Big Picture Questions
Posted: November 25th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 258 Comments »Any time you are expected to be a playoff team and you sit a 4-6 there are going to be lots of questions about what is going on and what needs to be done. Let’s address a few.
Coach Chip Kelly – Adam Schefter said on Tuesday that he thinks Chip could be gone at the end of the year. A lot of people took this as a rumor, but this was strictly opinion. Honestly, his comments turned incredibly bizarre after that initial line. Jimmy Bama has the transcript.
I think both sides are sick of each other. I think the fans are tired of him. I think he’s tired of the situation there. (That’s) just my read, from afar. That stadium began emptying early in the fourth quarter. It was an ugly scene.
Schefter says both “sides” are sick of each other and then talks about the fans and Kelly. Does he mean the management is tired of Kelly or the fanbase? And Kelly doesn’t like public scrutiny, but no coach anywhere does. No coach sits and smiles through press conferences when their team is losing. As for the stadium being empty…that happens in most cities during a blowout loss.
I’m really confused by all of this. Schefter has great connections. Is he telling us something he’s heard or is he just speculating based on a crappy couple of games and the fact there is a lot of tension in Philly right now? The fact this wasn’t a special report for ESPN but rather comments on some radio show makes me lean toward this being more of the speculation variety. We all know how ESPN treasures every scoop and rumor in the world. They’d be furious at him for “breaking news” on some radio show and not SportsCenter or the website.
The fact is that there is a lot of tension now. That’s what happens when you go 4-6 and lose in embarrassing fashion to a rookie QB. The performance of Chip’s team this year has created a situation where it is now reasonable to speculate about his future.
My take?
He’s not going anywhere. Let’s talk about the college angle, since a lot of people seem to think he’s tired of the NFL and will jump right back to the safety of Saturday football. Not gonna happen. Chip hates boosters. Hated dealing with them at Oregon, which has pretty tame boosters compared to most football factories. LSU is seriously considering firing Les Miles, the most successful coach in school history. His sin, he’s not Nick Saban. The boosters don’t care Miles has won a national title for them. They don’t care that he averages 10 wins a year. The team has been up and down the last couple of years and they want more titles. Now.
There are no boosters in the NFL. Chip has to deal with an owner and team president. That’s it. He can meet with them a few times a year to discuss what is going on or what needs to be done. No booster meetings. No fundraising. None of the stuff he hates.
If Chip ever does go back to college, I think he’ll choose an odd job rather than an obvious one. Go coach Boston College. Or Army. Or New Hampshire. He wants to coach, not do all the handshaking and butt-kissing that big time college coaches have to do.
If Chip could leave the Eagles for a different NFL job, that might change things. He can’t do that. The Eagles could trade him to another team. Or Lurie could fire him, which brings us to…
Will Jeff Lurie want him back? Yes. Lurie isn’t one to make knee-jerk decisions. He saw how good Chip was the first two years. As long as Chip can explain ideas for solving this year’s issues in a way that makes sense to Lurie, I don’t see him getting fired.
There is also the fact that the organization is built around Chip’s ideas. The personnel department looks for his kind of players. The scouts know what he is looking for. If you replace Chip, do you have to fire Ed Marynowitz? Could you just keep him as GM and hire an outside coach? If you decide to go in a different direction, that would mean a lot of change. Would you be looking at a year or two of rebuilding the team and organization? Is it worth it to do that?
If this team goes 5-11 or 6-10, maybe. I think this group will bounce back and win some games. This team has been frustrating all year, but Sunday is the only game where the Eagles go flat out whipped. That was a bad game. I think the veteran leaders and coaches will get this team back on track. If they don’t, then maybe change is needed. We need to see how the season plays out. What is the team’s final record? Beyond that, how did they play in those games?
Once the season is over, Chip needs to sit down and evaluate everything. Something isn’t working with this team. Good teams find ways to win games. Think of the Pats beating the Giants or the Panthers beating the Seahawks in tough games. This Eagles team seems to find ways to lose.
As for personality, this could definitely be an issue, but I’m not sure a strong enough one to lead to a firing. Chip at times is a very likable guy. He jokes with the media at times and is interesting to listen to. Other times he goes into Belichick mode. And Chip does some things that I don’t get. He meets with the trainers after the media. Why not meet with them before and pass along updates? That makes life easier for everyone involved.
Chip isn’t a ruthless dictator that drives everyone around him crazy, but he’s not Mr. Rogers either. When he’s winning, I think his personality is a non-issue. When he’s losing, it has to be factored in.
GM Chip Kelly – A lot of people hate this guy. He cut DeSean (not GM but his move). He traded away Shady. He traded Nick Foles for Sam Bradford. He went through a bizarre situation with Evan Mathis and ended up cutting him. The Boykin situation was strange, although to be honest it has gotten much stranger since he went to Pittsburgh. I still don’t know what’s going on with him.
Evaluating this side of things is far more complicated than Chip the coach. I still have faith in the coach. Chip the GM I am still trying to figure out. I think his general ideas are sound, but somewhere between concept and execution, something went wrong.
My guess is that he will retain control of the team, but Lurie will scrutinize moves more this year. I doubt you’ll see any over the top moves (cutting DeSean, trading Shady). I also think Lurie might tell Chip to focus more on mid-level free agents.
The Sam Bradford deal gets a ton of scrutiny and that’s fair, but something had to be done at QB. The Eagles did not have a realistic shot at getting Marcus Mariota. I know there were rumors of possible deals, but I’m not sure the Titans would have actually made any trade. They desperately needed a franchise QB.
There weren’t great choices. Chip rolled the dice on Sam Bradford, hoping he could hit it big. The move failed. It will end up being a waste of time, money and resources, but Chip had to try something. This year the Eagles will have more choices. There could be a QB or two in the draft that the team could go for.
Or they could go for RG3 or Colin Kaepernick. Drew Brees might be available. Matt Stafford might be available. Peyton Manning? There will be some interesting veteran QBs on the market. They all will be flawed (like Bradford…that’s why they’re available), but you need the right guy for the right situation. The very best QBs don’t go anywhere.
Chip the GM will need to convince Lurie he’s got a plan at QB.
