Eagles' Defense Looks To Get Back On Track

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The sacks and turnovers were coming in bunches for the Eagles at the beginning of the year. It has been a different story over the last several weeks of the 2016 season.

The Eagles highly touted pass rush has been neutralized as offensive schemes and quarterbacks with quick releases have frustrated the Philadelphia front seven. It was especially difficult for the Eagles on Monday night when they were picked apart by Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers.

Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz understands things will have to change over the final five games of the season.

"We're worried about the production of our defense," said Schwartz. "We haven't had sacks the last couple weeks. We need sacks to be able to help our team. That puts them in third down-and-longs; it gets off the field on third-and-long. It forces turnovers. We haven't forced turnovers the last couple weeks."

One player who has heard his share of criticism is Fletcher Cox. The highly-paid defensive tackle has just eight tackles over his last seven games and has not recorded a sack in that stretch. Schwartz believes things will be different for Cox when the rest of the unit is able to improve.

"I think that the best way to help an individual player is with the other players," Schwartz said. "He does his job the best he can. You can't get frustrated and you can't press to try to make a play because that's when you start bleeding in other places. I think Fletch understands that it's the performance of our defense. He's not a selfish player."

Getting more of a pass rush on the outside would help Cox contribute more inside. One player who has struggled to get to the quarterback is Vinny Curry, who has endured a frustrating year after signing a new contract in the off-season.

"They're just getting rid of the ball with max protection," said Curry. "They know what type of scheme we're running and they're just trying to out-scheme us on certain things, but we've just go to keep grinding. We can't get frustrated. We've just got to stick together."

The next test for the defense will come on Sunday against Cincinnati. Bengals Quarterback Andy Dalton still has the capability to take over a game despite his team's struggles this season and Schwartz is hoping his defense will slow down Dalton and rediscover its winning formula.

"We have to take his first look away," Schwartz said. "We have to be able to take that away and be able to force him to hold it a little bit longer and try to make him make some unwise decisions. If we can do a good job of that, I think we can have a good day."

On Friday Coach Pederson said he plans on keeping Nelson Agholor in the mix.

Ryan Mathews and Halapoulivaati Vaitai are out Sunday with knee injuries. Jordan Matthews remains questionable.