Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is concerned enough about the NFL's new rule banning tacklers from lowering their head to initiate contact that he held a defensive meeting Monday specifically so his guys could study film of exactly how the league is calling the new rule.
Through two preseason weekends, the Eagles have been cited a league-high five times for personal fouls for lowering the head.
"The instructions we've given guys is, try not to lower your head and try to take your head out of it, and I think our guys are trying to do that," Schwartz said.
"I can confidently say we don't have any guys that are trying to play outside the bounds. We don't have any guys that are head hunting, that are being selfish. They're trying to play within the rules.
"I think you can see Nigel (Bradham's) play, he's trying to get his head out. I think even Rodney (McLeod's) play, he's trying to get his head across and get it out. The problem is they're dealing with world-class athletes who are moving targets. A little bit easier said than done.
"And those fouls have hurt us in those first couple preseason games and we've got to get to a point where they don't hurt us in the regular season."
Cornerback Sidney Jones was called for a lowering-the-head penalty on Steelers receiver Damoun Patterson in the preseason opener, and tight end Richard Rodgers was also cited in the opener for an illegal hit on Justin Thomas on a punt return.
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On Thursday night, McLeod was called for a hit on running back James White, Bradham was cited for a hit on receiver Julian Edelman and safety Jeremy Reaves was penalized for a hit on running back Mike Gillislee.
"It's going to be very important work over the next couple weeks, not just learning from our own mistakes but learning from other teams," Schwartz said.
"There's some other good feedback. We get clips from the league that show not just penalties that were called but penalties that should have been called. So there is a learning process."
Eagles veteran defensive end Brandon Graham said it's going to be tough to eliminate these penalties simply because the game moves so fast, and even if your intention is to use perfect form tackling, it doesn't always end up that way.
"It's tough because sometimes the runner's ducking his head just as much as you're ducking," he said. "But they just don't want to see the crown of your head hitting his crown or hitting his facemask.
"Just really try to keep your eyes up. You're going to get ran over sometimes. Hey, you're going to get ran over. But some people do like to use the crown of their head and it's just to protect them because you don't want to be paralyzed from hitting someone the wrong way.
"So I try to keep my face up and hit with my facemask and this will force people to start doing stuff like that."
One challenge Schwartz is getting his guys to play hard, fast and aggressive without thinking about how they're tackling.
"You want to play fast," he said. "You want to play confidently on the field. But any time there's something new, there is going to be an adjustment.
"It's a difficult thing. We're trying our best to work through it, but it does add a layer of difficulty to what we're trying to do."
According to penalty stats on NFLgsis, an official league statistical web site, there have been 48 lowering-the-head penalties called in 32 preseason games or 1½ per game.
Eight of the 32 teams haven't been cited at all. The Eagles and Titans have been called a league-high five times each.
"It's real sensitive right now, but as professionals, we're going to adjust," Graham said.
"They want to make it an emphasis in preseason, and I'm happy it didn't cost us a real game. We've just got to continue to keep our head out of things and I think we'll make that adjustment."
