The Eagles defense got it together in the second half on Sunday afternoon, but allowed New York to score three straight times to open the game.

The first touchdown was a bit funky, since the special teams unit allowed a huge return and the defense immediately found itself on its heels. But on the third drive, the Jets went 75 yards in nine plays and then scored on 4th and goal, on a series of consecutive plays where receivers were WIDE OPEN in the back of the end zone.

Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon was asked about that:

Q. What happened on the back-to-back goal line plays, where someone snuck through? Were those busted coverages? Was it the same kind of mistake? Or was this just something they were able to execute successfully?(Jeff McLane)

JONATHAN GANNON: The one was a little bit of a trickier route, and I probably could have got us in a better call there. Didn’t really love the call down there. The other one that they hit on was a well-executed play by them.

One of the things we’re looking at is just always keep simplifying our communication, our rules, whatever that is within certain coverages and hopefully do a little bit better job executing in the red zone.

Vague answer, but let’s take a look.:

Alright, so that first play looks like RPO (or just designed play action) with a rub/pick on the outside. Anthony Harris and Darius Slay get mixed up and Elijah Moore drops a touchdown pass. You see Harris and Slay talking to each other after the play. The Birds were in nickel with Alex Singleton and T.J. Edwards on the field.

Same personnel on the second play, and on that sequence Harris and Singleton both go with Ty Johnson coming out of the backfield, which sees Ryan Griffin slip through for a touchdown.

The first play was executed nicely by New York, until the pitch and catch. The second one left more to be desired, with a tight end running free in the end zone and nobody following him. Seemed like the communication was definitely off during that red zone sequence.