The Sad History of Bill Davis As A Defensive Coordinator

Bill Davis has become a buzz word around the Delaware Valley because to be frank his defenses leave a lot to be desired especially from a coverage standpoint.  The results last year really frustrated Eagle fans as the defense surrendered 90 plays of 20 yards or more. Simply math gives us five and half plays of 20 yards or more a game.  This will not win many games in the NFL and but for Chip Kelly's offense and tempo the team could have easily been 8-8 last season because a couple of games saw some lucky bounces.  Well let's dig a little bit into Bill Davis and look at his defensive philosophy.  

Davis started off with Pittsburgh Steelers under Bill Cowher as defensive statistical analysis coach and that means he studied games and looked for trends in formations, play-calling "tells", and helping with Linebackers.  He then went to the Carolina Panthers as a OLB coach for Dom Capers.  He studied under 2 pretty good defensive coaches and formed his defensive philosophy for attacking offenses and one would have thought that it would have translated as he became a defensive coordinator 13 years later with the San Francisco 49ers.  Bill Davis' defenses at San Francisco in 2005 and 2006 look like this though:

Year    |  Points Per Game         | Yards Per Game             | League Rank

2005               26.8                           391.2                               29th

2006               25.8                           344.2                               32nd

These numbers led to him getting fired but since the NFL is a good ole boys club he was hired as a Linebackers coach the very next year with the Arizona Cardinals in 2007.  Arizona was not the contending team it is today but they were a young team with emerging talent that they collected from drafting high due to losing.  The losing eventually gave Davis his chance again as a defensive coordinator with Arizona Cardinals. Here's his numbers with Arizona:

Year      |  Points Per Game      |  Yards Per Game            | League Rank

2009                20.3                        346.4                               14th

2010                27.1                        373.6                               30th

What about these numbers excite you about Bill Davis?  Three of the four years he was a defensive coordinator his teams finished 29th or lower in the league and one year his defense finished dead last! Lets now take a look at his Eagle numbers as a defensive coordinator:

Year    |  Points Per Game   | Yards Per Game                | League Rank

2013                                                                                         29th

2014                  25.0                     375.6                                28th

I didn't add the 2013 year's numbers because according to Davis it was an install year and everyone was still learning the defense but do you see a trend?  Of course you see the trend and it's all of these defenses rank 28th or lower in the league (except for the one outlier in 2009) . IT'S 32 TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE! The passing defense ranked 31st in the league last year and that is salt in the wound at this point but it magnifies my point.  THIS MUST CHANGE if this team is going to contend and ultimately this will be on Chip Kelly because the information is out there about how to attack and defeat Bill Davis and his defense.

Chip Kelly the failure of this defense will be on you not Bill Davis because you chose this.