Philadelphia Eagles Defense Will Have to Carry Offense to Success

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly may be known as an offensive genius. Yet in 2015, it's his defense that paved the way for the club's rise to first place in the NFC East—and it's beginning to look like that's how things must stay.

While the Eagles went on to defeat the New York Giants 27-7 in a pivotal divisional showdown on Monday night, that was almost in spite of the offense. The unit managed to turn the ball over four times among a comedy of errors that included penalties, dropped passes, bad snaps, botched handoffs and anything else that will stall a drive. In fact, seven of the team's points came on an interception return by cornerback Nolan Carroll.

After allowing an eight-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to open the game, the Eagles defense buckled down, even as the offense kept putting the Giants back on the field. On its next 13 possessions, New York managed to gain only 167 yards, convert just 13 first downs. Philadelphia registered three sacks and three takeaways.

Most importantly, not another point was scored.

GM	POS	TD	FG	YDS	1ST	SK	TO
Wk 1 @ ATL	13	2	4	395	21	1	2
Wk 2 v. DAL	12	1	2	359	21	3	2
Wk 3 @ NYJ	15	2	1	323	19	1	4
Wk 4 @ WAS	11	2	3	417	25	1	1
Wk 5 vs. NOR	14	2	1	388	19	5	4
Wk 6 vs. NYG	13	1	0	247	18	3	3
Total	88	10	11	2,129	123	14	16

The defensive effort has largely been par for the course, give or take a few lapses. One could easily argue the unit is the only reason the Eagles had a shot at winning in any given week this season, or have picked up any victories at all. That was certainly the case the previous game against the New Orleans Saints, a 39-17 romp that saw the Eagles rack up five sacks and four turnovers.

Michael Perez/Associated Press

For the season, the Eagles are allowing 18.3 points per game, good for sixth in the NFL. The group also has also forced a whopping 16 turnovers through six weeks, second in the league.

And it appears Philly's defense needs to keep up the pace, because the offense doesn't appear to be righting the ship anytime soon.

Kelly's units ranked top five in the NFL in total yards and scoring each of his first two seasons. The hope was with the trade for quarterback Sam Bradford, the signing of free-agent running backs DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews and a first-round draft pick invested in wide receiver Nelson Agholor, the Eagles could build on that success.

Obviously, that hasn't exactly been the case. Bradford has been erratic. The offensive line, with new starters at both guard positions, hasn't consistently opened holes in the ground attack. The receivers—even holdovers Jordan Matthews, running back Darren Sproles and tight end Zach Ertz—haven't produced as imagined. Sproles has 111 yards rushing and 131 yards receiving with one touchdown; Ertz has 207 yards receiving on 19 catches, but no touchdowns.

The most troubling aspect of all, though, is the unit appears to have serious communication issues. Nobody is on the same page, whether it's quarterbacks and receivers being in sync, offensive linemen carrying out their assignments or even being ready for the snap of the ball.

Six weeks in, this offense still struggles to execute the fundamentals. What's to say that's ever going to change?

The Eagles now rank 13th in total yards and 10th in scoring—with defensive and special teams points, mind you. And although those numbers don't seem too bad, the offense is crushing itself with 14 giveaways, which is second-worst in the NFL.

	PTS/GM	YDS/GM	PASS/ATT	RUN/ATT	1ST/GM	TO
Stats	18.3	354.8	6.6	3.5	20.5	16
Rank	6th	15th	6th	t-2nd	t-11th	2nd

Meanwhile, the defense's transformation has been an amazing story. The unit finished 22nd in yards surrendered and 28th in scoring in 2014. That was even despite being tied for second in sacks and sixth in turnovers.

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Give Kelly credit for keeping most of what worked intact—a stout front seven—and overhauling what was broken—a leaky secondary. Kelly may not coach the unit himself, but Kelly the personnel czar built the unit.

They're limiting the damage done in the ground attack. They're getting into the backfield and making quarterbacks uncomfortable. They're forcing poor throws. They're experiencing fewer breakdowns in coverage. They're making plays on the football.

All of a sudden, Kelly appears to be relying on that defense to save his butt and his players on the other side of the football. As it stands now, the Eagles have won three of their last four and are in control of their own destiny in the NFC East. The playoffs are in the cards, and once a team gets in, anything can happen.

We saw what happened two weeks earlier when the defense failed to hold at the end of a Week 4 contest in Washington. The Eagles managed only 14 first downs that afternoon, and after being on the field for over 40 minutes in time of possession, the D collapsed, allowing a 15-play, 90-yard fourth-quarter touchdown drive to fall 23-20.

Realistically, right now, the Eagles won't contend for a Super Bowl or even a division championship and postseason berth if they don't continue shutting down or completely dominating opponents. It's a little hard to believe, but as of now, this team is only as good as its defense from one week to the next.