Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

Vic Fangio will be the key to the Eagles’ chances of repeating as Super Bowl champs

Howie Roseman deserves plenty of credit for not falling victim to the fallacy of sunk costs — like he did with Bryce Huff — and for drafting and signing the players who allowed the Eagles to overcome such a misfire. But defensive coordinator Vic Fangio deserves as much or more credit for molding a group loaded with uncertainty into something special.

Remember, the Eagles’ defensive dominance last season was obvious only in retrospect. Josh Sweat had been a disappointment for most of his career. Nolan Smith had been invisible as a rookie. Before opening night in São Paulo, Brazil, against the Packers, did anyone outside the NovaCare Complex even know who Zack Baun was? However high the hopes might have been for Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, no one presumed that the former would immediately be a shutdown corner and the latter’s insertion into the lineup would help the defense so much. C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Nakobe Dean, Oren Burks, Isaiah Rodgers: It was never so simple as just plug these guys in, and all will be wonderful.

It won’t be so simple this season, either, and Fangio will be hard-pressed to repeat last season’s magic. But if he can get close, close might be good enough.

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