Last year's Philadelphia Eagles defense was historic in franchise standards, having one of the best seasons in team history, thanks in part to the massive contributions of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
Some might forget that it wasn't a perfect start to the 2024 Super Bowl-winning season for the Eagles as they began 2-2 before losing just one more game en route to a dominant road to the Lombardi Trophy. Philly is hoping to avoid that slow start again, and Fangio believes they will.
While speaking with the media on Monday, Fangio expressed his confidence that the slow start won't happen again, and if it does, it won't be a significant issue.
"I hope not. I don't foresee that," Fangio said viaThe Athletic's Zach Berman. "I think that's overplayed a little bit, what happened those first four weeks. But no, I think we're ready to go. We still have a lot of guys that were here last year and guys that we expect to be improved from last year."
Fangio was asked a follow up on why he believes that the slow start was overplayed.
"I just think the first game last year, we probably did too much as coaches schematically, which somewhat was my fault. I gave up too many big plays because of things we weren't playing correctly. It was more so [that] than execution. It was execution, but we shouldn't have been playing them that early. I had too much confidence in what I thought they knew in that first game.
The second game, we just didn't play the run well. The third game, I thought we played great, and then in the fourth game, our entire team just got slaughtered. Then I think the fifth game, we had a game come down to the wire against, I think it was Cleveland. It’s there, I'm not saying it wasn't, but it wasn't like suddenly a light went on."
Why was the slow start overplayed last year?
Fangio: "I just think the first game last year, we probably did too much as coaches schematically, which somewhat was my fault. I gave up too many big plays because of things we weren't playing correctly. It was more so [that] than… https://t.co/nMDIRHtDry
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) September 2, 2025
The Eagles' defense allowed 365.7 yards per game in the first four games of the 2024 campaign. After that, they allowed just 270.5 yards per game in the next 17 games, including the postseason, including 11 of those games where they allowed less than 300 yards of offense.
Overall for the season, the Eagles' defense finished first in the NFL in total defense, allowing 278.4 yards per game (the only team in the NFL to allow less than 300 yards a game). They were also first in pass defense (174.2), 10th in rush defense (104.2), second in scoring defense (17.8), and sixth in takeaways (26)
Eagles have the talent to be consistent on defense in 2025
There is a lot of changes to this defense as up front, they won't have Brandon Graham, Milton Williams, and Josh Sweat anymore. In the secondary, they got hit hard with Darius Slay, James Bradberry, Avonte Maddox, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson gone.
They will be leaning heavily on young players like Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Quinyon Mitchell, and Cooper DeJean to step up despite all being 25 or under. The two veterans of the unit, Zack Baun and Reed Blankenship, are the team captains and have bigger responsibilities in 2025.
Everyone's biggest question for the Eagles in 2025 is how the youth of this defense will perform in 2025. Many of the players are inexperienced, with limited starting experience, including Jalyx Hunt, Moro Ojomo, Jihaad Campbell, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., and Andrew Mukuba.
Read more:ESPN's bold 2025 prediction for Eagles would have seismic impact on young defense
If there is one person to believe in that will make this work, it's Fangio.