Tavern Talk: Can Eagles Close Their Gap?

National Football Post

Losing Stewart Bradley Eagles-Bradley-hears-a-pop.html" target="_blank">is a tough blow to the Eagles.

On the surface, his numbers are not overwhelming in terms of sacks, or even tackles, but his physical presence at a critical position is something that will be hard to duplicate. As I wrote in the Sunday Post, the Jim Johnson style of defense is similar to the Buddy Ryan defense, but instead of having a nose guard, they have a very big middle linebacker to control the gaps with power.

The position doesn’t require an instinctive player as much as it requires size and power. If the middle backer gets pushed around running through the gaps, the defense will lose its gap discipline and create running lanes.

Last year, the Eagles were the fourth best run defense in the NFL, and the third best first-down defense in not allowing four yards or more. This is a critical component of the Eagles’ defense because if it can keep the offense in second-and-long or third-and-long, it opens up a plethora of blitzes attacking the pocket.

So where do the Birds go from here?

Joe Mays, not to be confused with the Minnesota Twins pitcher, was only active for two games last season.

Mays was a tackling machine at North Dakota State, but his size is not ideally suited to the demands of the "mike" position in this defense.

Bradley is 6-4 and 255 pounds, and Mays is 5-11, 245. The height factor will be a huge disadvantage for Mays. The Eagles will not give anyone this position; I’m sure they’ll look over their depth chart and may consider moving Tanks Daniels to the inside because he has the body they need to maximize the position.

With camp just getting started, the Eagles have time to tinker and find the right guy to take over for Bradley, who said he heard a pop in his knee Friday.

That guy might be on their current roster, but it might be outside. The next few weeks will be the determining factor.

The National Football Post is a unique and premier online source of quality and credible news, information and insight about all sides of football featuring professionals with experience in all facets of the NFL.