What should the Eagles do at QB? – I don’t have a solid opinion right now. There are some guys in the draft who could be of interest. You can’t always count on a rookie QB starting so even if the Eagles draft one, they might need to bring in a veteran regardless.
The player who fascinates me the most is RG3. He was dominant as a rookie. We can talk about why and whether that is sustainable, but the bottom line is that he was great for a year. All of that ability isn’t gone. Kaepernick had some great games, but wasn’t a consistently great QB.
Could the light ever go on for Sam Bradford? It doesn’t feel like it at this point.
The Eagles need a long term solution at QB. They need to look long and hard for one. They need to keep an open mind. Cam Newton was #1 overall. Aaron Rodgers was pick 20. Tom Brady was pick 199. The Cardinals got Carson Palmer after he was bad for the Raiders and looked possibly washed up. There is no definitive way to find the right QB, but you need to have one if you want to win big in the NFL.
Is Bill Davis good enough at DC? – This is a complicated question. Davis ran the SF defense for 2 years. He later ran the ARZ defense for 2 years. That’s not much of a track record. This is the first place he’s gotten a 3rd year. And until recently, it looked like the defense had taken another step forward. As with Chip, we need to see how the whole season plays out.
Part of the complication with Davis is not knowing what he wants to do. When hired, we all expected him to run the 4-3 Under. Instead, he’s running the 3-4 with 2-gapping up front. Is this his choice or Chip’s, since this is what Chip ran at Oregon.
The Eagles don’t come up with a lot of complex defensive gameplans. Is this Davis or Chip? The offense is simple and based on tempo and execution. The defense mixes in some complicated looks, but isn’t nearly as complex as some other 3-4 teams. Davis blitzes less than most 3-4 DCs. Is this him or Chip? Davis worked with Dick LeBeau, Wade Phillips and Dom Capers. Those guys have run great blitz schemes over the years.
The biggest problem I see on defense seems to be zone coverage. I don’t know if that is due to scheme, teaching or talent.
I don’t see Davis as such a problem that he needs to get fired, but the inability to stop teams on 3rd/long is incredibly frustrating. That has to get solved in a hurry. More games like Sunday and Davis won’t be getting a 4th season with the Eagles.
_
Now there’s also this report:
http://www.nj.com/eagles/index.ssf/2015/11/eagles_head_coach_chip_kelly_has_lost_the_team_sou.html#incart_river_index
Whatever is going on, it’s ugly.
Stuff like this always comes out when you’re losing.
Maybe I’m in the minority but I don’t consider it a big deal. It’s human nature to look for someone to blame. Chip is obviously an enormous target.
Look for someone to blame? Huh? Who else is there to blame?
Well, if you’re a player, the mirror would be a good place to start.
After you look in the mirror, then your coach tells you do something – you do it – and you lose. Then it’s not the mirror’s fault.
Except not enough of our players are good enough to do what the coaches ask on a consistent basis. And we know who chose the players….
I guess how the team responds tomorrow will let us know if it’s a big deal. Win or lose, if they come out and play hard then it’s a good sign that everything is getting overblown. If they lay down again …. ugh.
If they lay down, then Chip Kelly will be fired after the game. I wish I could make that bet.
Never going to happen troll boy
You probably can’t make that specific bet… but I’m sure you can find a place to put a wager on Chip being fired by the end of the season.
I like going for the big money. I’d put 20 down for 100-1 that Chip is fired on Friday.
How’d that work out for ya?
It didn’t matter. I couldn’t find anyone to take the bet.
I agree. Losing is tough. It is frustrating. And it is even worse when you’re in the public eye. But how many times have we all left our jobs hating our boss and swearing that was it. Bad days happen. Catch a player on a bad day and you can get a great quote. Then embellish it. Blow it up a bit. And then you have most of Philly media.
Chip won’t be fired. He won’t quit.
The players will play because that is what they do and more than to Chip they are accountable to each other.
The media will continue to post stuff like this. My true hope is that the Eagles get hot, get to 9-7 and pull a Giants.
The player who wont play through injury has GOT to be Jason Peters.
That was my thought too.
yep
I’m guessing it’s Curry who is the player too cowardly to put his name on comments.
Cui Bono?
Curry wasn’t brought here by Chip. The system has marginalized him. He’s been part of trade speculation for 3 years. He’s in a contract year. His snaps have decreased, therefore his sack numbers are way down. That’s going to mess him up financially. Think Curry isn’t extremely interested in his financial future? He’s switched agents FOUR times.
He’ll be 28 next year. His best chance at a big money payday is for the Eagles to go back to a 43, trade Barwin and retain him for good money.
Cui Bono?
If the article is accurate it says that it was a starter who’s agent made that claim. Curry isn’t a starter.
I still wouldn’t discount Curry because the author is trying to prove he’s not getting this from like Josh Andrews agent. You could nominally call Curry a starter in nickel sets and I’m sure Kelly has which if it ever comes out who it was the author would hide behind those quotes. Also you couldn’t refer to Curry as a significant role player, because there’s not a ton of those either so you immediately narrow it to like 5 or 6 guys.
Nothing but more unsubstantiated rumor. When it’s an anonymous source, especially from an agent, ignore it! You’ll get better info relying on Howard Eskin – and we all know how (un)reliable he is!
Eskin, Les, NJ.com, Angelo… plenty of choices for bad/unreliable Eagles news.
It really looked like it on Sunday. So it makes fake rumors like these easy to sell. Not saying he hasn’t but there is no merit to that link.
Shady McCoy has NEVER been so scared to take a hit.
https://usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/demarco-murray-slide-out-of-bounds-phi-mia.gif?w=1000
At least he got the 1st…
Watch all the blockers on this play. Lane Johnson can’t seal his man. Austin Powers blocks as well as a little girl. Matthews is worthless. NOBODY is blocked on this play. Disgusting coaching.
Don’t feed the trolls
Just going to give another opinion on this play. Not saying this is what went through his mind: He sees three or four guys possibly going to gang tackle him and drive him back, he could’ve dove forward or slid, but I think his goal was to make sure he got the first down at all cost.
Edit: Shit didn’t see the name and realized it was bitch boy putting up the gif, my bad for feeding the little bitch.
