What a Mychal Kendricks Injury Means for Philadelphia Eagles Defense
Could there be a more costly loss for the Philadelphia Eagles defense than Mychal Kendricks? We may soon find out the hard way.
Kendricks exited Monday’s game against the Colts with a heel injury, and Geoff Mosher for CSNPhilly.com reports the third-year interior linebacker is “day to day.” If Kendricks isn’t ready to go for Week 3 against Washington, the options to replace him are unpalatable—likely some combination of Casey Matthews and Emmanuel Acho, maybe with a dash of Marcus Smith.
The absence could be devastating. Kendricks really started coming into his own as a playmaker toward the end of 2013, when he racked up three sacks, two interceptions and two forced fumbles in Philadelphia’s final three regular season games. He seemed to be in the process of picking up where he left off last year, registering a sack and two pass breakups before the going down.
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The Eagles would miss a lot more than a few flashy plays, though. Kendricks is in the middle of all the action, whether he’s in run support, dropping into coverage or attacking the line of scrimmage.
One might even go so far to say Kendricks has become the heart and soul of the Eagles defense.
The following plays are from the first half of Philadelphia’s win over the Indianapolis Colts, which you’ll note is not the same as saying these were all the plays Kendricks made in the first half. No, these account for roughly half the plays Kendricks played in 30 minutes of football, and he actually played deep into the third quarter.
Versus the Run
Let’s talk about Kendricks’ strength and how it applies in the running game. Here, we have a simple handoff to the left out of a pistol formation. Before we get to the part in which Kendricks was a beast, first notice how he peers into the backfield between the Colts offensive line to see where the play is going—keeping in mind he’s listed as 6’0”.
Rookie left guard Jack Mewhort has 68 pounds on the linebacker, and he has a hat on him. Kendricks should be on the ground in a matter of moments, or at least be getting taken for a ride 10 yards backward.
Kendricks simply bounced off the block, and look where he wound up—face to face with Trent Richardson. The play went for a gain, but Kendricks prevented the ball-carrier from reaching the next level.
Here it is again. Kendricks peers into the backfield and sees it’s a handoff to the right out of a power formation. He’s going to take on the fullback, which in this case is second-year tight end Jack Doyle.
Doyle squared him up, but Kendricks just got lower than the lead blocker and held.
Kendricks maintained his balance, fought through the block and filled the hole. The only reason he didn’t make the tackle is because teammate DeMeco Ryans actually pushed him out of the way.
I think we can probably agree that Washington ball-carrier Alfred Morris is ahead of Richardson in the pantheon of NFL starting running backs, but both earn their living between the tackles. If Kendricks can corral Richardson the way he does here, Morris isn’t exactly a whole different animal.
Kendricks is so fast, oftentimes he beats the blockers into the hole altogether. We could show you that, too, but in still photos, it tends to look like the linebacker didn’t do anything special. Trust me, he did, and the Eagles don’t have anybody else who can make it look that easy.
In Coverage
Let’s talk about Kendricks’ instincts. The man has a nose for the pigskin, and he gets a chance to show that off in coverage from time to time. Here, Kendricks is in zone, and you can see he’s taken a couple of false steps toward the line of scrimmage after biting on play action.
The first key is Kendricks didn’t panic. He knew he had the athleticism to recover, and he did. Kendricks read the quarterback’s eyes, which is how he could tell where the receiver was without looking over his shoulder. A split moment before this, he took a peak to his right, so he knew he had help on that side.
Andrew Luck tried to throw the receiver open, but Kendricks had a beat on the pass. The ball wound up clanking off the linebacker’s hands for a harmless incomplete pass, but that was nearly a game-changing interception right here.
Because he is on the smaller side, Kendricks can still get exposed one on one against bigger tight ends from time to time. Plus, he’s so good at attacking the line of scrimmage, it’s almost a shame to “waste” him in coverage. When he does drop, though, quarterbacks can’t underestimate his speed and ability to see the entire field. Those are rare qualities to find.
Blitzing
As was just alluded to, Kendricks is so, so good at penetrating the opponent's backfield. This is his second season in defensive coordinator Bill Davis’ 3-4 alignment, and you can tell Kendricks is much more dangerous and versatile in the scheme than he ever was or possibly could have been in a boring 4-3.
Naturally, Davis likes to send Kendricks straight up the A-gap. Sometimes, a good disguised or delay blitz can result in a clear path up right up the gut of the offensive line. Here, however, Kendricks actually went right toward second-year right guard Hugh Thornton. No exaggeration, Thornton outweighs the linebacker by almost a full 100 pounds.
Size isn’t everything, though. Kendricks blew right by the guard and had a straight line to the running back. Ryans was right behind him on the jailbreak in case Kendricks needed some help, but this one was a piece of cake.
In this scenario, Davis brought Kendricks off the edge on third-and-long, because why not? The Colts were going to try to block him with a running back, which—against a lot of other interior linebackers—probably wouldn’t be a huge mismatch.
But if a big, mean offensive guard couldn’t keep Kendricks out of the backfield, how did you think 28-year-old running back Ahmad Bradshaw was going to fare? Kendricks essentially ran right through the block, showing uncanny balance in the process. His reward: a clear path to the quarterback.
Luck barely got the pass off, and it sailed high for an incomplete pass. Kendricks landed a shot on the signal-caller for good measure.
Kendricks is beginning to look like a special player. At least, there isn’t a linebacker on the Eagles roster who is this effective defending the run, dropping into coverage or disrupting plays in the backfield, let alone a combination of the three.
Yes, the Eagles were without Kendricks for the better part of two games in 2013 and won both. However, the Green Bay Packers were down to their 11th-string quarterback, and with a week to prepare for Washington, Najee Goode performed quite capably.
This time, when Washington visits Philadelphia, Goode will be on short-term injured reserve. Matthews was the first man off the bench on Monday night, and he was completely ineffective in every phase of the game. Acho saw a couple of snaps at the end of the game, but not enough to evaluate, and the Eagles—along with the rest of the league—haven’t shown any confidence in him before.
Sheil Kapadia for Philadelphia Magazine reports Smith, a rookie outside linebacker, was practicing exclusively on the inside on Wednesday. Taken at the 26th pick of May’s draft, Smith did show some abilities that might translate well in the middle, particularly in coverage and run support, but the 22-year-old has yet to play a down this season, and he was a healthy scratch against the Colts.
Smith is likely getting some work on the interior primarily as a precautionary measure for now.
That being said, if Kendricks can’t go on Sunday, the Eagles are going to have to figure out a way to fill the void somehow. Sure, the reserves are dicey—but Kendricks just means that much to the defense.
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