I wrote my SB Nation Philly column about Jason and the amazing season he is having. 18 sacks is just hard to comprehend. We’re used to guys have 12 or something like that. 18? That sounds made up.

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BGN has a link to an ESPN article talking about the value of Babin’s sacks. Per the report, Babin is the league’s most valuable sacker. Interesting.

ESPN had up a graphic the other day that Babin and Aldon Smith were league leaders in sacks per play.

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I haven’t really talked all that much about Phillip Hunt, but the last 2 weeks have been really impressive from him. He’s got 2 sacks. He led the team in tackles vs the Jets. Hunt has been disruptive, which is what you want from an undersized situational rusher.

It was important for us to find out if he could be a good contributor. If not, DE was a position of need. Hunt has shown that he can be a good role player. I don’t see him starting anytime soon, but he adds good value as a situational rusher.

Think ahead to 2012 for just a minute.

RDE: Cole – Tapp – Hunt

LDE: Babin – Graham

We don’t need any DE help based on that depth chart. Graham’s 2012 showing will affect our long term planning, but for next year I would expect the team to stick with that set of players. We could add someone to the mix and trade/cut Tapp. We’d have to find a player that was just too good to pass up, but I don’t think that is likely.

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I’m curious as to the feeling heading into the Dallas game Saturday. The Eagles haven’t won more than 2 games in a row this year. We did that late last year in beating HOU, DAL, and NYG. That’s a long, long time ago. We’re coming off consecutive good wins now. Is there confidence for Saturday or a feeling of uncertainty? Can this bunch actually win 3 in a row?

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Lots of good talk about the Safeties in the previous post.

As my old friend Matt said, “I like their trajectory”. These are young guys who should get better. Should…is the key word. If they don’t, we will make changes. Not all players do improve or grow as expected.

I said yesterday that I’d be all for upgrading, but I’m just not sure better options are available. Allen, Coleman, and Jarrett were all major stars in college. Replacing them with new guys from college just doesn’t make sense to me. And I simply don’t see great options in the pro market.

There have been mental mistakes and coverage breakdowns. Those issues must get cleaned up. I think part of that is due to the confusion that was all over the defense earlier in the year. Players start to doubt the guys around them and want to do too much. Playing Safety requires great discipline. Young players struggle with that notion.

A Safety’s primary job is to prevent touchdowns. A lot of people think of big hits or key picks when they remember Dawk. I remember the many times when he hustled and tackled someone at the 15, 10, or even 5-yard line to save a TD. The Safety must stay deeper than the deepest and make sure whatever happens, happens in front of him. That way he can always make the safe tackle. Better to give up 25 yards and no TD than to go for the quick tackle and risk the TD.

We’ve seen Kurt and Nate bite on fakes that have led to long TD passes. This is part of the learning process. Go watch other young Safeties around the league and you’ll see similar issues. There is a reason so many teams are throwing the ball well. Safety play just isn’t good in general.

I think stability is the prudent course of action. Let Nate, Kurt, and Jaiquawn grow together. They’ll have a full offseason to improve physically and master the scheme. Both factors should make a difference in what we see in 2012. If the mistakes continue to be a problem, we will have to make changes.