This has been a strange season. With so much hype around Chip, almost everyone drank the Koolaid before season started. I know I practically swam in it. One thing that frustrates me ad nauseam is Chip’s predictability on both sides of the ball. In almost every sport, the team excels when the opponent has no idea what’s coming to them. However, it seems that Chip believes so much that his scheme cannot be stopped and continues to run similar plays over and over again. It’s this arrogance that is maddening. If you run a fast tempo offense 100% of the time, soon or later teams adjust because that’s all they need to gameplan for. If they stop you on 3rd down, they get off the field in 1 minute. Sure, they say the system is beautiful when it’s working… no really? Ken Griffey Jr. had the most beautiful swing in baseball when he was hitting .350 and 50 homeruns but when he was batting .220 not so much. Run and gun fast temp offense in basketball was beautiful when Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble ran it in Loyola Marymount, but when good opponents slow the tempo down and toughen up the defense, things get ugly quick.
Coaches need backup plans when your plan A doesn’t work. For him to say “I’m not sure why we are not executing” basically means that you have no idea how to coach and your scheme/culture/philosophy isn’t working (which negates the validity of Chip’s foundation that “culture wins in football”). I’m not discrediting what he has accomplished during his first two years, but this year has been a complete disaster in every way. Every major decision that he has made: Bradford, Murray, signing Maxwell, not signing OL depth/Boykin have all completely backfired… every single one!
OK, just had to get that off my chest… now back to work. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
I said this from day 1. This is the NFL. These are multi-millionaire athletes. Nobody is wearing a freaking sleep monitor.
“Kelly’s sports science methods have become a point of contention in the locker room this season, especially when it comes to the sleep monitors the team had asked players to wear at night.”
Why not? Its beneficial for the players to perform on gameday to see that data. Pretty sure this is the least of their worries but go on…
“flavor of the day” low hanging fruit.
So you think it’s safe to say that Bradford is not the answer and not wait and see how he does in these final games?
i do want to see more of him, but it does feel right now like he’s not the answer.
I still believe that Lurie and Chip went into this season with the belief that this is practice for Sam. He built up the defense and brought in run game talent… I have little to no reason to believe we won’t stick with Sam the next couple of years. Just as a big picture thinking view. I think the consistency and opportunity to learn the scheme and get healthy should produce a better Bradford next year.
Yep, that’s my guess. This season had to be acknowledged as having the possibility that it was just a test drive. Can Sam make progress? Can the knee hold up? At the minimum, he is the guy for next year, if they can’t make a guaranteed upgrade. Quarterbacks are different than everybody else. Teams have to take their lumps while the qb learns. Romo was a laughingstock for years , doesn’t look so bad now. Eli was a train wreck at the beginning, needed some time, a little seasoning to get it together. With the awful coaching he had after his rookie season plus the injuries, I view Slingin’ Sammy as a second year player. Andy Dalton was bad bad in his second year, but I’d take him.
I think we need to see how he responds. Playing with an injury can win big points with the locker room. It did seem like he was getting into a rhythm, but who knows?
I’d love to get a 15-game sample before making a decision in March.
Have the receivers drop his passes and then sign him to a cheap, no risk contract.
You probably have to give him an incomplete at this point, but unfortunately I think an I and an F are the same thing for this class.
Tommy, maybe this question is not fair due to the time it takes to evaluate draft picks, but besides the draft, where does Chip the GM rank among his peers (based purely off results – every GM has good intentions when making a move)? Is he top 5, middle of the pack, bottom tier?
It is too soon for a final evaluation, but what feel are you getting? You already have one on sam as a franchise QB.
This season proved that this was Chip rebuilding year, and history shows us that we wont start seeing results until year 3. Chip is on a 5 year contract, and has basically already “wasted” his first two years. In no way is Chip getting fired until year 5 and only if we dont see improvement from year 3(which is really his 5th year).
Lurie made the decision to give him personnel control so it would be horrifically stupid to cut short that decision he made less than a year ago. It looking like we have to temper our expectations and expect a couple mediocre seasons and see him right the ship in 2017-2018. Hey! just like all the other sports teams in this city riiiiiiiight?!
How is it rebuilding if we got older and more expensive?
The draft isn’t the only way to rebuild.
From my point of view it is very convenient to call this past offseason rebuilding for the future. Kelly committed FA $$ to veteran RBs, one of which had significant mileage. He spent significant $$ to a veteran CB. He traded away valuable draft assets for a QB.
Those moves were more about winning quickly than building long term.
Chip’s rebuilding year? Is the offensive line rebuilt? Guess what….our best offensive lineman will not be back next year. This team isn’t rebuilt. It’s unbuilt. Its pathetic. We won’t even have a starting QB under contract after this season. This isn’t rebuilding at all.
Tommy (or anyone who care to chime in): In your estimation, what do you feel have been Chip’s biggest missteps as the GM/coach?
I’ll rank my top 3 or so mistakes I believe he’s made:
1) Going 2 years straight without investing in the OL…Just a recipe for disaster in the NFL. Injuries, expiring contracts, etc. You simply can’t neglect a position as important as the OL for as long as he has.
2) Poor management of the WR position. He cut Desean for literally nothing. If you don’t want to pay him, fine. I understand that. But the way in which that was handled was horrific at best. There SHOULD have been a stronger push made to re-sign JMac. He was as close to a #1 legit WR we’ve had in a long, long time. Let’s not stop there. Let’s looks at our draft picks. We’ve drafted WR’s in the 1st round, in the top 35, and a 3rd round pick (not bad, but looks worse considering we just drafted one in the previous round). What have we gotten in return??? Matthews looks good when healthy, but he’s hardly a legit #1 WR. The jury is still out on Agoholor. Huff shows flashes, but eventually his supposed great potential needs to translate on the field. WR went from a position of strength to a critical area of need within a very short time frame.
3) Mis-allocation (is that a word?) of resources at the RB position. Again, he did not get a good return on investment from one our franchise’s most talented and productive players in Shady. I liked the Matthews signing for the $, but signing Murray has not turned out well. Why do it? If your beef with Shady was that he’s too finesse, well, why did you sign another high priced finesse back? Hindsight is 20/20 and I never predicted Murray to be this bad. But again, this was all Chip’s plan.
Look at the above moves…All moves made on offense. All part of Chip’s plan. We went from having an elite offense to a very mediocre one. I’m not saying fire the guy – he deserves at least 1 more season. He does have me very skeptical though.
