Dallas City News

The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles have one of the more enduring rivalries in the NFL, and they’re set for the next installment this Sunday in Dallas. That’s not the only rivalry going on in this one, though, as the forgotten feud between Mike McCarthy and Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio will once again be renewed.

It began in earnest during the 2021 season, when Fangio’s Broncos came into Dallas and locked down what had been an explosive Cowboys offense, winning 30-16. After the game, Fangio bragged about creating a blueprint for beating them, which McCarthy quickly dismissed. The two coaches go way back, though: Fangio was the Bears defensive coordinator from 2015 to 2018, during which time he went up against McCarthy’s Packers twice a year. That 2021 game was just the one that ignited some spicy comments from the two coaches.

They met again last year when the Cowboys played the Dolphins on Christmas Eve. Fangio was running Miami’s defense and it was the first time McCarthy had called plays against him since his time in Green Bay. Dallas managed to score some points, but Fangio ultimately had the last laugh as the Dolphins won 22-20.

Now, they meet again.

Fangio returned to Philadelphia this offseason after spending the 2022 season as a consultant there. He helped mentor Jonathan Gannon, then the defensive coordinator and now the head coach of the Cardinals, before heading south to swim with dolphins. The Eagles hired Sean Desai, a longtime Fangio disciple, to replace Gannon and keep the foundation of their scheme in tact, but head coach Nick Sirianni demoted him midseason in favor of Matt Patricia. After the season ended, and the Eagles’ defense regressed enough to help the team lose five of their final six games, both Desai and Patricia were let go.

Now, after years of running the Fangio scheme under other coaches, they have the man himself. Fangio’s scheme, which has taken the league by storm in recent years, is fairly straightforward. He makes extensive use of two deep safeties to limit explosive plays and frequently presents light boxes – only the Chargers do this more for the year – to encourage teams to run the ball instead of passing it.

One issue that Fangio’s disciples have encountered when replicating this scheme elsewhere is that the approach can make the defense vulnerable against the run if they don’t have stout defensive linemen. The Eagles learned that lesson the hard way last year, when Desai’s defense gave up the third-most EPA/rush. But Fangio has turned things around this year, and the Eagles are 14th in EPA/rush. They also rank 13th in run defense DVOA. Neither are overly impressive, but it’s a noticeable improvement from last year.

Where Fangio has improved the defense is against the pass. Fangio prefers to use just four pass rushers – Philly ranks 25th in blitz rate – but they’re giving up the fifth-fewest yards per pass attempt. This is despite the Eagles ranking 22nd in pressure rate and 13th in sacks.

This is because Fangio’s defense forces quarterbacks to throw quick, short passes as a method of combatting the coverage schemes he utilizes. Only the Titans defense is seeing a shorter time to throw from opposing quarterbacks and they’ve given up the fifth-fewest completed air yards on the season.

In the secondary, Fangio primarily uses quarters coverage, which drops four defensive backs deep to take away any big plays. Fangio has a wide variety of ways to get into quarters, which is what makes it hard for quarterbacks to dissect things. Helping his case is an influx of youth in the secondary. The Eagles drafted both Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean with their first two picks this year, and Mitchell quickly emerged as their top cornerback. DeJean came along slowly after recovering from an injury, but he’s emerged as the team’s starting slot corner in the last month as well.

All in all, Fangio has the Eagles playing sound defense again. Things aren’t perfect or nearly as elite as they were when this team went to the Super Bowl, but they’re playing well enough to win. And when they take the field Sunday against Cooper Rush, making his first start 2022 (which, coincidentally, was a loss to this team), they’re likely to continue their run of solid play. Surely McCarthy would love nothing more than to outcoach Fangio with a backup quarterback, but the odds of that happening seem quite low right now.