Rock Bottom
Posted: May 28th, 2011 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 11 Comments »For PE.com I decided to take a look back at an awful Eagles team, the 1998 bunch. That was a miserable season and I was a miserable person. Back then I had a hard time separating being a fan from being a human being. When the Eagles lost, I had a bad week. So I was just a bundle of joy to be around that year.
It is funny to look back now with some perspective. It is almost like looking at a car that got destroyed in a wreck and thinking “How did I walk away from that?”. Those of you who didn’t suffer through 1998 can get a good laugh as you look at the numbers. Those who were there will never forget.
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I touched on a few topics over at ScoutsNotebook. There wasn’t one major issue so I did an Odds ‘n Ends column.
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Non-football note. Mark Recchi is stilly playing and at a reasonably high level. He’s definitely one of my all-time favorite hockey players. The guy has been playing in the NHL since I was a senior in high school. That’s mind blowing. Good luck to him in the finals.
Yeah, I remember. This qualifies as “the bad old days” before Andy Reid. The team had little talent and less discipline.
I know what you mean about the difficulty of separating football from life. You can always tell whether the Eagles won or lost by the mood of people in the area the next day. Philly was really gloomy that year. My wife was beginning to wonder if I was going to commit suicide that year (just kidding ’bout that, but it really did suck). At least the Flyers had a good year.
QB position in football appears so critical these days. Do you think any team with a poor QB can win the Super Bowl? Dilfer still amazes me, and Grossman got very close. Can any ‘system’ QB win it?
With 10 teammates (and 11 on defense) it would seem that any one position would not be so critical. I always find it difficult to rank ‘importance’ because of the dynamics of any one team and the rest of the other 11/23.
Reason I mention it is in regard to Bulger (and the other QB options this season). Can Bulger or Orton win big games?
Tommy, just wanted to thank you for keeping this blog updated throughout an offseason totally bereft of any real football news, let alone Birds specific content. You deserve a statue, or a PBR…or a statue of you, atop a mound of defeated beat writers, pounding a PBR. So yeah, thanks.
The only thing I remember from that season is Koy Detmer being entertaining against the Packers and nearly beheading Swoop. I was really upset that Reid didn’t let him start the next year. I must be pretty good at blocking out bad memories. I was also only like 10.
Eagles fans living in NYC, my wife and I had season tickets to the Eagles in 1997 and 1998. As I remember it the Eagles personnel was about the same both years. But in 1997 with Gruden as offensive coordinator the Eagles made something out of their nothing offense. The Eagles won most of their home games in 1997 and they were exciting 10-9 type affairs where the defense was crushing and the offense did just enough. In 1998 we lost Gruden proving clearly how much of a genius he was. But Dana Bible was awful. I usually try not to judge people too quickly. But suspending judgment on Bible was difficult. After you saw one interview with him there were very loud voices in your head screaming that this guy is not even a football coach. But I think also 1998 was the year that the players tuned Ray Rhodes out. His scorched ass method of coaching had run its course. I remember driving home from the games we would listen to the post game show on the radio. Rhodes would be so hot in the post game interview that he would melt the dashboard. But it was all over. The players had become inured to his venom and fire and he had no effect on them.
@ PhxPhilly…
The Steelers won in 2005 with poor QB play (in the SB). Ben was a 2nd year guy who was talented, but inconsistent.
I do think a team can win with defense and running game, but it would have to be a special defense. They would also need impact on STs.
Not likely for that scenario to win 3 games in the postseason. At some point, you’re probably going to need a QB that can make some plays.
@ alohadelphia…
I do my best to keep some kind of Eagles talk going. This is a challenging spring, but I have the mentality that people want something to read and it is up to the writers and bloggers to lead the discussion. I know not all the topics will be Pulitzer material, but I’ll do my best to keep content out there.
Glad you appreciate the effort.
@ izzy…
Great point about Rhodes losing the team. That is absolutely true. Teach guys that football is a job and needs to be viewed systematically and they’re more likely to be consistent. Make football some kind of emotional roller coaster and the players will eventually lose interest. They can’t have each week be life or death.
RE: Koy vs GB
He was going nuts. He was celebrating after every TD or big play. He was semi-taunting Favre, playfully of course.
I remember watching NFL Primetime and Chris Berman scolded Koy. That pissed me off. Watching him was the most entertaining thing our offense had done all year. After suffering through Hoying and shutouts I was all for Koy making a jackass of himself. At least it brought some energy to the field.
I wish the NFL would sell DVD collections of teams seasons. I’d absolutely pay money to get replays of all the ’98 Eagles games. It was before my time as a fan and I’d love to be able to see some of the old teams that people talk about.
Just go watch some Sav Rocca highlights and you’ll get a feel for how the 1998 season went.
Sav’s highest season punt total is 77.
Tom Hutton had 104 in 1998.