DEAR IB COMMUNITY
1. Stop feeding the troll.
2. Can we please all agree to not use HOMPHOBIC/TRANSPHOBIC/RAPE THREATS/ INTERNET TOUGH GUY ASSUALT THREATS/ MISOGYNY etc. language?
I CANNOT read the word troll without this getting stuck in my head:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBvcB0idTH0
The gang kidnaps Josh Innes would be a fire episode. Mainly because Charlie would seem like such a well developed/reasonable/not sophomoric character in comparison.
Charlie Kelly. AKA Chip Kelly?
A clip from a netflix B movie favorite “Troll Hunter” comes to mind for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r76H62tzrg
Love that movie.
Me too.
People actually read what I write!!!
I wish Tommy would give someone on here actual moderator powers.
Why because you disagree with what I say? That’s wrong on so many levels.
+1. Seriously, this feeding the troll shit has got to stop. JUST DON’T REPLY ITS THAT EASY.
We troll each other enough from differing points of view that we don’t need to engage the person intentionally irking everybody.
I agree with both of your points.
As usual Tommy’s fingers tap the keys in sync with the rhythm of my heart. I made a post along the same lines of the primary issue being the QB last night.
What happened with Sam from the preseason to the regular season? He started to look better, but never looked like the QB that should be running this offense. With the pace of the offense the high % throws HAVE to be complete or you shoot yourself in the foot. This offense is really designed to run on the razor’s edge. It is either going to be very good or far from it.
Building on that, I think you notice that the defense has declined after looking elite to start the year. Watching that Tampa game it had nothing to do with Lovie’s staff figuring out the Eagles. Yes scheme could of saved things, but really they just did what they have done all year. I think the defense is tired man. Minor mistakes led to a snowbally game. Kiko looked really bad, that for sure isn’t going to be the case for ever. Bill isn’t perfect, but his defense is really close. You have to keep him.
I think even bad, yet controlled offense would allow this defense to shine and carry the team. Chip just hasn’t allowed that to be the case. After starting the season slow they did actually slow down the pace, show a little i form (even with limited success). They won 4 of 5, and then completely went back to the original formula which had not worked. What is sad is that even though a few things were working well, instead of sticking to those, they go away from it.
All of these mistakes by the coaches are mistakes, no doubt. I just think if you get a guy at QB that can just complete high % throws repetitively or a guy that can threaten the defense with his legs, you have a decent offense. Heck we saw that in 12′ and 13′ with Vick and Foles. Those offense weren’t perfect, but they were damn good. I dare to say those offenses win the Superbowl with this defense (that brings us back to Chip the GM possibly over tinkering…but I’ll avoid that).
RG3 and Kaep are interesting but man they have both looked really bad of late. Kaep at least had a real injury of late. RG3 I would think of as nothing more than a Tebow type of hope. If he will come in to compete and there are 2+ guys clearly above him, that is great.
My advice to Chip:
Sanchez is a better back up than he showed us last Sunday. Bring people in to compete with him next season. If he wins in camp tailor the offense to him and let the defense shine. Just work on the long term solution.
Stop trying to outsmart the world. Logic is your friend. Play to the strengths, even if it isn’t your precious offense. Learn to be agile in the way you operate.
The anguish of this week is part of Philly sports. I don’t want to act like I’m in denial about how bad they were against the Bucs, but they’ve played TWO games where they were decisively beaten. With some luck they could be 7-3 and with more luck they could be 8-2. I don’t agree with the complaints about Kelly the GM. Foles was benched. Bradford was the best QB available unless you knew to sign Tyrod Taylor and he will indeed maintain his current level of play. The secondary – you kidding me? You want last year? Linebackers: he extended Kendricks, drafted Hicks in the 3rd, traded for Alonso who was a top rookie, resigned Graham who’s been good. The line is super. I have personally grasped at straws to think of how they could have drafted OL and there wasn’t an obvious trade or signing.
Kelly has another year here and if he doesn’t win over the town then there may be some sort of parting. I was not the top of the pre-season hype pyramid but he’s the same guy everyone thought was so great. He’s a special coach and I’m as sure he will be a top coach in the NFL as I’m sure the top coaches will stay top coaches. When he signed here I was worried he’d be Belichick in Cleveland and that’s what I’m starting to see here.
He’s partially to blame for the crazy expectations people had this year. But if you can’t lose games then there’s no point in watching sports. But please don’t get the idea that I’m scolding other fans – people buy tickets and jerseys so that they can scream whatever they think. Everyone here has a right to their opinion, and my opinion is that Kelly is a top NFL coach and GM and Eagles Nation should be patient with him.
Without luck they would have started 1-4 last year and gone 6-10 and combining that with this year Chip Kelly would be 10-16 since cutting Djax
I think this is all made up drama. One season, not even done and you dump the coach? It’s not like he has had a bunch of drafts either.
Then you have Bradford. Yeah, I didn’t like the move but look what happened with Foles. Benched.
So, you give the guy at least two or three more years.
made up drama? Lane Johnson called a radio show and said the fans suck. This isn’t made up.
i mean lane isn’t wrong
the fans are the customers. they can be and do whatever the hell they want. this team is a disgrace.
Nonsense. Just because you are a customer that doesn’t give you the right to do whatever the hell you want.
It does so give you the right to cheer and boo at your own discretion.
The other dumb criticism is calling the kelly offense predictable. It’s a freaking option offense with multiple things on each play. And it’s a staple play like power sweep left, power sweep right, exc. Zone reads and such, every team does them, it’s about execution and we all know how Sanchez does wi th that.
There are 4 plays.
said safety Chris Conte, who would later get one of three Bucs interceptions. “You’ve got a lot of adrenaline going, and everything’s flying around. Once you calm down, you realize it’s not that fast. They’re running the same plays over and over again.”
The joke is that they have been running the same offense for 2.5 years, with a ton of success before this year. But now, all of a sudden, somebody thinks “wait, I think they only run 3 or 4 plays?!?!? now we’ve got them!” And on top of it, you still see guys wide open. The problem is the line can’t pass block long enough or the QB doesn’t see them and/or makes a bad throw (or guys drop the ball).
I get that people are passionate and disappointed, but somewhere deep down there has to be a little bit of logic and reason left, doesn’t there?
