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Billy Davis: 'We're Going To Circle The Wagons And Come Out Swinging'

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Eagles are underdogs on Sunday against the Broncos. Serious underdogs.

They're visiting the best team in the AFC, whose strength, passing offense, lines up in an unfortunate manner with the Eagles weakness, pass defense.

Eagles defensive coordinator Billy Davis knows what he's facing, and what people are saying, and the team is using it as motivation.

"Absolutely [there is an 'us against the world' attitude in the locker room]. That's where we are," Davis told the 94WIP Morning Show on Wednesday. "We've got two losses under our belt, we believe we can play better, we should have made plays to win those games, we didn't. That's who we are, we're 1-2. We got a chance to go on the road and nobody is giving us a chance, and we're just gonna circle the wagons and come out swinging."

Much of the focus on the failings of the Eagles secondary has focused on safety Nate Allen, who has split much of his playing time with rookie Earl Wolff.

"Nate [Allen] is right in the mix with everybody else, but for some reason everybody's on him. I don't know if it was the high draft pick or whatever it is, but as I came here, Nate fits right in with the rest of the guys and he's getting better every week," Davis said. "He has some good plays, he has some bad plays, like we all do, and for some reason everybody is kind of piling on him and I don't see it quite the way the rest of the group sees it because I watch him work every day. In the game yes, there's some bad plays absolutely, but he's not alone in that. We all have good plays and we all have bad plays, and it's kind of a little bit overkill right now with how Nate is kind of taken the brunt of all of this."

The task at hand, quite obviously, is not stopping, but slowing down Peyton Manning, who at the age of 37 is having the best start of his career. He leads the NFL with a 119 QB rating, and has thrown 12 touchdowns against zero interceptions.

"Peyton [Manning] is at his best right now, his receivers are all in tune with him and they're effectively executing their offense," Davis said.  "It's a great challenge for us. We really are excited about the challenge. It's why you coach and play in the NFL because you get to play against the best in the planet and we thrive and live for these challenges, and we are really excited as an Eagles defense to go up against this offense and give it our best shot and see where we stand against the best."

 

 

 

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