Early in the year the defense was a complete mess. At one point, the run defense was 30th in the league. Just a couple of weeks back the Red Zone defense was dead last. And the overall unit was 32nd in the FO DOVA rankings back in September.

Take a look at the numbers from the last 2 games:

Points – 29

Yards – 445

Sacks – 13

Takeaways – 7

RZ defense – 3 for 8

3rd downs – 6 for 28

Rushing – 53-203 (no TDs)

The defense is starting to come together. We’ve seen flashes (WAS, DAL), but I think this is the best the group has played all year. You might argue that Matt Moore and Mark Sanchez aren’t Brees & Rodgers. That’s fair. Still, Moore (8 TDs, 1 INT) and Sanchez (7 TDs, 1 INT) were on hot streaks when we played them. Those guys were forced into rough outings by good Eagles defense. And they had skill players around them Bush, Marshall & Plax, Santonio, Keller, LT, Greene.

The overall rankings for the defense:

10th in yards

10th in passing

17th in rushing

19th in scoring

1st in sacks

15th in takeaways

30th in Red Zone (64.3%)

14th in yards per play (5.4)

19th in yards per carry (4.3)

25th in opp. QB rating (88.4)

Some good, some bad, and some still pretty ugly. The RZ defense is improving. We’re holding teams under 50% in the last 3 games. That’s encouraging.

The thing I’m happiest about isn’t the numbers, but rather the vibe. Our players are playing with confidence. They are flying around the field. Our guys are passing the eyeball test. They look like a good defense.

STs mistakes (both by Curtis Marsh) led to turnovers deep in our own territory in the last 2 games. There was no panic. The defense got the ball right back in each game. RZ takeaways seemed like a fantasy idea (like Unicorns, El Dorado, or the Fountain of Youth) for most of the season. Sure, we knew they might exist, but our defense thought they were just theoretically possible and not realistic. Now we’ve had consecutive games with them.

Castillo has figured out how to use all of his players in order to get maximum productivity. Look at what the LBs did yesterday: 8 solo tackles, 1 TFL, 1 PD, 1 INT. And the Jets: 16 solo tackles, 1 sack, , 1 TFL, 1 INT. The Jets had David Harris, Calvin Pace, and Bart Scott on the field. We can’t compete with them player for player and name for name. But our LB corps of Brian Rolle, Akeem Jordan, Jamar Chaney, Casey Matthews, and Akeem Jordan as a group can function well. And our LBs out-played the Jets yesterday.

DRC is finally settling into things and looks worlds different. This is the guy we saw at Lehigh, who is incredibly gifted. It took him a while to get comfortable, but something is clicking. He’s now looked good in his last 3 games.

Kurt Coleman was the best Safety on the field yesterday. He covered, blitzed, and tackled well. Nate Allen also had a good game.

Up front, the line is playing terrific. Castillo is letting them get creative and the players love that. They are stunting and looping from some different alignments. Jason Babin is deadly as a speed rusher from LDE, but we’re also finding out that he’s pretty good when he loops inside as a stand-up rusher. He, Jim Washburn, and Castillo are definitely in sync right now. And it is great to see a guy like Phillip Hunt coming along. He’s now got 2 sacks in 2 weeks. That is one less than Jerome McDougle had in his 37-game career. Hunt may never be a starter in this league, but he can be a good situational rusher. He’s not getting lucky sacks. He’s getting into the backfield and being disruptive on multiple plays.

Life is good for the Eagles defense right now, but Saturday’s game at Dallas is going to be the biggest challenge of the year. Struggle in Big D and the defense goes right back to getting ripped by fans and the media.

It is great to see the defense playing better, but they haven’t done enough to earn our trust to this point. Make us believe. Go on the road against a winning team and shut down a red hot QB who has a lot of weapons to work with. That might just make believers of us all.

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Couple of numbers from Reuben Frank:

First five games, Eagles allowed 352 yards and 26.4 points per game. Last nine games, they’ve allowed 314 yards and 19.9 points per game.

Eagles allowed 5.0 yards per carry, 140 rush yards per game 1st 5 weeks. Since then, 98 per game and 3.9 per carry.