FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – They were embarrassed last year. Humiliated.
A first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback vs. a new secondary with a new coach and a new scheme?
Talk about a mismatch. No wonder Tom Brady picked apart the Eagles during joint practices at the NovaCare Complex last year.
Those were not easy practices for Eagles defensive coordinator Billy Davis to watch.
“Yeah, especially after watching Tom Brady just rip through you,” Davis said. “But that's what he does on a daily basis.”
A year later, the embarrassment has turned into something very different.
The Eagles opened Year 2 of joint practices with the Patriots on Tuesday on the grass fields adjacent to Gillette Stadium, and this time, they fought back.
Brady still made his share of plays, but the Eagles’ secondary battled. They knocked balls down. They forced misfires. They were physical without being called for penalties.
This time, it was a fair fight.
“We are so far advanced of where we were last year,” Davis said. “He's still who he is, and with no rush he's going to win more than he loses. But we are so far ahead of where we were. It's a much better feeling.
“That first year is a bear. I don't even know how to explain it. You have to keep going and going and going and playing on Sundays, but it's a real good feeling now."
Let’s not get carried away. The secondary didn’t dominate. But they did hold their own against a two-time MVP and three-time Super Bowl winner.
Last August, Brady coasted through the three days of workouts at the NovaCare Complex and was virtually perfect. And the Eagles went on to allow the fifth-most passing yards in NFL history.
With Malcolm Jenkins and Nolan Carroll added to the mix -- and Patrick Chung subtracted and now with the Patriots -- and everybody else one year further along in Davis’s scheme, the difference between August 2013 and August 2014 was astonishing.
“That was my first time ever having a joint practice, so it kind of let you know what it’s about,” Eagles corner Brandon Boykin said.
“You’re definitely ready that second year, and I think the defensive backs did a good job of coming out early in the 1-on-1s and setting the tone for the practice. I think that’s what got us ready and got us hyped on the defense, so it was a good day.
The Eagles’ joint practices with the Patriots last year came before the Eagles had even played a preseason game. So Davis’s scheme was still brand new.
And it showed.
“That was a really great barometer for us last year,” Davis said. “Quarterbacks like Tom Brady -- the Kurt Warners of the world, the Brett Favres -- in 7-on-7, those guys will pick you apart. It's what he did last year.”
The difference?
Davis said it’s really simple.
His guys know what they’re doing now. A year of film and classroom and meetings and practices has given them enough familiarity with a difficult scheme to be able to go out and make plays. Even against one of the best ever.
"I just think it's comfort,” Davis said after practice. “It's people playing technique now and playing the game as opposed to thinking about assignment.
“If you can clear up an athlete's head, he plays faster, and when you're teaching him a new scheme, he can't clear his head. It's cluttered, and there's nothing you can do about it until you rep it out until it gets cleared. And it feels cleared right now.”
We won’t truly know how much the Eagles’ defense has improved “until Jacksonville,” Davis said, referring to the regular-season opener on Sept. 7.
This was definitely a good sign, though.
“We were real comfortable,” safety Nate Allen said. “This time last year, we were kind of just getting used to each other, getting used to the system. I don’t think we had even played our first preseason game yet.
“Now we’ve got a year under our belt, we’ve got a preseason game under our belt, and we’re just comfortable, and you can see the difference.”
You saw a little swagger out of the Eagles' D-backs Tuesday afternoon when they made a play.
Curtis Marsh, torched by Brady last year, knocked a ball away from Julian Edelman and then made an exaggerated incomplete sign. Cary Williams didn’t just bat a ball away from Brandon LaFell, he made sure he dragged LaFell to the ground. Boykin was in great position as a Brady pass sailed over Danny Amendola’s head.
Small steps. But important ones.
“I felt like we were a little bit more prepared,” Boykin said. “I thought last year, in the 7-on-7s, they picked us apart that first day and this year we were more prepared.
“Tom Brady is an amazing quarterback, and he is going to put the ball where only his receivers can get it. He did the same today, but we were in position to make plays and that just shows our improvement from last year.
“We were like 10 days into our camp when we had to go against them last year, so everybody was kind of trying to figure out each other, the scheme and just the pace and everything. Now we’ve had a full season. We know how each other plays, we know the calls and we know just the way we all play, so we feel comfortable.”