These Mug fronts also worked well against the Steelers in their empty set as well. In their empty set, they looked to get the ball out quickly against the blitz to a hot route in the slot. After one successful route where they showed their hand, Johnson accounted for that slot receiver with Trent Cole dropping into coverage. The Eagles still got blitzers clean, the hot route was taken away, and the Eagles created big plays.

Sage Rosenfels was a quarterback in the NFL for 13 seasons. He knew first-hand what it was like to gameplan for Johnson, particularly as a backup for a division rival in Washington. He explained to me how Jim was always one step ahead.

"He was ahead of his time with the complexity of his blitzes because he created real struggles for the offense," Rosenfels said. "Teams make a lot of rules for all of their protection schemes in the offseason and in Training Camp so that everyone is on the same page once the regular season comes around. Jim not only knew how teams wanted to protect, but he followed that up with stretching the limits of those rules.

"He knew if teams liked to slide their protection towards a WILL (weakside) linebacker and put their running back on the MIKE (middle) or SAM (strongside)," he continued. "Knowing that, he had the ability to bring two guys to the running back's side, and the quarterback had to throw hot (meaning the ball had to come out quickly to beat the blitz)."

That scenario played out when Cole dropped back into coverage.

"He knew the quarterback had to throw hot, and so then he'd cover the hot throw and have defenders jumping routes or creating turnovers while getting hits on the quarterback," Rosenfels added.

The Eagles won the game 15-6 and they eventually advanced to the NFC Championship Game as the No. 6 seed in the NFC. It was the team's fifth visit to the conference title game eight seasons.

"Monte Kiffin is looked at by a lot of people as the best defensive coordinator of that generation," Rosenfels said, "but he ran a very different defense that was extremely simple. I would rather prepare for that scheme any day of the week over Jim Johnson."

Jim Johnson is revered by everyone in the NovaCare Complex who was here 10 years ago. Anytime I talk with former players of his, their mood instantly changes. You can tell the impact he had on people. When you look at it from a league-wide standpoint though, there's no arguing the impact he had on the game. He is a true legend in the coaching ranks. Just look at the following year, the first after his passing in September 2009.