The NFL’s Man Coverage Kings: Eagles Dominate on Offense and Defense
If you study advanced metrics of any kind, there are those times when you read a series of statistics that absolutely blow your mind.
When studying all the matchups for the wild-card round of the 2024 playoffs, this came to light, and it’s pretty remarkable.
In the 2024 regular season, no team was better when facing man coverage than the Philadelphia Eagles, and no team was better when playing man coverage than the Eagles.
You don’t often see a team setting itself apart in a major metric category on both sides of the ball, but the Eagles — under the supervision of head coach Nick Sirianni, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio — have done just that.
When facing man coverage this season, quarterback Jalen Hurts has completed 82 of 118 passes for 1,224 yards, 612 air yards, 11 touchdowns, one interception, and a league-best passer rating of 130.8. Jared Goff of the Detroit Lions ranks second in passer rating against man coverage at 126.3.
By the way, the quarterback with the third-highest passer rating against man coverage this season is Eagles backup Tanner McKee, at 125.4. So, this is clearly a Thing.
And when playing man coverage against enemy passing games this season, Philly has allowed 70 catches on 135 attempts for 829 yards, five touchdowns, eight interceptions, 19 passes defensed, and an opponent quarterback rating of 58.5, which is also the NFL’s best — the Minnesota Vikings rank second at 64.4.
Philly’s man coverage beaters are second to none
When it comes to why the Eagles are so great against man coverage in their own passing game, we can certainly start with the fact that it gives Hurts (and McKee) quicker and less complicated reads, which is important.
And when you have a Number 1 receiver like A.J. Brown, who can beat most defenders through his routes in free space, and can then Godzilla his way through contested catches, that also helps. This season against man coverage, Brown has 36 catches on 52 man targets this season for 613 yards, 396 air yards, five touchdowns, and the NFL’s highest Receiving EPA at +34.77. To put that in perspective, Cortland Sutton of the Denver Broncos ranks second at +26.11, Basically, it’s A.J. Brown and everybody else this season.
