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A stingy defense helped the Philadelphia Eagles reach the NFC championship game the last two years. Their high-powered offense will have to get them to the Super Bowl this season.
Depleted by injuries, the Eagles' defense, the strength of the team for several years, has become a liability. Teams had success moving the ball against Philadelphia in the regular season, especially on the ground.
After finishing in the top 10 in defense the last three seasons, the Eagles finished 20th this year, giving up an average of 331.7 yards per game. The rushing defense was 21st (129.4 yards) and the pass defense was 16th (202.2). But the Eagles were seventh in points allowed (17.9), the most important stat of all.
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``We haven't been playing too good on defense,'' defensive end N.K. Kalu said.
``We know what we have to do.''
The defense's main problem was stopping the run. Six times in the final eight games a running back went over 100 yards. Still, the Eagles won seven of those eight games. They know they might not get away with that in the playoffs.
Philadelphia's first opponent on Jan. 11 will be Dallas, Green Bay or Seattle. Each has a running back capable of a having a big game against the Eagles.
The Cowboys' Troy Hambrick had 75 yards rushing (58 in the first half) against the Eagles the last time the teams met in December. The Packers' Ahman Green ran for 192 yards in a 17-14 loss to the Eagles in November. The Eagles didn't play the Seahawks this season, but Seattle's Shaun Alexander rushed for a career-high 1,435 yards for his third consecutive 1,000-yard season, and was second in the NFC with 14 TDs rushing.
Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson hasn't been concerned with teams getting a lot of yards rushing, but wants the defense to stop allowing long gains.
``Everybody is running the football all over, not only against us, but against other people the same way,'' Johnson said. ``You get good backs, they're going to break tackles.''
The run defense began having trouble after it lost defensive tackles Paul Grasmanis and Hollis Thomas for the season early on. Through the first four games, the Eagles had allowed just 55.5 yards on the ground.
The pass defense also was hurt by injuries, with safety Brian Dawkins and cornerback Bobby Taylor each missing nine games, and cornerback Troy Vincent missing three.
With the defense struggling, the offense carried the Eagles to a 12-4 finish, a third straight NFC East title and the No. 1 seed in the conference. Led by four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb, the offense averaged 30.7 points over the last seven games, and the Eagles had an average margin of victory of 16.1 points for their six wins in that span.
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