Schwartz keeping it real for Birds

DC has defense playing at championship level

If playing for five defensive coordinators in eight years sounds like a lot, that’s because it is.

Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham isn’t complaining. But it’s onerous and personally painful for the 2011 first-round draft to recite the list of his bosses. It’s like revisiting a failed relationship. You wonder, maybe, if there’s something more you could have done to make it work.

Sean McDermott, Juan Castillo, Todd Bowles, Billy Davis and Jim Schwartz all had their strengths as defensive coordinators of the Eagles. Converted offensive line coach Castillo and micro-managed Davis, probably more weaknesses than strengths.

McDermott and Bowles went on to become head coaches of the Bills and the Jets, respectively.

The fifth coordinator, Schwartz, sure seems to be a better coordinator than head coach, the latter charting a 29-51 record with the Lions from 2009-13.

Under Schwartz this year the

Eagles lead the league in the biggest benchmarks, allowing just 17.4 points and 65.1 rushing yards per game. They’re sixth in yards allowed, giving up 291.6 per game.

Talent only is part of the story as this is one of the best-tackling Eagles’ defenses since the days of the Buddy Ryan defenses.

Schwartz doesn’t blitz quarterbacks nearly as often as Ryan did. It just seems like it because of the way the players execute the scheme.

But Schwartz is edgy, just as Ryan was. We’ll have to take the word of the players because his R-rated talks are kept confidential.

Graham didn’t hesitate when asked what made Schwartz different.

“I think everybody appreciates the realness of Coach Schwartz,” Graham said. “He don’t sugarcoat it. He lets us know where we are, as a team, what we’re doing, what’s our statistics, what’s going on. Just so that we don’t lose sight of our goals, or ‘this is where we need to get better, and if we don’t get better this is how we’re going to get beat.’ I think everybody kind of

takes that approach of trying to make sure we work on what we feel we need to get better on and keep on making sure what we are doing good at, we keep doing good at.

Schwartz, this season, has wowed Eagles head coach Doug Pederson. That couldn’t have been easy if there was any truth at all to a published report suggesting Schwartz had designs on the Philly head coaching job. So much for anonymous sources.

“Wow, listen, he’s been wonderful, wonderful to work with,” Pederson said. “It’s sort of that security blanket for me to kind of turn that defense over. And I just know his reputation of being a defensive coordinator in this league and the types of defenses he’s had and the top-five, top-three, when he was even back at Tennessee, in those days. He had some great players and great defenses. It’s kind of been a special thing too, having him here and what he’s done with the defense. I’m just glad he’s a part of what we’re doing.”

Schwartz, Pederson, Graham and the Eagles face their most difficult test Sunday night when they attempt to clinch the NFC East pennant against a Seahawks team led by the almost incomparable Russell Wilson.

Though the Eagles insist they’ve faced good quarterbacks, that was over a month ago, when they limited Cam Newton and Carolina to 23 points, and Kirk Cousins and the Redskins to 24.

Wilson leads the Seahawks with 65 rushes for 401 yards (6.1 average) and three scores. He’s completed 62.3 percent of his attempts with 23 touchdowns, eight interceptions and a 95.2 rating despite taking 26 sacks, due largely to the lack of a run game brought on by injuries and wholesale changes to the offensive line.

All the losses for the Seahawks (7-4) are by 8 points or less essentially because Wilson leads the league in fourth-quarter passing and has thrown 14 scoring passes in the frame.

“He believes in himself,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said on a conference call. “He has an unwavering confidence that he’s going to find a way to get it done. And so, he’s always looking forward to that next opportunity.”

The same can be said of Schwartz and his defense, who last year were on the short end of a 26-15 loss to the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field.

Upgrades to the line, particularly Tim Jernigan at tackle, and the inspired play of the secondary with the additions of cornerbacks Patrick Robinson and Ronald Darby have given Schwartz a few more options to game plan with last year.