Perhaps the most underappreciated unit on the Eagles is the linebacking corps. With the loss of Stewart Bradley in the preseason, some outsiders predicted that there wasn't enough big-play talent along the back end of the front seven. But it only took one game for Chris Gocong, Omar Gaither, and Akeem Jordan to disprove that notion.
In the Eagles' 38-10 win over the Panthers on opening day, Gaither had four total tackles, a half-sack, and a fumble recovery. Gocong was outstanding in coverage all day, including a diving pass-breakup to prevent a Panthers' touchdown at the goal line. And Jordan recorded his first sack and his first interception in the same game, the first time an Eagle has done that since 2007 when Bradley pulled off the same double-play.
"We've been saying that all off-season, all training camp," Gaither said. "We want to get turnovers. We want to be a great defense."
"We don't have any pro-bowlers for the linebackers or stuff like that, so it seems like that's always a question," Gocong said. "But we like to take pride in the stuff we do. We're downhill, physical linebackers and we kind of hold it together between the defensive line and the secondary."
Gocong said that games like the season opener are what makes playing professional football such a pleasure.
"We're all tired but we're having fun, you kind of forget that you're tired," he said. "I don't know exactly how long the defense was on the field, but we got a lot of snaps. At the same time, we were having fun. It felt like were back in high school just making plays."
Head coach Andy Reid said he was impressed by both the big plays the linebackers were able to make and the play-to-play consistency.
"I thought the linebackers played good solid football," Reid said. "I thought [LB Chris] Gocong played very well. It was great to see [LB] Omar [Gaither] in there. The guy ended up playing the whole game and I thought he did a heck of a job leading the defense.
"I think (Jordan)'s taken a step up. He's more comfortable."
-- Posted by Bo Wulf, 12:13 p.m., September 15