End of the day, all those other problems would seem somewhat minor if the QB could just consistently deliver an accurate ball, on time.
which was then caught
I think the O-line and drops would seem like a much smaller problem if not for the QB.
and there was an oline to block
It just seems like the d made some heroic efforts this year and finally just gave up this week. Plus the offense as well. Basically the team gambled on Bradford, for good reasons and it didn’t pan out yet. Maybe still hope. But most likely your looking at QB in the draft.
I’m not sure how anyone can claim this offense hasn’t grown stale this year. How many times have we run bubble screens? HB swing passes? HB screens? Zone read right/left?
Why do we so rarely take shots down the field? Why can’t we ever run 2 RB formations with a lead blocker? Where are the misdirection plays? That 3rd in short turned into a 70yd TD run by Doug Martin was simple, but so effective. Fake dive/sweep right, delay and pitch back to the weakside. Caught our entire right side of the defense off guard. Why can’t we run a simple middirection/counter run like that? What happened to the creativity with our offense? Yes, it was markedly much more creative 2 years ago.
He mentioned, when we hired him that he wanted bigger wr. So, he didn’t draft deep speedsters.
Right….Thus making our offense far more predictable and less dynamic than it was in years past.
If we can’t/won’t draft/sign speedsters than we won’t be able to take shots downfield with any success. If we can’t challenge defenses vertically, then they will simply play us in Cover 2 non-stop and crowd the box. That’s why our screen/short passing game is weak this year.
When we played Carolina, we couldn’t even challenge Kurt freaking Coleman. That’s how pathetic our deep passing game is. In the NFL, you HAVE to expose other teams’ weaknesses. We can’t simply muster everything up to lack of execution.
I dunno about the design being a problem. When you break down the film, you can see wr open most plays. I’m saying it is all qb problems.
Nailed it…
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-total-access/0ap3000000587525/Patriots-win-projection-Surprise-loss-to-come
Chip Kelly is too arrogant for the NFL right now. He’s a great coach but he believes way too much in his schemes rather than the talent of his personnel.
arrogant? where do people get this
he cuts all pro players. that’s arrogance
nice job tommy, always appreciate your calm tone and well reasoned take
You keep mentioning how much Chip hates dealing with boosters, and I can absolutely see that, but couldn’t you also say that it’s clear that Chip hates dealing with the media in a large-market NFL city? There’s media scrutiny in college, sure, but even when the Eagles are winning, it looks like he absolutely loathes having to deal with the media. Monday’s presser seemed to get particularly testy.
Piss off a couple of boosters, the athletic department can lose millions of dollars.
Piss off beat writers and they write nasty articles and talk shit on WIP.
The vindictiveness of the sports media is kind of over the top to me. From local beat writers, to national morons like Schlereth. Something about this new media age is fueling an unprecedented amount of negativity and grudges. The local guys are probably pissed about watching their jobs disappear. Only to be replaced by idiot national guys and bloggers, who by and large make their money by just saying negative, nasty shit.
It’s not a good cycle we’re caught in.
click-bait.
You sir are the winner. It’s better for guys/shows to have twitter followers that hate them than to be accurate.
The other big problem for the beats is they don’t know how to do their jobs with Chip. They are overwhelmingly underqualified to cover football in 2015. Can they explain the pros/cons of a 33stack vs a 4-2-5 as a nickel defense? Do half of them even know what a packaged plays is in year 3?
They are decent writers as a collective but shitty analyst. So when Chip doesn’t care or want to talk about macro level things like time of possession or they can’t write 2000 words on the emergence of a third year player with lots of quotes they are largely befuddled at how to do their jobs.
Combine that with the increasing importance of SEO clickbait and they are more than happy to pander to the lowest common demoniator and spew venom rather than any kind of removed rational level headed ananlysis.
Combine that with national media outlets with zero interest in hiring analysts who actually analyze. Someone like Greg Cosell gets little airtime compared to someone like Schlereth, Deon, or Heath “Gumby” Miller. Click bait is king, and that message comes from the top.
Further combine that with the prominence of comment boards on nearly every article that just serve to whip the fanbase into a steamy shit froth.
It’s a bad mix for anyone interested in just following their team, good or bad.
I can’t understand why people want to give this guy another year. This offensive scheme is putrid!! Watching the same plays over and over and over again makes me sick!! He hasn’t won a playoff game in 3 years in one of the worst divisions in football.
What makes you think he wont bury the iggles more then he already has? How could he right the ship he created?? How many years has he set the iggles back with the terrible drafting and bad free agent signings, not to mention the future cap problems we may have?
What has he won to make him a good coach? NOTHING! Get’em outta here now!!! This is the worst Eagles offense I’ve ever watched. Ray Rhoades last year was easier to watch then this! Puke 🙁
I’m not sure Tommy has his finger to the wind… There are a NUMBER of things that point to Chip being gone, not just Adam schefter. Is it all smoke and no fire? Could be. But starting to look more and more like this thing is falling apart.
What number of things? Schefty’s report was nonsense. It’s hard to read anything the media has to say right now. I feel like it’s piling on for click-bait.
Why is Schefty’s report nonsense? It wasn’t even a report. He just said if he had to guess things are falling apart. You dont trust the most inside reporter in the NFL? That’s fine. Just don’t say its nonsense.
Schefty said he had a source. His source was literally no one. It’s a big ball to lob considering your reputation / influence on a “hunch”. How many reporters jumped on that schefty story?
That’s not true :
“I think the momentum and signs seem to be piling up against a Chip [Kelly] return to Philadelphia,” Schefter said during the interview. “I think both sides are sick of each other. I think the fans are tired of him. I think he’s tired of the situation there. That’s just my read from afar.”
it’s an easy story to write and clickbait for the avid fan
doesn’t mean there’s truth to it
Why weren’t there reports of him losing the team after the second dallas game?
because they hadn’t lost so embarrassingly to the Dolphins yet?
I’m going to be so disappointed if Chip goes at the end of the year. I would bet my house that he’ll be back with another NFL team, and we’ll have the pleasure of watching Chip hoist the lombardi, multiple times, with another franchise.
that’s the fear
Can I take that bet?
Lurie stuck with fat Andy Reid long past his expiration date.
