The season is over, and the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense, full of young guys and playing for first-year coordinator Vic Fangio, finished #1 overall.

As a unit, they conceded just 4,732 yards, the only NFL team below 5,000 on the year. The second-best number was the Tennessee Titans’ 5,291 yards allowed, while the Carolina Panthers were dead last, giving up 6,877 yards. If you can believe it, the difference between the Panthers and Birds was 2,145 yards allowed, equating to more than 21 football fields.

Here are some of the other numbers the Birds finished with, according to the Sportradar data:

  • 26 takeaways (6th best)
  • 17.8 points allowed per game (2nd best)
  • 62.2 completion percentage for opposing quarterbacks (6th best)
  • 90 passes defensed (tied for 3rd best)
  • 42 defensive penalties (middle of the pack)
  • 8.2 missed tackle percentage (middle of the pack)
  • 35.5% opponent third down rate (3rd best)
  • 80 big plays allowed (fewest in the league)
  • 22 forced fumbles (tied for 1st)
  • 13 interceptions (tied for 12th)

They did all of this with a defensive pressure percentage of 18, which was 28th out of 32 teams, and a blitz rate of 19.5%, which was 27th. That resulted in 41 sacks and 81 tackles for loss, which were both league-average numbers.

So, putting that all together, it played out a lot like we thought it would. It was the classic Fangio philosophy of “keep everything in front of you and don’t get beat over the top.” They did not excel in rushing the passer, but also did not have to, because the secondary and linebacker play was so good that quarterbacks oftentimes found themselves struggling to move the ball through the air. And with Jalen Carter and company wrecking shop on the interior, they did nice job of limiting the run, just 104.2 yards per game, which was 10th-best. That forced a lot of obvious passing situations and allowed them to defend at the second and third level with numbers.


Individually, CJGJ and Reed Blankenship combined for 10 picks (6 and 4, respectively). Zack Baun led the way with 154 tackles and five forced fumbles, and after relatively slow starts, Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith finished with eight sacks and 6.5 sacks to pace the Birds. Carter was #1 on the squad with 16 QB hits and 12 TFL, and outside corners Darius Slay and Quinyon Mitchell combined for 25 PBUs. And as the answer to a future trivia question, Jordan Davis was the only defensive player to start all 17 games, due to his usage in the Week 18 Giants win. When you go back and look at these numbers years from now, remember that the #2 seed was in the bag and most of the starting D only played 16 games.

Phenomenal numbers across the board, though. The 2024 unit will go down as one of the best in franchise history, right up there with Jim Johnson’s 2004 unit, Jim Schwartz’s 2017 group, and Jonathan Gannon’s 2022 defense.