The Eagles just faced Marshawn Lynch and held him to 23-86. One of those was a draw play on 3rd/long that went for 21 yards. The rest of the game he was 22-65. The week before the defense held DeMarco Murray to his worst game of the year, 20-73. I never thought this would happen with Casey Matthews playing in place of DeMeco Ryans.

The key in theses 2 games was the play of the DL, specifically Fletcher Cox. I thought he had a great game watching live, but when you study the tape you are truly blown away. He was easily the best player on the field Sunday…for either team. Amazing performance.

Still, this does make you wonder about the future at ILB. DeMeco is a good player and I’m not trying to diminish that. But he’s older, expensive and coming off an injury. You have to wonder if the organization will look at this situation and feel they could move on to another option that is cheaper/younger.

Obviously another factor here is Mychal Kendricks. He started playing great down the stretch in 2013 and hasn’t stopped. The only thing that slows him down is injuries. When he’s on the field, he’s a Pro Bowl caliber player. MK gives the Eagles one star at ILB and a player they can build around.

Matthews has been solid since taking over. He doesn’t do anything flashy and isn’t a tackle machine. He’s generally in the right gap and tackles the ball if it comes his way. That’s the minimum you’re looking for in an ILB. The coaches say he does a good job of getting the defense set. None of us outsiders can really comment on that.

I’d love to see the Eagles find another speedy, athletic guy. That would help with coverage. Maybe Najee Goode can be that guy. I don’t know if the coaches will seriously think of keeping Marcus Smith inside. He has the potential to be good in there. He can rush, cover and play the run. He’s got good size at 6-3, 251. His future will be somewhat determined by what the team does with Trent Cole and Brandon Graham. If the Eagles keep Barwin/Cole/Graham together, they need to move Smith to get him on the field. That’s no insult to Smith but rather a compliment to how well the OLBs are playing.

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out. Any number of things can happen. I am shocked that the defense hasn’t missed DeMeco more. Hes’ a terrific leader on and off the field. He’s also a good all-around LB. There is no question that he would have out-played Matthews had he been on the field. I guess the question is how much of a difference that would have made. Maybe less than any of us anticipated.

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