All season long, the focus of the Eagles’ pass defense has been to keep the ball in front of them, limit yards after the catch, and not give up the deep ball. During the regular season, they gave up just 40 completions of 20 or more yards, fifth fewest in the league.
They did another excellent job of that Saturday against Matt Ryan and Julio Jones and Co. Ryan had three completions of 20-plus yards, but none longer than 24. And that one – to Mohamed Sanu in the second quarter – would’ve gained no more than 12 or 13 but for a missed tackle by cornerback Ronald Darby.