It wouldn't look it by the 29 points or 414 yards allowed Friday against the Packers, but Philadelphia's defense put together a performance of promise during the Eagles' 34-29 Week 1 win in Brazil.
Behind the eight ball early due to offensive gaffes and protecting a slim lead late, Philly stood just tall enough against Green Bay's vaunted offense to help seal the victory.
"The defense played their ass off to start that game," Nick Sirianni said. "To play as bad as we did offensively and to be down, 6-0, to start the game is pretty awesome. Hats off to the defense. Don't get me wrong, we have things to clean up on both sides of the football, but we could have got down two scores right away but the defense really did a good job of playing good red-zone defense."
After forcing a punt on the Packers' first drive, new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio's unit was quickly pressed into sink-or-swim mode.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts tossed a poor interception on his opening possession, setting up Green Bay 19 yards away from the end zone. Philadelphia held strong, though, allowing just 6 yards and forcing a the Packers to settle for a field goal.
When a botched shotgun snap again put the Eagles D in a precarious situation, this time with only 13 yards to spare, the group again responded. Aided by an offensive pass interference, Philadelphia caused its opponent to stall and kick for a second time.
Despite a first quarter with -7 offensive yards and two turnovers, the Eagles entered the second frame a touchdown and extra point away from taking the lead.
They did just that as the flood gates opened on both sides, with seven consecutive combined scoring drives -- including six touchdowns -- between the the two teams from that point.
There were penalties and missed tackles galore from both squads, as well, and Philly threw in a blown coverage to allow Jordan Love's biggest play of the contest, a 70-yard touchdown throw to wide receiver Jayden Reed.
But when it mattered most, Fangio's group limited damage.
Just as in the first quarter, the Eagles bookended their defensive lapses with another strong performance down the stretch. Following three straight TDs allowed, Philadelphia forced a punt, an interception, a missed field goal and then a field goal while up, 31-26, with the Packers threatening on the 8-yard line.
It marked the third time the defense limited Green Bay to three points in the red zone, and the offense then helped put the nail in the coffin with a gutsy drive that took 7:25 off the clock and left just 22 seconds on it.
There will be much to fix and take away from an uneven performance, but after the defense faltered so frequently during last season's second-half collapse, things are trending positive.
Mainstays like safety Reed Blankenship, who delivered an INT, impacted the game, but so did new additions such as linebacker Zack Baun, who led all players with 15 tackles and two sacks. First-rounder Quinyon Mitchell also passed his initial test, as he turned frequent targeting (nine throws as the closest defender) into a 66.9 passer rating allowed.
"The moment's never too big for Q, and I've seen that from Q from the very beginning," Sirianni said.
Moving from his rookie corner to his 66-year-old DC, the head coach was equally impressed.
"Vic's been a good coordinator for decades," Sirianni said. "Like, that's insane. I'm so excited. Obviously we've got some things that we have to clean up on both sides of the ball, but Vic is as advertised, and I'm so excited that he's our defensive coordinator."
