Eagles' d-linemen like tough sledding

EVERY DAY, every single day at practice, the Eagles' defensive linemen hit the sled.

Most NFL teams have their defensive linemen do a certain amount of sled work. But none are as zealous about it as the Eagles and their defensive line coach, Jerry Azzinaro.

"The thing you figure out about defensive linemen is they really don't like to hit each other,'' Azzinaro said. "But they don't mind being violent against sleds. That's why our use of those kinds of apparatuses is so important for us. It allows those guys to be as violent as they would be in a game situation, but not against each other.

"It's not like heavyweight boxing where you can bring in a number of sparring partners. The guys you're going to be hitting are guys who are going to be helping you win games.''

It's hard to argue with the results. Azzinaro's unit ended the 2014 season as one of the best and deepest 3-4 defensive fronts in the league.

"We're pretty good,'' nose tackle Bennie Logan said. "We're not there yet. We try to find something to get better at every day. By the time the season comes along, we will be where we want to be.''

Regularly rotating six players up front, the Eagles finished fifth in the NFL in yards allowed per carry last season (3.7) and were third over the final eight games (3.5), behind only Detroit (3.1) and New England (3.4).

Just one of their last eight opponents rushed for more than 115 yards - eventual NFC champion Seattle, which put up 188 in a 24-14 win.

The sled work, player rotation, the team's devotion to sports science and strength program, and also a little bit of luck all have helped keep the Eagles' defensive line not only fresh, but remarkably healthy. The unit hasn't had a starter or backup miss a game due to injury in the two years that Azzinaro has been the defensive line coach.

"It starts with coach Az and [him] believing in all of us,'' defensive end Fletcher Cox said. "And having the depth we have is a great thing. You can roll guys in and out. You never see a drop-off.''

When Chip Kelly hired Bill Davis to run his defense two years ago and announced that the Eagles would be switching from a 4-3 scheme, which they had played for the previous 27 years, to a 3-4, there was more than a little skepticism.

People looked at his defensive personnel and wondered whether he was trying to put square pegs into round holes.

Cox, who had been the team's first-round pick a year earlier, seemed a much better fit as a 3-technique tackle in a 4-3 where he could use his quickness and athleticism to split blockers and rush the quarterback rather than occupying blockers for the linebackers as a two-gap end.

The Eagles' other defensive end, Cedric Thornton, also had been a 4-3 tackle with little exposure to a 3-4. And at 6-2 and 309 pounds, Logan, a third-round rookie, wasn't exactly your prototypical sun-blocking nose tackle.

After some early growing pains in the 3-4, Cox has developed into a havoc-wreaking lineman who does a lot more than just occupy blocks. He should have made the Pro Bowl last year.

Thornton, a former undrafted free agent, is a solid run defender. And Logan seems poised for a breakout season.

In Sunday's 36-10 preseason win over the Indianapolis Colts, Logan played just nine snaps, but recorded three tackles.

"We're really pleased with him,'' head coach Chip Kelly said. "He's played really, really well. His knowledge and understanding of blocking schemes now going into Year 3 for him [is tremendous].

"He not only made some physical, tough plays [against the Colts], but knew what plays they were running based on what was happening.''

Logan stopped running back Zurlon Tipton for no gain on a second-and-seven play on the Colts' first possession.

On their next possession, he beat Colts right guard Todd Herremans and chased down Tipton from the backside, holding him to a three-yard gain. Later on the same drive, he shed a block by center Khaled Holmes and held Tipton to another three-yard gain on a second-and-six play.

"I remember my first year here,'' Logan said. "A lot of people were criticizing me for being undersized and this and that. But I'm pretty much the same size [now] that I was my first year.

"The thing is, the passion I have for playing the position, the heart I have, it don't matter to me if I'm undersized. I'm just going to go out there and try to dominate every snap.''

Cox was the only Eagles lineman who played more than 700 snaps last season (921) as Azzinaro tried to keep his troops as fresh as possible. Thornton played 640 snaps and Logan 639.

Vinny Curry, who had nine sacks as an interior pass rusher in nickel and dime sub-packages, played 371 snaps. Backup nose tackle Beau Allen played 195, and backup end Brandon Bair played 196.

"If you're asking someone to perform at an optimum level, both from an effort standpoint and from a technique standpoint, when they begin to get a little bit tired, they usually begin to lose their technique and lose their effort,'' said Azzinaro, who is a fascinating cross between a steelworker, college history professor and crotchety uncle.

"A lot of times, that's when injuries occur. So what we try to do is teach them to play at a high level. And by rotating, we allow them to play at that high level over a longer period of time.''

Azzinaro thinks all of the sled work his linemen do is one of the reasons they've been able to stay healthy.

"The sports science component has allowed us to be able to do things in its rawest form, but be able to do those things continuously over long periods of time,'' he said.

"Catastrophic injury, you can't account for. But when you look at soft-tissue injury, especially with defensive linemen - shoulders, necks, quads - when you look at those things, the combination of sports science and also the primitive aspect of hitting the sleds, I think those things combined really help you.''

Azzinaro said he's never had any difficulty getting his players to do sled work.

"A good guy really wants to play really good,'' he said. "If you can show him something that's going to allow him to play good, he'll do anything. They just don't want to be [bullbleeped]. They don't want to do monkey rolls.

"If you show them that this is going to make you a good player, not only a good player but allow you to play good over a long period of time, then they'll do anything.''

The sled work isn't just about helping the linemen preserve their bodies. It's also about perfecting their technique for the hand-to-hand combat against opposing offensive linemen.

"We just come out here and hit the sled every day,'' Logan said. "We take a lot of pride in making sure we're holding up blockers for our linebackers in the run game so that they can run free and do what they've got to do.

"We just hammer on making sure we get our hands on a guy. The guy with the fastest hands wins. That's what we take pride in. Just being able to get our hands on them quick and controlling the line of scrimmage.''

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