DETROIT — Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz possibly knows Matthew Stafford better than any NFL quarterback. That doesn’t necessarily give him an advantage when the Lions play at Philadelphia on Sunday.
“I think he just understands how he thinks and how Matt (Stafford) operates. You still have to go play. He’s been a great quarterback for many years and he’s got a big arm and Jim understands that,’’ Eagles coach Doug Pederson said on a conference call. “I can’t give you all of my secrets, or Jim’s secrets, but I’m sure he’ll have something for him. He understands him. This business, this is the way it works.
“We’re going to draft players and players are going to move on. Coaches are going to move on and you’re going to see them in the future. You just always keep things in the back of your mind for when you do play them,’’ Pederson added.
Schwartz got his first NFL head coaching job with the Lions and spent five seasons (2009-13) in Detroit.
“A lot of fond memories. Obviously, I got drafted here by him and he was part of that process, so I appreciate him a lot for giving me the chance. We went to playoffs for the first time in a long time in this franchise’s history and did a lot of good things in kind of getting us to where we are now, which I’m proud of, and I know he is too,’’ Stafford said this week.
“As far as going against him, I’ve played against him a couple of times since then. I’ve got a lot of respect for him as a defensive coach. His guys play extremely hard. They’re in the right spot. They play aggressive. Year-in and year-out they’re really good defenses. They’re top-echelon defenses and this one seems to be no different,’’ the quarterback added.
Schwartz had been the Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator before joining the Lions. The Lions defenses under him and coordinator Gunther Cunningham had successes and failures.
The Eagles’ defense likely won’t have much similarity due to different personnel.
“He’s going to adapt to the guys that he has in his locker room and he has on that team and play to their style and put them in their strengths,’’ Stafford said. “He’s like a lot of coaches in this league that do that. Just generally speaking, they’re an aggressive defense. They play extremely hard and they’re good at what they do.”
The Lions’ offense scored just a pair of touchdowns last week but it was enough for the 13-10 win over the Chargers. Still, it’s looking for more consistency.
“You’d love to score points on every single drive, and touchdowns if you can. We just have to do a better job of staying on the field a little bit on third down and we had some opportunities in the last game to stay on the field and didn’t,’’ Stafford said. “I think it would’ve ended up in some points. We just have to do a little bit better job there and then make sure when we get our opportunities for big plays, we have to hit them.”
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