some, too.”
He went on to stress Carter’s flexibility.
“Michael’s very versatile, can play nickel, can play dime, can play safety, and we plan on using him.”
Fangio also addressed the Eagles’ usage of light boxes, saying it reflects well on the front.
“That’s a credit to the front guys because if that is true, we’re holding up good enough to be able to do that. There’s been times in certain games where it’s hurt us some.
There’s pluses and minuses to everything you do. The minus is you’re stressing your run defense a little bit, so we have to be able to play to run when we’re not having a safety down that linebacker depth in the box.”
Among the other topics Fangio touched on, he said he expects Moro Ojomo to have a year similar to last season and hopes the defensive tackle takes another step forward. He described Ojomo as already being a good player for the Eagles over the past two years and said he doesn’t feel the lineman needs to prove anything.
Fangio also said Jihaad Campbell is coming along in his second season, while noting he is still not a finished product. Injuries have limited Campbell over the past two seasons, but Fangio said he keeps working.
Asked about Riq Woolen’s push to become more consistent from snap to snap, Fangio said he likes the cornerback and appreciates his attitude and work ethic.
He also discussed handling mobile quarterbacks last season and took a swipe at ProFootball Focus, suggesting they have some “phony stat” to look up about it. Fangio then said it’s a tough thing to evaluate because a defense might do a good job overall, but the few plays it gives up can be the ones that stick out the most.
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