The Eagles run defense was a major problem early in the season. The overall defense had some serious struggles. Juan Castillo and the coaches made some schematic tweaks. They have continued to tinker with the lineup all season long, trying to find the right combination of players for each situation. Believe it or not, the defense is much improved.

For some reason, much of the media doesn't want to acknowledge this fact. Rob Ryan gets lauded for the excellent job he's done with the Dallas defense. Castillo can't seem to get a bit of credit. Check out the numbers:

Dallas: 328.6 yards per game - 20.6 points per game
Eagles: 333.4 yards per game - 21.3 points per game

Based on the numbers you can clearly see that Ryan is a defensive genius and Castillo has no idea what he's doing, right? Ugh. Too often perception becomes reality. Changing that is awfully hard.

Castillo and the defense have done their best to change people's minds in recent weeks. In the last five games, the defense has allowed just 408 rushing yards (81.6 per game). The Skins were held to 42 yards on the ground and the Giants registered a season-low 29 yards. The run defense was, let's be honest, awful early this year. The Eagles are now 14th against the run. On Sunday night, Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth talked about the porous run defense early in the broadcast. Once he saw how the Eagles were playing, he quickly changed up and started to praise the defense. It would have been nice to hear Collinsworth, a good analyst, mention that the Eagles had shut down Beanie Wells and the Cardinals ground game the week before.

I'm not trying to re-write history. The Eagles defense deserved a lot of criticism early on. Castillo and the players did a poor job in the first month or so. What bugs me is that once a team, unit, or player gets a label, no one seems willing to change it.

Tommy Lawlor, goeagles99 on the Discussion Boards, is an amateur football scout and devoted Eagles fan. He was a finalist for Philadelphia's Most Influential Blogger Award and is the Editor of IgglesBlitz.com

The Eagles defense is far from perfect, but has played pretty well in the last five games. Three teams have been held under 14 points in a game. No quarterback has thrown for 300 yards in any one of those games. Matt Forte is the only running back to break 75 yards in that stretch (he ran for 133). This group won't be confused with 1991's Gang Green unit anytime soon, but they are at least headed in the right direction.

There are two primary factors in the improved play.

The defensive tackles have played much better. They are now a factor against the run and pass. Most importantly, the safeties are now playing good football. Kurt Coleman and Nate Allen are getting the job done at the back of the defense. They come up quickly in run defense. They tackle well. They are solid in coverage. Allen and Coleman have made mistakes, but all safeties do. Anyone who thinks Brian Dawkins, Wes Hopkins and Andre Waters were perfect is mistaken. I'm not saying that Allen and Coleman are anywhere near that trio, but both guys are young. The Dawkins of 1996 and 1997 was far different from the guy of 1999-2005, when he was at his peak. The young safety duo is playing pretty well.

Akeem Jordan has been the SAM linebacker in the last two games. He played well vs. the Giants. Jordan stayed in his gap and was a factor against the run on Sunday night. Maybe the trio of Jordan, Brian Rolle and Jamar Chaney will prove to be the best set of linebackers for this team. I like the fact that Castillo is willing to make changes, but also that he's patient with players. Castillo gives players enough time to show what they can do. If the player doesn't improve enough, he gets benched and someone else gets a chance. You have to let players have enough time to get into the flow of things and then judge them.

Castillo and his players have a lot of work still to do. The fourth quarter defense must improve. The red zone defense must improve. These are two critical areas where the defense isn't close to being where they need to be. Castillo and the coaches will continue to figure out subtle changes that can help. The players must execute better. Some of the red zone breakdowns are simply physical errors. You cannot make mistakes in that part of the field.

It is good that the defense has gotten better during the course of the year, but this isn't the time to let up. The guys have six games left to show what they can do. The Patriots come to town on Sunday and that will be a huge opportunity for the defense to show the world just how far they have really come.

WORTHY OF SOME PRAISE

• The Eagles won the battle up front and that's how they won the Giants game. The offensive line gave Vince Young plenty of time and he took advantage of that. There wasn't a lot of running room, but that had more to do with numbers than blocking. The Giants weren't going to let LeSean McCoy beat them.

• Cullen Jenkins had a monster game. He was disruptive all game. That might be the best game by an Eagles defensive tackle in a decade. I'd have to go back and do research on that. Antonio Dixon had a great game last year. Darwin Walker had a great game against the Redskins in Week 2 of the 2002 season. Jenkins didn't put up great numbers, but he was a wrecking ball all night long. His hit on Danny Ware late in the half was incredible. That showed great hustle. Think the Packers miss Jenkins?

• Derek Landri is one of my favorite Eagles. I joke about his heroics a lot over at IgglesBlitz.com and on Twitter. Landri had a good game and has been a good player since the team brought him back. I didn't think they should have cut him in the first place. Landri eats up double teams when he is the nose tackle. He is disruptive when he's single-blocked. Great effort player.

• The Meadowlands March, as someone dubbed the fourth quarter touchdown drive, was a thing of beauty. Young ran the offense well. The line gave him time. The skill players did their part. Jason Avant's catch was simply amazing. DeSean Jackson used a stiff arm to fight off a tackler and get a first down. Ronnie Brown got things started with a good run on the initial third down of the drive. Also give Marty Mornhinweg a ton of credit. He called great plays. The Giants were off-balance and not sure what was coming next.

• Young wasn't my favorite Eagle after his "Dream Team" comment, but all is forgiven after his showing on Sunday night. He struggled early, but hung in there and got better as he got into the flow of the game. He was clutch on the late scoring drive. There was no panic or hesitation from him at all. Great job.

• I loved the fact Riley Cooper had a good game. He has taken a bunch of heat from fans who wanted to know if he could play. Cooper is a good young player who simply needs a chance to show what he can do. He got that on Sunday night and delivered in a big way.

For more dead-on analysis from Tommy Lawlor, check out the Fan-Demonium archive.