nakobe-dean-eagles-g.jpg
Getty Images

Since returning from their bye, the Philadelphia Eagles have been utterly dominant on defense. The Eagles have taken on the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions over the last two weeks, and they have almost completely shut those two teams down. The Packers and Lions combined for 578 total yards, 31 first downs and just 16 points in their games against Philadelphia, good for averages that would rank dead last in the league in each category if they held up over the full season. 

Philadelphia's defense was solid early in the year, stumbled for a few weeks, but has since recovered and taken off into the stratosphere. And a big part of that has been the combination of some reinforcements that burst onto the scene, along with the stalwart players who have been there all year, reaching another level with their play. 

We can start with linebacker Nakobe Dean's return from injury. He's only played 47% of Philadelphia's defensive snaps since returning from injury in Week 6, but that has ramped up significantly (he played only special teams in that Week 6 game against the Giants but was all the way up to 68% of the defensive snaps against Detroit last week) and he is coming off his two best games of the season.

Since returning to the fold, Dean has been asked to pass rush on 15 snaps, according to Tru Media. He's generated four pressures and two sacks with those rushes, including this absolutely diabolical sack last Sunday night, where he straight up trucked David Montgomery on his way to Jared Goff in the pocket.

Dean has largely looked no worse for wear in coverage despite suffering a torn patellar tendon during last season's Super Bowl run. You can still get after him in space on occasion, but because of his speed, he can also make some incredible plays. He was tasked with running step for step with Jahmyr Gibbs during that win over the Lions, and he lived to tell the story. 

He was asked to do the same with Jameson Williams, and, again, he ran right in line with one of the fastest players in the NFL, allowing no catches. The pressure in Goff's face prevented him from making a good throw to Williams here, but Dean was right in his face anyway and might have been able to get a pass breakup even if the throw had been on line. 

Against the run, Dean has been less consistent, but you can still find instances of his instantly triggering and flying downhill to tackle the ball-carrier either in the backfield or for just a short gain. He's always been at his best when moving in a straight line, and because of the way the Eagles are playing up front, there is plenty of room for him to do exactly that and run down these running backs before they have a chance to build a head of steam. 

Dean has been a good player, but Phillips has been a revelation. He's come in and immediately played 78% and 76% of the snaps and has been absurdly good against both the run and the pass.

Phillips has 11 tackles, two tackles for loss, four quarterback hits, a sack and 12 pressures across his two games with the Eagles, according to Tru Media. His 20% pressure rate ranks fourth in the NFL out of the 46 players with 50-plus pass rush snaps during that two-week span. Only Bradley Chubb, Micah Parsons and Danielle Hunter are ahead of him.

He's walking offensive tackles backward. He's bending around them on the edge. He's making inside and outside moves to get them off balance. And he's doing this against some of the best tackles in the game, like Zach Tom and Penei Sewell. And he's not just winning some of these reps; he's smoking them. 

Whether the opponent is running at him or to the opposite side of the formation, Phillips is doing an excellent job of stacking and shedding his blocker to make a play on the ball. He gets his hands on his man quickly so that they can't get the inside leverage to throw him backward or out of the gap, and he just keeps moving until he gets to his spot and drags the ball carrier down -- and maybe even knocks the football out, too, like he did against Josh Jacobs in the Packers game.

If it were just a linebacker and an edge rusher playing well, you obviously would not get the type of performances the Eagles have put together over the last couple of weeks. It takes absolutely everybody playing at a high level for something like that to happen, and that's what the Eagles have gotten.

The guys up front -- Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Jalyx Hunt and Moro Ojomo, in particular -- are collectively dominating. Phillips has his 12 pressures in two weeks, but Hunt has 8, Ojomo has 7 and Carter has 6. Carter and Davis each deflected seemingly a hundred passes against the Lions on Sunday night. Plus, Nolan Smith has a sack and Brandon Graham has three pressures in limited action.

Meanwhile, coverage on the back end has been incredible. Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean have been shutting opposing wide receivers down all year, both on the perimeter (Mitchell) and in the slot (DeJean). But Adoree' Jackson has stepped up the last couple of weeks and gone from major liability to being solid enough in coverage that "throw at Jackson every snap" hasn't been something that's worked all that well for Eagles opponents. And the combination of Reed Blankenship and Andrew Mukuba continues to play well, whether coming down and playing the run or working over the top in coverage. 

When all of this is working together in concert, it's a beautiful thing to watch. And what Vic Fangio has his unit doing right now is certainly that. They will face another tough test this coming Sunday when they head to Dallas to take on the Cowboys, but they have the personnel to handle the matchup. If they play anything remotely like the way they have over these last two weeks, the Cowboys will just be the next in line of the very good offenses to get shut down by the Eagles.