MINNEAPOLIS -- The elderly gentlemen with the white hair leaned back against a bank of lockers early Sunday night, looking exhausted, almost as if he had played 60 minutes of playoff football.
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| One Vikings player says Jim Johnson's group is 'always one of the top defenses for a reason.' (Getty Images) |
It's New York Giants week again. Only this time -- the third meeting this season -- it means a spot in the NFC Championship Game, and if the Eagles are to have any chance Johnson's wizardry will have to show.
Johnson's swarming defense limited Minnesota Vikings star runner Adrian Peterson to 83 yards, but 40 came on one touchdown run. That unit also scored a touchdown on a 44-yard interception return by cornerback Asante Samuel to beat the Vikings 26-14 in an NFC Wild-card game. That victory advances the Eagles to a Divisional round game next Sunday against the Giants at Giants Stadium.
Yes, quarterback Donovan McNabb and running back Brian Westbrook and others are vitally important to the Eagles' chances next week, but Johnson, the 67-year-old defensive guru is the key to beating the Giants. He might be able to walk into a bar anywhere outside of Philly -- hey, they're diehards there -- and nobody would know him, but Johnson's work is well known in NFL circles.
The guy is a mastermind. You could almost see his mind already at work when asked about the Giants after the Minnesota win.
"It comes down to being disciplined with the Giants," Johnson said. "We'll have to come up with some wrinkles as far as the pressure packages, but the run defense won't change that much, I don't think."
That run defense was the big thing on the minds of the Eagles defenders coming into the Vikings game. They had to stop Peterson. He had an MVP-type of season and his ability to make the cutback runs and go the distance makes it tough for defenses. It's also imperative to the Vikings offense that he comes up big since the passing game is so limited.
That's where discipline is key. You can't get caught being too aggressive.
Peterson got the Eagles in the first half with a 40-yard cutback run for a touchdown. He also had a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 16-14 at the half. He had 64 yards on eight carries in the first half. In the second, it was 19 yards on 11 carries.
"The cut he had in the hole, the pursuit kind of went too far, and if you give him a lane he can bust it," Eagles linebacker Stewart Bradley said. "One of the adjustments we made at halftime was the guys stayed in the gaps and that seemed to work."
With Tarvaris Jackson struggling at quarterback, that made it easy for the Eagles to shut down the Vikings in the second half.
As it turned out, Samuel scored the winning points on his interception return for a touchdown. On that play, Jackson was pressured inside and threw a terrible pass to the sideline that landed in Samuel's arms. He gathered it in and raced down the left sideline for an easy score, his sixth interception in his postseason career and his fourth returned for a touchdown.
"That's when it's time to step up your game," Samuel said.
The Eagles signed Samuel as a free agent away from New England last spring because he is a big-play corner. He earned a trip to the Pro Bowl this season, but there were some scouts who thought Sheldon Brown, the other corner, played better than Samuel did this season.
Cue the postseason. That's when Samuel shines. It's when he shows why the Eagles gave him a six-year, $57-million contract.
Samuel almost didn't play against the Vikings. He sustained a hip injury in Thursday's practice and was listed as questionable. He was in and out of the game Sunday. Asked if the injury felt better when he was racing to his touchdown, Samuel smiled.
"A whole lot better," he said. "You don't feel it for a little while when you do something like that."
The Eagles limited the Vikings to 106 yards and six first downs in the second half. That's Johnson's mastery at its best.
If he were younger, Johnson's name would be one of the so-called "hot" guys on the lists for teams trying to fill head-coaching jobs. As it is, that has passed him by. Sadly, I might add. Some team missed out on a heck of a coach.
So he does the next best thing, which is to help make Eagles coach Andy Reid look good. Johnson is considered one of the mad scientists on the defensive side of the ball. He has complex blitz packages that drive quarterbacks crazy.
Those blitzes were a big reason why Jackson finished 15-for-35 for 164 yards and one pick with a passer rating of 45.4.
"They're always one of the top defenses for a reason," Vikings center Matt Birk said. "They're talented. They're well coached."
The latter is the real key. The players come and go, but Johnson keeps them playing well.
After the game, you could almost sense that the Eagles were glad that their next opponent was going to be the Giants. Nobody would quite come out and say it, but you could feel it.
I asked Eagles defensive end Chris Clemons if his team wanted the Giants again and he smiled.
"They got us once, we got them once, so now the loser goes home," he said.
The Giants ran for 216 yards in a 36-31 victory over the Eagles in Week 10. But in the rematch, played at Giants Stadium in Week 14, the Eagles won by limiting the Giants to 211 yards of total offense and just 88 yards rushing.
"One of the things was we vowed to each other not to give up 200 yards rushing again," Clemons said. "We got better since the first time. The biggest thing was stopping the run and getting pressure on Eli [Manning]. It always starts up front."
No, for the Eagles defense it starts with Johnson. It's too bad that most have no idea who he is or what he does.
They might after the Giants game.
cant wait4nfl 
