Eagles' new secondary: Take us or leave us

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Cary Williams wasn’t around here last year, so he doesn’t know much about the weekly shenanigans that took place among the Eagles’ secondary.
 
Frankly, Williams doesn’t care much, either. Nor is he concerned about current perceptions from the outside that most of the newcomers in the defensive backfield are castoffs from elsewhere, a misfit conglomeration that isn’t any better than last year’s secondary.

“I don’t think that makes a difference,” he said. “We still get paid. We still play the game. We play the game with integrity. As far as I’m concerned, all that other crap means nothing. The media can say whatever the heck they wanna say about the secondary.
 
“On Monday night [against the Redskins], we show up, we make plays, then they’ll be [less critical of] us. We can’t be worried about what the media thinks about us. We just have to go out and play Eagles football and be the best individuals we could possibly be and collectively be the best secondary we could possibly be in this defense."
 
The transformation most necessary this offseason, in the eyes of the front office, was overhauling the same secondary it once spent some very pretty pennies to refurbish just two years earlier.
 
Out went the Pro Bowl cornerback tandem of Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, the poster children for name-brand value that yielded bargain-basement quality. In came two new corners, Williams and Bradley Fletcher, along with safeties Patrick Chung and rookie pick Earl Wolff.

None of the new additions has made a Pro Bowl, or hit the jackpot in free agency, or was drafted in the first round. Which begs this question: Is this secondary really an upgrade?

“Coming into a season where the secondary, people kinda underestimating us, it can only go up from here,” said second-year slot corner Brandon Boykin, one of the few bright spots from last season. “I know that we’ve got the talent to make a lot of plays. Like you said, it’s kind of a chip-on-our-shoulder feeling that we’ll be a good secondary.”

This year’s foursome is short on superstar reputation but seemingly longer on the lunch-pail mentality that’s been sorely absent for the past two years.

For whatever he lacks in elite cover skills, Williams compensates with an edginess rarely seen at his position. Williams’ hands are as likely to be wrapped around a receiver’s neck after the whistle as they are around an errant pass.

Part of that toughness comes from his years playing alongside like-minded bullies on Baltimore’s defense.

“You know what I bring,” he said. “My line will speak for itself. I’ve played on a Super Bowl team. I made plays in the Super Bowl. I played in the biggest game that you could possibly play in and I made plays and I plan on doing the same things [on Monday]. Every game for me is the Super Bowl.”

Fletcher and Chung, we’re still learning about. Neither will find his comments headlining the back page of tabloids like Williams’ often are, and neither is known for his outstanding coverage skills, but both appear to be willing tacklers. That alone makes them potentially more tolerable to watch than last year’s crew.
 
“Last year is last year, man. I feel like we’re gonna be all right,” Chung said. “[Fans] have got nothing to worry about. Let us do the worrying. Big plays are going to happen. Fans understand that. I understand how they feel, but we’re gonna do the best we can. Just go out there and play for them, make sure they have nothing to worry about.”

Fans might disagree with Chung’s decree to sit back and breathe easy. It’s been a long time since an Eagles defense put up a good fight against the NFL’s growing passing attacks.  
 
After allowing a club-record 31 aerial touchdowns in 2010, which cost defensive coordinator Sean McDermott his job, the team shelled out $60 million on Asomugha and dealt Kevin Kolb to Arizona for Rodgers-Cromartie in 2011 to remedy its pass defense.

But the Eagles allowed 27 more passing touchdowns that season and then completely imploded last year, setting a new club record and leading the NFL with 33.

The idea to reinvent Asomugha into a multifaceted, Charles Woodson-like defensive back never really materialized, as the former Raiders corner struggled to acclimate into basic zone defenses and lacked Woodson’s penchant for knocking someone’s head off. Rodgers-Cromartie baffled coaches with his flightiness at practice and inconsistency on the field, not to mention his allergy to ball carriers.

“I think our mentality is different, as far as who we have here,” Williams said. “No disrespect to those guys that came before us, but I don’t think none of us have a Pro Bowl, so those are things we’re aspiring to.
 
“The worst thing for us to do is to think about after-season accolades and things like that, although those may be goals. But our first goal is to win Monday night. That’s really the ultimate goal.”

Inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans, the leader of the defense, seems to appreciate the blue-collar job approach of the guys behind him and understanding of why the front office went a different direction in assembling this year’s secondary.

“That approach didn’t work out the first time. I guess you go with something different,” he said. “I think we got those hungry guys that are out to prove they’re top players in this league. So with that, I feel like you’ve got guys that are going to put it on the line, bust their butts, work hard and play all-out for us.
 
“I feel like those guys are going to do that. They have something to prove, themselves. We all have something to prove as a defense. How good are we really gonna be as a defense? That’s the question a lot of people are asking. We all have that mentality that we’ve got to go out and show people.”

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