The one consistent thing from the 24 years of Eagles football that I have been alive to see is that if the Eagles are posting double-digit wins, it usually means that the defense is at the top of its game.

Back in the days of Buddy Ryan, the Eagles, despite having Randall Cunningham in his prime, were known for their defense, led by the pair of gone-too-soon defensive linemen, Reggie White and Jerome Brown, along with Clyde Simmons, Eric Allen, and Seth Joyner.

Then in the early part of this decade, the Eagles rose to prominence on the backs of their standout secondary, which included current free safety Brian Dawkins, and cornerbacks Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent.

After recent seasons of suffering through sub-par defensive efforts, which included an injured secondary, aging linebackers, and a porous defensive line, the Birds defense finally looks a unit that could carry the team into the playoffs, regardless of who is throwing and catching passes on offense.

While the Eagles’ pass rush still lacks a consistent threat other than Pro Bowl defensive end Trent Cole, the secondary is once again primed to lead Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson’s defense to the top of the pack in the NFL.

The Eagles’ secondary is stacked with three top ranked cornerbacks—Asante Samuel, Sheldon Brown and Lito Sheppard, assuming Sheppard focuses on having a big year and parlaying that into the type of big-money contract that he is looking for next offseason.

With this much talent in the secondary, the Eagles defense will work in the exact opposite manner of Andy Reid’s approach to building a football team. The head coach has always said that the best football teams are built from the trenches out, meaning that you start with the big guys on the line and then work your way out to the speedy guys near the sidelines.However, for Johnson, having three top cornerbacks will give him the ability to play man-to-man defense, which means that he will be free to send more blitzers after the quarterback. This will be a stark change in strategy compared to the last few seasons, in which he had to rush the front four and drop six or seven guys into coverage to make up for having to rely on players like Joselio Hanson and Will James.

Suddenly, an undersized defensive line will look a lot stronger going after the quarterback because it will include the linebackers on the blitz, who are the hidden strength of the Eagles defense.

Led by Stewart Bradley, a third round pick last year, this year’s group of linebackers has the potential to develop into one of the best trios in recent memory. Bradley, along with Omar Gaither, and Chris Gocong, were thrown into the fire last year and came out more experienced and ready to perform. Each of these players can blitz, stop the run, and cover a running back or tight end in the open field, which is a skill-set that some previous linebackers—Jeremiah Trotter, Mark Simoneau, Carlos Emmons, Levon Kirkland, Barry Gardner, to name a few—were lacking.

The end result of all of these changes on defense should be more turnovers and negative-yardage plays for a team that struggled to win the turnover battle last year and create good field position for the offense. After all, Samuel has 16 interceptions in his last two seasons, Lito will be roaming around covering overmatched slot receivers, and the Eagles will be able to run their overload blitzes without being afraid of giving up a big play to the offense.

And when the Giants defeated the Patriots by shutting down their high-powered offense in the Super Bowl, we were given one more piece of evidence to the fact that defense wins championships, and this defense, as it is presently constructed, looks capable of making the big plays that are needed to win games in January and February.