Bowen: Combating Philly's Wide-9
(WSCR) The Bears-Eagles showdown Monday night will give the Bears a taste of something they may not be familiar with.
Defensively, the Eagles employ the Wide-9 technique, which essentially means each defensive end is lined up outside of the 9-hole, giving them more space to rush the quarterback at an angle.
"Think about blocking a punt," Bowen told The Mully and Hanley Show. "That's what I compare it to, if you want to look at a situation. You get a (defensive) guy wider than the last guy on the (offensive) line of scrimmage. You try to shorten that edge, get a quicker jump off the ball, and you're able to see the quarterback. Then, it just turns into a race. That's all it is. It's just a race.
"You're basically telling J'Marcus Webb, 'I can get to that point before you can, and you gotta go backwards, and I can go forwards.' They're trying to generate an easier path to the quarterback."
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As Bowen explained, having such a heavy rush from the outside leaves the inside open for an interior run game.
"The flip side of that is that Philadelphia has not played well against the run this year, defensively," Bowen said. "Their linebackers are weak. When you play that Wide-9 technique, if I'm Mike Martz, I'm looking at the film and saying, 'Well, I'm going to use what've been doing all year. Those quick, inside traps."
