The star of that defense is new coordinator Jim Schwartz. The Eagles haven’t employed a defensive coordinator with a plan like Schwartz since the late great Jim Johnson was barking out commands during the heyday of Andy Reid.

By BRIAN BALDINGER

Exactly two preseason games have been played thus far by the 2016 Philadelphia Eagles. The star of those two meaningless exhibition games has been the defense. The stat line says so…BOLDLY! 1 TD has been surrendered while they have scored 1 TD themselves. Accumulating 5 sacks 2 forced fumbles and intercepting 6 passes. All with little or no blitzing.

The star of that defense is new coordinator Jim Schwartz. The Eagles haven’t employed a defensive coordinator with a plan like Schwartz since the late great Jim Johnson was barking out commands during the heyday of Andy Reid.

Who is this guy Eagle fans may be wondering. Jim has a healthy resume’ and has learned from some very talented teachers. That is where we begin; teaching.

Coaches are teachers, or at least are supposed to be. Schwartzy grew up outside of Baltimore, a life-long fan of the Orioles and of the team with the original horseshoe. But he is also extremely intelligent. So when Georgetown University came calling to invite a young Jim Schwartz to come play at a small level of college football the education was too hard to refuse. He would go on to earn Academic-All American, and become a team captain; but more impressively, he graduated number 3 in his class at Georgetown. That type of intelligence is reserved for running hedge funds on Wall Street, or operating rooms at John’s Hopkins. Rarely are they used to put on the gym shorts and coach American Football
.
But Schwartzy had the coaching bug so upon graduation he would bounce around the country and make 4 stops in 4 years at 4 different colleges to earn a healthy post graduate degree in the gridiron sport.

His doctorate would be earned in his next stop with the Cleveland Browns as a young guy named Bill Belichick was named the new head coach and he was looking for a sharp young mind to add to his impressive roster of young coaches.

I have talked to a lot of men who served on Belichick’s regime in Cleveland at that time and most would tell you that his best hire was Jim Schwartz. But when Art Model pulled up his stakes in 1995 and announced that he was moving his iconic franchise to Baltimore the rat pack in Cleveland dispersed in many directions.

Schwartz would follow his path back to his hometown city and earn a spot on Ted Marchibroda’s staff. No real positions were available so Jim got himself a room at the local Howard Johnson’s for $25 per night and doing anything that Marchibroda needed from getting coffee to airport pickups to early analytic projects that were 20 years ahead of his time.

Eventually after three years in Baltimore, the Ravens would hire the new hot coordinator in Brian Billick, and so Schwartz’s time was up.

But new beginnings would come his way as Jeff Fischer had room for a young bright mind in Nashville as the Titans would build quickly into a powerhouse lead by Steve McNair, Eddie George and a crazy physical defense.
Schwartz would eventually work his way up to the defensive coordinator in Nashville. When the defense climbed to number two in the NFL, led by a suffocating front-four, the Lions came calling to end the Matt Millen Era. A four-year run in Motown, highlighted by a playoff run, would also come to an end.

The Eagles are fortunate they got Jim. Had Doug Marrone been hired as a head coach this past off season, Jim would have tag-teamed with him wherever he would have landed. The Eagles are getting is a great teacher. Some guys can implement a great scheme. Some are master motivators. Some are “yes men” for their head coach who promise not to stab the big guy with a knife trying to become a head coach themselves.

Schwartz is different. He knows exactly how his defense is supposed to operate. Where the weaknesses are. Where the strengths of the opponents lie. How to breakdown the protections. But most importantly can coach…I mean TEACH, the precise techniques needed to play each position. This is where Jim is very much like his old mentor Belichick.

He also can take that which is complex and make it simple. One day while Jim was in Detroit he told me the essence of his defense. He said, “the goal of the defensive line is to go and break a bunch of S**T, and the linebackers job is to go and clean the S**T up.” Fairly vivid and simple and fun.

To help him he has had the power to go and bring a few of his former students in to help him implement his plan. Leodis McKelvin, Ron Brooks and Nigel Bradham all played for him in Buffalo when the Bill’s lead the NFL in sacks and the Bills posted their first winning season in a decade. More recently he added Stephen Tulloch who helped spearhead some good defenses in both Tennessee and Detroit for him. The inside linebackers are very key to this defense since they don’t get much protection for the defensive line. They have to sort through “the soup” to clean up the mess and that means they aren’t allowed to be blocked. This is where Tulloch is a master. While only 5′!!” and when crouched in his pre-snap stance he can appear smaller but he is crafty at finding the ball carrier and then taking short-cuts to making the tackle.

While that is the foundation to Schwatzy’s defense he also knows exactly how it is supposed top operate. And like Jim Johnson, no one is immune to sharp criticism when things aren’t going correctly. It could be the 2nd quarter this weekend in Indy or it could be a Saturday morning walk through. When techniques are incorrect or assignments aren’t executed the Georgetown scholar sounds more like the Army drill sergeant.

Jim Schwartz isn’t a miracle worker. But he is talented and will work tirelessly to maximize the potential of each player. Ultimately he will get his unit to play hard and to play smart. To help he has the best tandem of safeties the Eagles have started since the days of Lewis and Dawkins. Jenkins and McLeod will help stop the ball from going over their head and stop the massively long runs that the Eagles surrendered a year ago.

I expect a big turnaround in the Eagles defense in one short year. Regardless of how impotent the offense has appeared thus far in the preseason, if a team can play sound defense combined with sounder special teams then you will have a chance to win a lot of games come the 4th quarter. And with that I use this last line of this article to welcome Jim Schwartz to Philadelphia.

BALDY’S NFC EAST PREDICTIONS
DALLAS COWBOYS 10-6
WASHINGTON REDSKINS 9-7
NEW YORK GIANTS 8-8
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 6-10