Why bail quick on his next head coach?
ZERO chance LUrie fires chip after his first bad season… If Chip isn’t back next year, it will be because he ran away from the challenge and quit on philly, and even that is hard to envision at this point… Feel like the guy worked too hard to get here, to run away after the first bad year and leave as a disgraced coach.. Think it takes a couple years of struggles to make chip leave… But the one concern is he hasn’t cultivated any relationships with the media, and with so much time left in this season, This city can make chip miserable for another 5-6 weeks before he can dissapear from the media until free agency
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Lovely breakdown of the situation Tommy. One possibility that I think hasn’t been explored really is that Howie Roseman is still with the organization on the backburner… I think Lurie retained him intentionally as an insurance policy in case GM Chip failed. I think Roseman really has the chops as a personnel guy, and even though it would be incredibly awkward, I can see a scenario where he comes back as the GM. Chip would probably be gone if that happens, but I really think the reason Lurie is holding onto Roseman instead of letting him try to find another personnel job is because he values him. My instinct tells me that Lurie was really reluctant to move Howie out of that role.
I’m with you in the regard that whenever in the future that Chip isn’t here that Howie will be the GM again and in charge of finding the next coach. I just don’t see GM duties being taken away from Chip without him being fired and I don’t see him being fired until the end of 2016 at the earliest.
Agreed. I do suspect Lurie is deliberately doing what he can to keep Roseman around though, just in case.
Off topic but the GS Warriors are absurd. I’m seriously thinking they might end up winning 70+ games this year, this is a dynasty we’re watching right now.
70+ wins, could be.
Special season and back to back titlists, totally plausible.
Dynasty; NO CHANCE! Embiid, plus #1 pick in the 2016 draft, plus the #4 pick in the 2016 draft are all coming to the Sixers dynasty next year!
Haha, I like the optimism. I’m worried though that this year might just destroy Noel and Okafor mentally. They already seem like they’re affected by it. They HAVE to win a game soon, it’s getting embarrassing. I think the Sixers messed up by not bringing in some so so FA’s this year, just to help pick up some wins.
All part of the process of being the best losers Evah!
They are great, but injuries tend to bring people down to size. Good luck to them, and you need it in pro sports.
just wait until Durant signs there as a FA this summer.
I was actually thinking earlier that Lebron might force a trade onto the GSW. He’s kind of shameless in his pursuit of titles, so if you can’t beat em, why not join em?
Really fun team to watch… I wish they would blackout the sixers/Warriors game so No one could be allowed to see it lol
Thankfully Sunday is here tomorrow. One of two things can happen:
1) We get a 10 reprieve with a win and go into the Pats game low-stress because we expect to lose it anyway, but can focus some good vibes into the stretch beyond that.
2) We lose to Detroit, and because there will be 10 days until the next game, can enjoy potentially seeing a few human sacrifices off of the roster and/or coaching staff. I’m 100% out for blood is this garbage persists, but you can’t really do any type of bloodletting going into a short week.
oh man the Eagles are going to beat the lions.
and then surprise the Pats at the right time.
then Buff and have a tough close game but win.
the cardinals will be almost impossible for our defense to beat.
the skins are dead, the giants are dead.
9-7 division title.
then Maybe Minnesota comes to Philly for a playoff game and we roast them.
then on to the next stop. I don’t know what happens after that unfortunately.
You had me at surprise the pats…
I’m pretty sure Scarlett Johansson shows up at my door for one of Tommy’s famous pudding hot tub parties after that. It’s quite a fantasy you’ve got going there.
oh I thought everyone already knew this was going to happen? pretty obvious we are setting up the league for a huge comeback
That would be amazing. I just don’t see a team that is headed in the right direction.
So, tomorrow is roast turkey and today, apparently, is Wild Turkey.
So I have decided to go to the dentist tomorrow with a possible chance to miss the Eagles kickoff. Guess that’s still the less painful option…
If you are less painful options, have them put you under for at least the first half.
Happy Thanksgiving, friends! To celebrate the holiday and hopefully improve your football-viewing experience, I have created a Philadelphia Eagles Thanksgiving Bingo Card. To play, simply cross off events as they occur during tomorrow’s game until you have five-in-a-row in any direction. Consider the “Free Space” already crossed off. Good luck, and go Eagles!
this is amazing. Very well done.
Incredible! Cheers to you good sir!
this is excellent, well done!
O3 is too saddeningly funny. Spectacularust read
You could literally make this a site unto itself and update it live ..have the entire stadium yell BINGO all 2nd half and Lurie, Chip & lane would have no f in clue wtf is going on !!!!
This is brilliant
I see. No space for Mark Sanchez getting the turkey leg award.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0U42G_4yqQNMFhmcTA5bzlfOWc/view?usp=sharing
I can’t see it.
me either but I want to.
Did you refresh your browser page?
I can’t unsee it.
Fucking hell I am totally printing this out. Do you have a randomized version so we can play real bingo with it? That would be incredible.
Sadly no… It’s a miracle I was able to fit everything into the squares. If anyone figures out how to do it, it would be fun!
http://osric.com/bingo-card-generator/
https://bingobaker.com/
If it’s worth the work… I think you’d just have to do a copy and paste job, if you saved the print from the one you’ve got.
Great work!
Somebody posted it in TATE.
I posted this to twitter – post your handle and I will give credit.
Appreciate it, but I’m handle-less and Twitter-free!
G3 is me every week. Well done sir.
I have reached the point that I want Chip kelly GONE! Unfortunately I don’t see Lurie firing him after this year.. But since this team is going to implode miserably tomorrow and then get completly Embarressed in New England, hopefully this year goes bad enough that Chip wants to leave… If he does want to get out of his contract, we have to try and work out a trade with the Titans.. The least this charlatan/Carnival Barker can do is go to the Titans and let us get a draft pick in return to start rebuilding everything he ruined..
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rule #1 in the NFL… You adjust YOUR scheme to your PERSONNEL. chip has failed miserably. You paid Murray big money, And while Murray could have success in this scheme given more time, anyone who thinks that this scheme is the best possibly way to use Demarco Murray is a Liar… Once you gave Murray all that money, it becomes chips responsibility to Run an offense best suited do for his high price RB, and he has failed miserably to do that… Titans ARENT going to keep Interim Coach Mularky passed this season. Hopefully we can get a second round pick for chip, so he can reunite with his golden boy Mariota, and we can get something in return for all the damage he has done, we just need to convince the Titans that Chip is WHATS best for their young QB..
