The key to handling pressure, Moore said again, is cleanliness.

“I think it’s just having a clean toolbox,” Moore said. “There’s a lot of different things we can do. But just making sure it’s clean, effective and, as you build it, you’ve got to continue to evolve so that one week maybe your answer is a certain play and maybe the next week you’ve got to make the adjustment off that. And so that’s, I think, the continuous evolution through the season. There’s going to be different challenges each and every week. We’re going to walk into a room and deal with the blitz protection, and we’re going to look at it and there’s going to be a couple of different challenges each and every week.”

Fangio hints Philly may be his last stop

In 1984, Fangio began his pro coaching career as a defensive assistant for the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars.

“I thought it’d be cool to hopefully end it here,” said Fangio, a native of Dunmore, Pa. “So, 40 years later, here I am.”

Fangio often made family visits to Pennsylvania during his career. His mother lives two hours north of Philadelphia. His kids live two hours south. Fangio is comfortable in his home state. He grew up a fan of all Philadelphia teams, especially the Phillies. He still frequently eats at the Philadium, a classic spot near the city’s cluster of stadiums.

“It was a thrill for me to go to work every day at Veterans Stadium 40 years ago, because I used to go to games there all the time,” Fangio said. “And now, I’m thrilled to come back 40 years later and hopefully finish it out here.”

Fangio addressed his past newsworthiness in relation to the Eagles, which has been well-documented.

Would he have been the Eagles’ defensive coordinator last year had there been more clarity about Jonathan Gannon’s departure?

“I would say that’s a fair assumption.”

Did he “mutually part ways” with the Miami Dolphins because he saw an opportunity to coach the Eagles’ defense?

“Basically, yes.”

What did Fangio make of Dolphins players celebrating the news that he was leaving on social media?

“Yeah, I didn’t see that at all, really. Anything we do either here, there or anywhere else I’ve been is what we think is best for the team and best for the defense specifically to stop somebody, and wherever that falls, that’s where it falls.”

What did he make of the Eagles’ defensive struggles under Desai, who was an assistant under Fangio with the Chicago Bears?

“I really don’t know. Anytime it goes bad like it did, everybody has their fingerprints on it. It’s not just one thing or one person.”

Fangio on his system and when to go ‘back to basics’

Fangio is arguably the most influential defensive mind in the modern NFL. Several teams cherry-pick concepts from his system, if not his philosophies entirely.

Fangio, who was fired by the Broncos after the 2021 season, spent the following year in what he characterized as a sabbatical. He stayed home and studied film. He searched for trends and how to adapt his concepts. Even after departing the Dolphins, he said he studied at least two defenses, deducing new wrinkles to deploy.

“We have a system that is versatile, we like to think,” Fangio said. “It needs to be versatile because every week you’re facing different strengths of an offense, different schemes. What you play in one week, 10 to 15 times, you may not play at all the next week. You have to have a versatile system for the offenses today in the NFL, and what we’ll eventually do is learn what our guys are best at.

“So, I like to throw a lot at them early because I think one of the worst things you can do is come Week 3, Week 5, ‘Man, we could really use this scheme but it hasn’t been introduced to the players yet.’ Whereas if you’d introduced it to them in training camp and worked on it, when you pull it back out three to four weeks later, there’s recall.”

Poor tackling persisted for the Eagles in 2023. In an era of limited practices and rules restricting certain levels of contact, Fangio said, “I keep pushing for more.” It’s expected that Sirianni will increase the frequency and intensity of practices in 2024. How much more will there be this offseason?

“I’ll let Nick answer that for you,” Fangio said.

Ultimately, the Eagles are counting on the belief that defensive problems won’t snowball under Fangio’s expertise, as they did in 2023 when Sirianni demoted Desai midseason after losing faith in his ability to field successful game plans. What is Fangio’s approach when faced with such circumstances?

“When things aren’t going good, you need to go back to basics,” Fangio said. “I’ll tell the players early in camp that if we’re struggling, don’t expect me to magically scheme our way out of it during a game. We’re going back to basics, and we’re going to call the things that we’ve been practicing since day one, and we’ve got to fight our way out of it. And if you don’t have that foundation, and you’re always grabbing for the perfect call, you’ll be OK for a little bit. But eventually, you’re going to get gashed.”

Fangio’s quick hits on players

On first-round cornerback Quinyon Mitchell: “He’s obviously got good movement. He’s got good size for a corner. He’s going to have to adapt to the NFL game, cover NFL receivers, NFL scheme and the passing game. There’s a lot to learn. But we think he’s the right guy emotionally and mentally to do that, and hopefully he’ll pay dividends quickly rather than later. But he’s going to be one of the many competing.”

On how they’ll develop versatile players like defensive back Cooper DeJean: “You start them out at a primary position, and then you start giving them the secondary position, and then you’ll go from there.”

On free-agent edge rusher Bryce Huff: “(GM) Howie (Roseman) asked us to watch him … myself and (defensive ends/outside linebackers coach Jeremiah Washburn). We liked him. He’s been a good pass rusher for the Jets playing in somewhat of a part-time role. Hopefully, we can make him proficient enough to where he plays more, meaning his run play and on the occasion or two that we may want to drop him.”

Special teams coordinator Michael Clay on new kickoff rules

“The great thing about it, 31 other teams are in the same boat in terms of that,” Clay said. “It’s going to be exciting and interesting all at the same time because you really don’t know what to expect because no one’s really even seen it. Even from an XFL aspect, there’s still a lot of nuances from the XFL rules, what they implemented to what we want to get done here in the NFL. It’s an exciting time. It’s a lot of retraining for a lot of these veteran guys who are so used to these new rules, to just relearning them from the ground up.”

Eagles return specialist Britain Covey led the NFL with 417 punt return yards in 2023. Still, the Eagles drafted players like DeJean and wide receiver Ainias Smith who were proficient punt returners in college. What does that mean for Covey?

“Covey’s a great option to have as a punt returner. We’ve brought in some guys who do have some punt return abilities. As we move forward, competition usually breeds greatness. So, having other guys out there and also getting to see these guys, if you remember last year from preseason, we didn’t have the greatest amount of punt returners, so I had to throw (cornerback) Zech McPhearson out there. That does him a little bit of disservice. He hasn’t done it since high school. But having all these possible punt returners allows them to get some film, get some feel.”