Did Bryce Huff start to turn a corner vs. Browns? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
It has been a rough start to Bryce Huff’s time with the Eagles. No way around it.
Through the first four weeks of the season, Huff was a complete non-factor after signing a three-year, $51 million deal in the offseason. It was really ugly.
But things got a little better on Sunday in the first game since the bye week.
“I feel like I’ve just been leaning into the process, continuing to get better and I feel like it showed up a little bit today,” Huff said. “Playing fast.”
It wasn’t like Huff all of a sudden turned into a Pro Bowler in Sunday’s 20-16 win over the Browns. He still certainly didn’t look like a $17 million-per-year player. You might not even say he had a good game.
At least it was at least a step in the right direction.
Huff, 26, played 31 snaps against the Browns and finally got in the stat sheet with 2 tackles, half a sack and a quarterback hit. In his first 113 snaps of the season, Huff had just two combined tackles.
In the first four games, Huff had just 2 total pressures according to ProFootballFocus. He doubled his season total with 2 more in Week 6.
The big emphasis coming back from the bye week?
Playing faster.
That’s something the Eagles coaching staff has been working with Huff on since the bye week. They want to make sure he’s not overthinking and using his skills to be more disruptive. The hallmark of Huff’s game with the Jets was his get-off, but he agreed it can be tougher to maximize that trait in a less aggressive front.
“To an extent it does slow down a little bit,” Huff said. “But I feel like that’s what my coaches have been helping me with. Just getting faster and continuing to eliminate any thoughts and just burn off the ball. I feel like it’s helped a lot and we’re going to continue to get better at it.”
Sure, the Browns have given up more sacks and pressures than any team in the NFL this season. That’s a big caveat with the overall success of the Eagles’ pass rush in the Week 6 win.
But if Huff gained some confidence after this game, that could matter too.
“I feel like it did,” Huff said. “Up front, we just played a lot faster. If we can just continue to speed things up and impact the game, I feel like that would be great moving forward.”
With the Jets, Huff excelled in his limited role in an extremely aggressive front that allowed him to get after quarterbacks. There’s more reading and reacting in this Vic Fangio defense and that has clearly been a difficult adjustment for Huff in the early portion of this season. But aside from his struggles in the run game, Huff also hasn’t been very productive as a pass rusher and that’s more troubling because that’s supposed to be his strength.
“It’s a different scheme,” Huff said. “There’s more we have to think about, there’s more we have to be cognizant of vs. just an attack front. Which is what I played for four years with the Jets. Having to see different pulls and things I wasn’t accountable for before. I’ve just been leaning into what my coaches have been coaching me on and it has helped my game a lot.”
One tangible difference in this game was that Huff was able to utilize his four-point stance a little more and it helped him find a level of comfort in a new scheme.
This is something veteran NFL analyst Brian Baldinger pointed out after the Week 4 loss in Tampa.
“We talked about it this week,” Huff said. “My coaches wanted me to play faster and that’s what I’ve done the last three years. That’s what I’ve been good at, exploding out of my four-point stance. He was able to coach me on that and help me do what I’m good at, which is burn out of a four-point stance and affect the QB.”
During the bye week, Huff said he stayed in town and tried to relax. He meditated, spent time with his brother, watched film and worked out.
Coming back from the bye, the emphasis was to play faster.
“I didn’t get here by accident,” Huff reminded himself.
There are a lot more expectations on Huff this season. He has a bigger role than ever before and he’s now playing on a big contract that he never had as an undrafted player.
But he has worked to insulate himself from outside criticism, which he thinks has helped him start to turn a corner.
“At this point, I have just blocked everything out,” Huff said. “The only people I hear are my coaches and my teammates and my family. I feel like the fact that I’ve been able to block out the noise has helped me continue to listen to what my coaches have been coaching me on and keep my mental on point.”
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