For Eagles' Fletcher Cox, the joy of sacks

BILL DAVIS knows he has something special in Fletcher Cox. Knew it long before the guy went out and led a five-sack assault on Drew Brees in yesterday's 39-17 win over the Saints.

"How about that?" the Eagles' defensive coordinator said. "Did he have a game or did he have a game?

"When we first got here (in 2013), he wasn't real familiar with the two-gap (defense). But he's taken two-gapping and really mastered it. You also can put him out on the edge. He's got a rounded skill set and it just keeps growing."

Being a two-gap 3-4 defensive end can be a thankless job. Their primary job is supposed to be occupying blockers so that the linebackers can make plays. But Cox and the rest of the Eagles' defensive linemen didn't get that memo.

They aren't satisfied with being block-occupiers. They use a "shock and shed" approach. Deliver a vicious blow to the blocker, then separate and go to the ball, whether it's in the arms of a running back or in the hands of a quarterback.

Yesterday, Cox gave Brees and the Saints' offensive line fits, registering three of the Eagles' five sacks and forcing fumbles that led to scores on two of them. He also had three hurries and a team-high six tackles as the Eagles held the Saints to 96 rushing yards.

The Eagles forced four New Orleans turnovers that they turned into 19 points. They already have 13 takeaways in their first five games.

Their five sacks nearly matched the six they had in the first four games.

"They come in bunches," Davis said of sacks. "And today you had Brees, instead of throwing the ball a few times and risking an interception, he ate (the ball) and took some of those sacks.

"The guys did a great job in coverage tonight. (Brees) was holding the ball because the coverage was what it was. Interceptions are tied to pass rush and sacks are tied to coverage.''

While the Eagles gave up a season-high seven X-plays (pass plays of 20 yards or more), they also did a good job of tying up Brees' receivers and forcing him to hold on to the ball longer than he normally does.

"It's a shame (about the X- plays)," Davis said. "We finally went into the top five in the league in not giving up X-plays. So we were excited about that. But it came back and stung us tonight.

"We played a little bit more man (coverage) tonight than we usually do. And sometimes in man coverage, when one guy stumbles a little bit, the X-plays can happen. But we'll fix that. We'll keep working on them."

The five sacks were the most by the Eagles since they sacked the Titans' immobile Zack Mettenberger five times last November. Needless to say, sacking Brees five times is a slightly bigger accomplishment, particularly considering the fact that they came in a game the Eagles absolutely, positively had to win.

Cox's three sacks were the most he's had since, well, ever.

"Probably never," he said. "Not even in college, high school, never. First time I've ever had three sacks in one game."

The three sacks were nice, the two forced fumbles were even nicer.

"We preach it all the time," Cox said. "No quarterback likes people around their elbows, around their arms. That's always the goal. Instead of going after the big hit, go after the football."

Cox is a down-in-and-down-out disruptive force. The only defensive lineman in the league who might be better than him right now is J.J. Watt. And the gap between them is closing, though Cox probably never will have the sack numbers Watt has because of the two-gap scheme in which he plays.

"They're both big impact players," said Eagles nose tackle Beau Allen, who played with Watt at Wisconsin. "The thing that stands out to me about Fletcher is that he can play all over the line. You see him line up over center, guard, tackle, tight end. It really doesn't faze him at all. He's athletic enough to play wherever he wants."

It's no coincidence that the Saints' longest run, a 17-yarder by Mark Ingram late in the third quarter, came when Cox was on the sideline getting a breather.

"He's one of the best in the league at what he does," nose tackle Bennie Logan said. "He doesn't get the credit he deserves. But he doesn't let it bother him. He just goes out there and lets his work speak for him.

"After a game like this, I think people finally are going to start putting him up there and talking about him with some of the other top guys.''

Said Davis: "He's a Pro Bowl-caliber player. I've been around a long time and that's what they look like. They play the run. They can get disruption in the passing game. Sack numbers come and go, but he has the skill set.''

Last week, Cox knocked the Redskins' Pro Bowl left tackle, Trent Williams, to the ground with one arm and stuffed a cutback run. Yesterday, he gave every Saints offensive lineman he lined up across from fits.

His first sack in the second quarter put the brakes on a New Orleans drive that made it to the Eagles' 28-yard line. He knocked the ball out of Brees' hands on his second sack. It was recovered by rookie linebacker Jordan Hicks and the Eagles were able to turn it into a 39-yard Caleb Sturgis field goal with 10 seconds left in the first half, giving them a 10-7 lead.

On his third sack, he beat the Saints' rookie left tackle, Andrus Peat, and not only stripped the ball from Brees but also recovered it himself at the New Orleans 13. The Eagles scored on the very next play when Sam Bradford hit a wide-open Brent Celek in the end zone.

"We went into the game expecting a lot of quick passes (from Brees)," said Logan, who also had a sack to go with three tackles for losses. "But he was holding on to the ball because of the good job our guys were doing in coverage. It allowed us to get pressure on him and get some sacks."

BY THE NUMBERS

-- Fletcher Cox is the first Eagles player with three sacks and two forced fumbles in a game since sacks became an official statistic in 1982.

-- The Eagles ran 79 offensive plays. That's their most in a game this season. The previous high was 68 in the Week 1 loss to Atlanta.

-- Twenty-four of their 79 offensive plays were run out of two-tight-end sets. That's four more times than the Eagles used two tight ends in their first four games combined.

-- The Eagles' 519 offensive yards were the most they've had in a game since Week 8 of last season when they amassed 521 in a 24-20 loss to Arizona.

-- Sam Bradford has three red-zone interceptions in 23 red-zone pass attempts this season, including the two in the first half yesterday. He had eight in 223 attempts with the Rams.

-- Drew Brees already has been sacked 14 times in four starts and 170 pass attempts this season.

-- Bradford's 333 passing yards were the fourth most of his career. It was his ninth career 300-yard game.

-- Bradford completed 13 of 15 passes in the second half against the Saints. In the second half of games this season, Bradford has a .702 completion percentage and a 102.0 passer rating.

-- The Eagles have forced at least one turnover in 11 straight games.

-- Rookie linebacker Jordan Hicks has a fumble recovery in each of the last three games. The last Eagles rookie with three fumble recoveries in a season was safety Michael Lewis in 2002.

-- The Eagles didn't allow an individual 100-yard rusher for the 17th straight game.

-- The Saints' Ben Watson became the first opposing tight end to catch a touchdown pass against the Eagles since Week 2 of last season.

-- The Eagles failed to score in the first quarter again. They have scored just three points in the first quarter in their first five games.

-- The Eagles started five of their 13 possessions against the Saints at their own 43-yard line or better. Their average starting field position was the 37.1-yard line, their season best.