The Eagles’ defense is on the upswing and there’s a simple reason why

The Philadelphia Eagles’ 28-3 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday likely will be remembered as the Saquon Barkley revenge game.

But it wasn’t just Barkley who thrived in the Meadowlands.

Currently the NFL’s third-leading rusher, Barkley recorded a season-high 176 rushing yards and one touchdown in 17 carries in his first game back at MetLife Stadium after leaving New York in free agency.

But on the other side of the ball, Philadelphia’s defense turned in its best performance of the season. The Giants totaled only 119 yards, which was the fewest the Eagles have allowed under head coach Nick Sirianni. Philadelphia also sacked Giants quarterback Daniel Jones a season-high eight times. It took a while, but Philadelphia appears to have finally found a groove with coordinator Vic Fangio and its new, younger personnel.

Several defenders had breakout performances in Week 7, including 23-year-old linebacker Nakobe Dean, who finished with two sacks, four quarterback hits, and a game-high 11 tackles.

In a conversation with theScore on Tuesday, Dean acknowledged there were harsh conversations between coaches and players after the Eagles dropped two of three games going into their Week 5 bye. Up to that point, Philadelphia had just six sacks.

Since then, the Eagles haven’t allowed an offensive touchdown, they’ve combined for 13 sacks, and they’ve won two games in a row to improve their record to 4-2.

“I feel at the beginning of the season and even last year, we thought we had a great connection and we were together as a defensive unit,” Dean said. “But compared to now, I’d say we weren’t as nearly connected as we thought. Now that we’ve went through the fire, we got all the negative press – now it’s like, all right, we had our bad practices, we spoke our minds on how we really felt. All that brought us together as a defense. We just know we have to continue to get better, week in and week out. It doesn’t stop.”

Dean wears the green dot on his helmet as the player who communicates with Fangio via the headset and relays the play call and instructions to the rest of his teammates.

It’s a key responsibility that Dean became accustomed to at Georgia, where he won the Butkus Award as college football’s best linebacker and helped lead the Bulldogs to a national championship in the 2021 season. The Eagles selected him in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

“I feel like I was bought into the scheme and everything at the beginning of the season, but not as bought in as I am now,” Dean said. “I know and understand all the pieces around me, and how I can mesh that when the call comes in to be the best leader for my teammates.”

The game plan prepared Dean for the large uptick in zone schemes against the Giants. Philadelphia deployed man coverage at a season-low 9%, according to TruMedia, as Fangio relied on his defensive front to apply pressure and the secondary to mesh and play sticky coverage across the field.

During his weekly press conference Tuesday, Fangio told reporters the surge of sacks resulted from a good mix of pass coverage that complemented the rush. That’s a wrinkle Fangio could deploy against other opponents based on matchups.

Perhaps the most incredible stat to come from Philadelphia’s thrashing of the Giants: All eight of the Eagles’ sacks were recorded with a four-man rush, according to Next Gen Stats. It marked the highest sack rate (21.6%) with a four-man rush in any NFL game this season. Eight sacks also marked the Eagles’ peak since Week 3 of the 2022 season.

Dean hinted that more teammates have bought into Fangio’s messaging and scheme, which has improved on-field chemistry across all three levels. As the Eagles plummeted to a 1-6 finish at the end of last season, multiple defensive players tended to go rogue rather than rush as a group. In contrast, their cohesiveness was on full display against the Giants.

“The way we practice and the attention to detail we’re taking is the biggest difference,” Dean said. “That’s generic to say, I guess. Because of course, we’re supposed to practice and execute and get ready for a game. But something that’s different (compared to last season) is our connection around each other.”

Aside from Dean, other Eagles took huge steps. Defensive end Bryce Huff, who entered Sunday with just two pressures, finished with five pressures and registered his first solo sack of the season. Second-year linebacker Nolan Smith, a 2023 first-round selection and Dean’s roommate at Georgia, collected his first career sack. Josh Sweat and Jalyx Hunt recorded sacks, while defensive tackle Jalen Carter matched Dean’s two sacks.

“I was super excited for Nolan,” Dean said. “Knowing our background, being roommates going back to Georgia days, I know how much it meant to him. We had real talks about how bad he wanted his first sack this season. He’s come close, but now he was able to get that. The most important thing is he has to continue to ball.”

Given all the drama Philadelphia has experienced this season – from its fourth-quarter meltdown versus Atlanta, to Sirianni’s feisty on-field temperament and exchanges with fans, to the team’s lingering inability to score in the first quarter – the Eagles desperately needed a dominant win as they attempt to re-establish themselves as serious NFC contenders.

Dean reaffirmed his confidence in Sirianni at length: “Nick Sirianni is the ultimate player’s coach. He’s a guy that you want to play for. Despite what the public might think about his coaching, his ways, his antics – he’s going to fight for his guys. The reason I like him so much is because I feel like I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder forever, and he goes around and coaches with a chip on his shoulder.

“He’s not afraid to step out (of) the box. Most head coaches in the NFL, a lot of guys try to seem to do everything right, in a one-box-fits-all type way … but Nick is not afraid to be himself. He’s always unapologetically himself. He gives more fight than anybody.

“I don’t want to speak for everybody, but I know that in the locker room with me in there, all the guys that I talk to, we’ve got Nick Sirianni’s back.”

Josh Tolentino is theScore’s lead NFL writer.