Vic Fangio wasn’t interested in turning the Eagles’ ugly Monday night into a question of effort.
After Philadelphia’s worst defensive outing of the season against the Cowboys, the coordinator met with reporters and spent much of the session addressing what went wrong against the run, what he wants to see from the pass rush, and how he views the performances of Jalen Carter and Cooper DeJean. His message on the overall collapse was blunt: the coaching staff has to do better, and the players’ hustle wasn’t the issue.
“I didn’t do a good enough job coaching. We didn’t play the run, obviously, well enough.
When you do that, it kind of affects everything. I didn’t have them ready to do that the way we need to.”
Fangio said plenty of things were broken in that game, but when asked whether effort was part of the problem, he answered with a fast, “No,” and explained that coaches understand the difference between players giving full effort and players not doing their jobs at the level they’re capable of.
He also pointed the conversation toward Jalen Carter, saying the defensive tackle’s mindset will determine whether he can stack strong performances more consistently. Fangio said Carter has enough pride to correct what went wrong and learn from the bad reps.
“I think he sees the plays where he didn’t play good enough and he’s got enough pride to fix it.”
Fangio believes Carter can deliver the kind of showing he had against the Jaguars on a weekly basis, but only if the mindset stays right.
The pass rush, meanwhile, has been hampered by injuries on the edge. Fangio said the Eagles’ EDGE group has been impacted, and he specifically mentioned Jonathan [Greenard] and Jalyx [Hunt] as players who were not 100 percent.
“Obviously, our EDGE position was affected through the injuries that we’ve had. Guys that were playing, namely Jonathan [Greenard] and Jalyx [Hunt] weren’t 100%. Those guys did a good job pass blocking.”
He added that the hope is Greenard can handle a larger workload this week. Fangio said the outside linebacker has made some progress with the injury, and the team wants to see that continue.
Cooper DeJean’s rough patches did not draw concern from Fangio, either. The coordinator said he trusts the young defensive back completely and sees this as part of the normal learning curve.
“Cooper’s a good player. Trust him totally.
Has he gotten beat some? Yeah, he has, but that’s going to happen to all those guys at some point.
It’ll turn and he’ll get his.”
Fangio said DeJean is mature enough to handle the emotions that come with a stretch like this and bounce back after a bad play. He also downplayed the idea that DeJean’s workload is becoming too much, noting that he played corner and nickel last year and is now working at safety and nickel, which Fangio said is pretty similar to what he has done before.
There was also some leniency for Riq Woolen, whom Fangio said was in a difficult situation on one of Monday night’s plays. Still, he did not connect that play to any lack of effort.
On Jordan Davis, Fangio credited the Cowboys’ interior offensive line for doing a strong job up front, which he said contributed to Davis’ quiet night.
He also said Jihaad Campbell was banged up during the game, and that will factor into how the snaps are divided between him and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. as the week unfolds.
Fangio said Wednesday was the first time the Eagles had seen the players since the loss two days earlier, and he added that the response from the locker room has been good.
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