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Even if we could work out this trade, then comes the Hard Part… Who to replace Chip with? No big names to be signed.. LUrie can go old school and try and coax Bill Cowher out of retirement, who would be a solid fit for our power RBs and 3-4 Defense… my REAL CONCERN is Lurie seems to be a gif fan of another Charlatan Jeff Fisher who will probably be on the unemployment line after this year. I can Live with Bill Cowher, sure could use the toughness he would preach, but,hiring Jeff Fisher would be a disaster…
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out of Curiosity, if Chip leaves after this year, who would fans like to see become the next coach of the Eagles? I’m stumped, I don’t have any good names, but I do know that im done dicking around with coaches that have ZERO NFL Experience… So for me the best name I can come up with is:
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50 yr old MIke Shula (son of Great Don Shula), offensive coordinator of undefeated Panthers… Not a sexy name, but I chose him because i think the offense he put in place for Carolina is PERFECT for the personnel given to him. And with Murray and Ryan Mathews back next year, a Physical Power run game like Carolina would be a much better fit for our Rbs, than this silly shotgun running scheme..when the Panthers come up, most talk about Sean McDermott as a candidate, but my reasoning for going with their offensive coordinator instead of McDermott is because my understanding is RON Rivera is a defensive football coach who is smart enough to know what he doesn’t know, so I’m under the impression that Ron Rivera is more responsible for their defense, than anything on the offensive side of the ball (another reason why I don’t get carried away with McDermott Hype)….. I don’t know how good Shula is. But I do know that he implemented an offense that fits his personnel beautifully, and hopefully he can do something similar with us… We could use Demarco and Ryan Mathews to Mimick a lot of what Jonathon Stewart and Tolbert run, and I also like that Panthers go with a BIG Physical OL, so assuming he would want to add some big strong Power Guards, it would help protect the smaller Jason Kelce..
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As for a Defensive Coordinator, Id be fine with keeping billy and let him run What he thinks is best for our personnel, instead of forcing him to run what chips wants…. I would also Love to promote Coach Azzinaro to defensive coordinator, but he seems loyal to chip, so I’m not sure he would welcome a promotion here after we kicked Chip out…
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If LUrie wants a young name that can grow into an eventual HC candidate withNFL experiemce, I would be OK with hiring ‘MIke Vrabel as our Defensive coordinator.. Both VrAbel and Azzinaro would prioritize violence and Toughness we clearly Lack. Vrabel played for great Defensive pro coaches like Bellichck and Romeo Crennel. And he got some coaching experiemce running the Texans LB room..
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If a new coach takes over this roster, the strengths he would inherit are RB’s and our defense is probably closer to an elite unit than this offense is.. So the fastest way to become good is probably trying to build around a top defense/Physical Rungame, which is pretty much the blueprint for trying to win without great QB play
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I could also see Doug Peterson getting an interview with Lurie…
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For me, the best case scenario I can Think of, is the Raven parting ways with
Jon Harbaugh, and bringing him to bring a pro style offense and toughness to philly..
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Regardless of what Happens, it’s not going to be a fun time to be an eagle fan, and it’s demoralizing to be right back where we were in 2015..
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The Next coach we hire needs to be someone not married to any specific offense, not invested in proving his alternative way of playing football works.. The next guy we coach has to be someone who looks at the personnel he is given, and will be concerned with 1 thing, running whateber offense best puts the players He inherits in the best position to win games… I NEED a coach who thinks there is more to football than Linning up in shotgun every single play.
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Yes, I understand how bad it would be to make changes across the entire franchise after letting chip bring in his acouts, his sports science and his corky methods… But if Chip ISNT willing to make drastic changes to his offense and the way he runs this franchise, Id rather lose chip now, even if we have to make a ton of changes throughout the entire franchise again, than to let Chip do further damage. After all, he can leave and forget all about Philly, where as we have no choice, our Hearts bleed green…
I think it is way to quick to switch directions away from Chip. The entire organization has been completely re-organized. This is 100% media driven, no way do we change gears from Chip, unless Chip voids his own contract. I do not think he will and I do not want him too.
Unfortunately, I completely agree that LUrie won’t fire him after one terrible year… But if chip is going to insist on ONLY being a shotgun offense, and ALWAYS running nonstop tempo, then I have NO Desire to continue watching that brand of football
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The first half of the season. Defense was the STRENGTH of this team,and Chip completely refused to play to the defensive strength of this team. When defense is your strength, you want your offense to control the clock not operate as fast as the offense can.. We are married to Demarco for atleast 1 more year, and I still think Demarco can be a great eagle. But even if Demarco becomes good at running out of shotgun in this offense, there is NO WAY you can convince me that it is the BEST WAY to use Demarco.
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When you are in charge of the personnel decisions, the minimal requirments I ask for is that you use the players you brought to Philly to the best of their capability, and everyone knows their are better ways to use Murray than running out of shotgun all day, every day
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Chip can keep his offense in place, but if he is going to stay, he better add an entire new section to his playbook with much more variation than this constant shotgun offense
I can’t believe you’re on the chip gone bus. I thought you were preaching patience and stability, etc. I think firing chip this year without giving him a year to right the ship sends a terrible message to whomever follows.
Chip’s a good coach. Murray is running better in the scheme each week. Gotta remember he barely practiced in the pre-season. I’d let chip play out his contract regardless while he looks for a QB.
I agree.. I always point out that murray looks better and better, as does Bradford, and expect them both to continue to improve the more continuity they get in this offense.. I absolutely think Murray can have a big year under chip next year, but no matter how great Murray becomes once he gets really comfortable in this offense, no one can say that there aren’t BETTER ways to use Murray than to run him out of shotgun every play, of every game, whether he is succesful or not…
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I would love to keep Chip, after all I preach that we hired him because of the coach we thought he could become… But I have no idea how willing he is to make changes to his Offense. And I like a lot Of his offense, but if chip is going to stay, I need to see him add significant variations to his offense. I just can’t be convinced that Only using shotgun formations is a good thing. There is so many formations and concepts that we just ignore.. There is So Many ways we can attack defenses, I will NEVER agree with ONLY usimg shotgun to attack defenses.. I wouldnt agree with Only using I formations, or Only using single back, or Only using Pistol. I can’t be convinced that having such little variation with how we Attack defenses can possibly be a good thing..
