All that was missing was Juan Castillo and Todd Bowles roaming the sideline, Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie getting beat in coverage, and Jason Babin and Darryl Tapp missing tackles.
Welcome to the 2013 Eagles defense, which at least for one preseason game, was frighteningly reminiscent of the 2012 Eagles defense.
“We see where we are and how far we have to go,” defensive coordinator Billy Davis said. “And we’ve got a ways to go right now.”
The Eagles, coming off the worst defensive season in franchise history, allowed a pair of 80-yard touchdown drives on the only two possessions the starting defense was on the field for Friday night in a 31-22 preseason loss to the Patriots at the Linc (see Instant Replay).
Granted they were facing Tom Brady – a three-time Super Bowl winner and a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer. And it was the first time out for Davis, the entire defensive coaching staff and a ton of new players who are still learning a new scheme and a new front -- and in several cases, new positions.
And it was the first live football these guys have played since last winter, since the Eagles don’t tackle to the ground in practice.
Still … guys were out of position, guys took bad angles on the ball, guys missed tackles, guys got run over.
It didn’t look all that different from last year, when the Eagles ranked 29th in the NFL in scoring defense during a nightmarish 4-12 season.
“It’s the preseason, and you’re working and building and getting ready for the season,” linebacker DeMeco Ryans said. “I thought it was OK. We could do better. Some good stuff for us to learn from and build off and see where we’re at going against a different offense.”
The first play of the Chip Kelly era was a 62-yard run by Stevan Ridley.
Five plays later -- all runs -- Ridley scored to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead.
“You don’t want to give up big plays,” Ryans said. “But it’s correctable. This is a new unit coming together, and it’s our first preseason game. There’s nothing like a glaring issue that we can’t fix. We’ll be fine.”
The second drive, Brady went to work, completing 7 of 8 passes for 65 yards and a 13-yard touchdown pass to fullback Shane Vereen. Mychal Kendricks didn’t have bad coverage on the play, it was just a perfect ball by Brady.
And that was it for the starting defense.
They defended 16 plays and allowed 160 yards.
The Patriots were 3 for 3 on third down vs. the Eagles’ first defense, converting a third-and-1, a third-and-4 and then another third-and-1.
“As we got into a rhythm through our 15 plays, I think we started to get the feel of everything,” defensive lineman Fletcher Cox said.
“As a team we fought. They had a few big runs that led to a lot of yardage. Those big runs just killed us. We just have to go in and see what happened on those plays and figure out how to correct it.”
Things didn’t get much better with the second defense on the field.
LeGarrette Blount, who played for Kelly at Oregon, scored on a ridiculous 51-yard, reverse-field touchdown run through traffic late in the second quarter, giving the Patriots two TD runs of 50 yards or more in the first half.
By halftime, the Patriots had 334 yards, 24 points (and a missed field goal), 17 first downs and 167 rushing yards. And that’s with an ineffective Tim Tebow playing the last two series of the second quarter.
Despite Tebow also playing the entire second half (and passing for 55 yards), the Patriots piled up 442 yards, 248 rushing yards and 25 first downs against an assortment of Eagles defenders.
None of the veteran newcomers -- safeties Kenny Phillips and Patrick Chung, cornerback Bradley Fletcher, outside linebacker Connor Barwin or nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga -- did anything particularly memorable Friday evening.
Vinny Curry, the second-year defensive end, was one of the few bright spots, with several good pass pressures and a split sack with undrafted rookie linebacker Jake Knott, who also had several good pressures.
Defensive linemen Bennie Logan and Damion Square both did some good things, with a few tackles in the run game and several good pressures. Square also had a clean hit to the midsection that knocked Patriots backup quarterback Ryan Mallett out of the game.
But the secondary was awful -- first team, second team -- and the performance by this revamped 3-4 linebacker corps was not promising.
The Eagles continue the preseason Thursday night at the Linc against the Panthers. Opening day is 31 days away. The Eagles have some work to do on one side of the ball.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.