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When we saw his successful 2013 offense that was so simple, so basic, we thought that was just yeàr one, and that there were all these other sections to his playbook that we would unleash in the next few years, yet it’s year 3, and other than a handful of plays from under center at the beginning of the year, we still see an Offense that ignores so many variations for how we could be attacking Defenses…..
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I think Chip is a GREAT football mimd, and I would love to see him evolve and remain our coach, but I can’t be ok with a coach who so far has proven that he is so fixated on not just winning, but proving he can win at this level with his alternative Philosophies… if Chip stars adding Pistol formatipns, two back sets, I formatiins And a ton of variation to his offense, I would love to keep chip… But if he plans on spending a year insisting on ONLY Linning up in Shotgun, then I’d rather get rid of hm now..I’m not against,Linning up in shotgun.. I’m against refusing to add Variations to how we Attack opponents..
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I also love a lot of his Tempo Philosophies, but it can’t be all tempo, all the time, AGAIN, LACK OF VARIATION is something I can’t support…
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Chip also can’t continue to Let Defenses dictate to him what we will run Every single time.. Again, a Lack of variation… he NEEDS to find a balance between counter punching(reacting to what the defenses is doing), while also being able to impose his will at times and DICTATE TO THE OPPONENT… Noticing the theme? LACK of VARIATION.
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All I ask for is a coach who’s ONLY AGENDA is How to Best use his BEST pLAYERS and who ONLY cares about running whatever it takes to be successful against who we are facing…. I simply can’t be convinced that Attacking every single opponent, in every single game, exclusively out of shotgun is a good thing… Why limit our Attack like this? Why make it so easy for opponents to prepare for us, when they don’t even have to think about Defending I formation, or defending pistol, two back sets… How is it a good idea to ignore so many proven ways to attack defenses?
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And My BIGGEST concern is that this could spiral out of control and get even UGLIER the rest of this year, and If Chip loses the trust of these players, if they no longer believe in him, Im not sure how we could fix that? What I do know is that, if chip has to Blow this team up again,and make wholesale changes like he did last year, then we will still need at least 2 years of continuity for this to start looking good…
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If Chip thinks he hates the philly media now, if he thinks he is uncomfortable now, wait Til he sees what will happen if they finish this year with 5 or 6 wins… chips personality isn’t the type to backdown, and he has cultivated zero relationships with the media, so if he doesn’t get this year turned around, the media is going to bombard him and make him very uncomfortable this winter..
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Again, If It’s up to LUrie, I absolutely expect Chip to be back next year. But this city is going to make it very uncomfortable for him, so I don’t have faith that chip will have the Thick skin to endure this City as long as it takes to fix this mess and turn it around.. I’m not expecting Chip to get fired, but I am trying to look at contingencies for what happens if he has enough and decides to leave after this year..
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If the season ended in two weeks, I wouldn’t worry, I would expect Chip to endure it and Dissapear Til we sigń someone in free agency and take a nice long break from our media and Fans…. But there so much time left in this season, we didn’t even get to the hard part of the schedule yet, I’m not sure how chip will feel if this implodes further and he has to endure the Philly Heat for another 5 or 6 weeks……the,only saving Grace is that I do think he really likes being a pro coach, and abandoning us now, would probably make it a long time before anyone trusts him enough to even consider him for an NFL job, and im not sure he is ready to give up that dream, tuck his tail. And run from Phily as a disgraced failure,.
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Hopefully, he really believes that GROWTH mindset that he preaches, Learns a ton from these failures and evolves significantly. If that happens, I hope chip stays because I think he is a very bright offensive coach, but I cant support such a lack of variation across the Board… if he is smart enough to use this years failures to become a much better pro coach, and can handle the philly heat if the season keeps going like this, then im happy to have him back.
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But I can’t agree with another year of ONLY running out of Shotgun, just like I wouldn’t condone ONLY running out of Iformation, or ONLY running out of a pistol… Start taking advantage of all the great varieties of ways to attack defenses…
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If you want Chip back next year, no need to worry. LUrie won’t FIRE him after this year! and it’s hard to envision he would quit and leave at such a low point… By low, sell High…. Not sure someone so successful dares to “sell Low” which is what he would be doing by walking away after such a bad year
Go a step beyond offense. He needs to become more adaptable in all ways. He needs to be open to the thought of a better way than the one that he came up with.
He always likes to ask “why?”. Time to turn that inquisitive eye toward the mirror.
if we get big offensive linemen we don’t need to change the coach
if we get better OL, and give sammy b another year in the scheme it could legit be a different team next year. and get parkey back.
With or without Chip (I assume it will be WITH) I expect Bradford to be an eagle next year unless he suffers a signifcant injury before this year ends… I will NEVER be ok with giving up on a Talented QB after 1 year, especially when he didn’t even have an offseason to train as an eagle QB yet.
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With or without Chip, Bradford is the most talented, veteran QB we can get, so there really is no point in getting rid of SAM until you draft and Develope a kid that proves to be a franchise QB, and that ain’t happening overnight… Health Permittimg, SAM starts for us opening day next year
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Unfortunately, we need much more than improved OL and improved QB play
That would require a serious shift in chips philosophy… Like I said, if the Trail and Error forces him to evolve, Id gladly welcome him back.. But this is all moot point anyway, because unless chip leaves, Id bet anything LUrie won’t fire him, even if we don’t win another game this year… If chip is gutless enough to leave us after this mess, then he isn’t who we thought anyway.. But you can bet LUrie will be willing to give him another year for sure…
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But if he loses the trust of ths locker room, I don’t know what to do
How does everyone feel about tomorrow? Will an embarressed group of players still in the playoff hunt show some Pride and toughness? Or are we going to further spiral out of control?
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Honestly, after what I have seen, I won’t go into any game the rest of this season expecting the Eagles to win. I’m at the point I expect a complete Implosion the rest of the year unless proven otherwise… The problem is Tom is right, no matter how bad it gets, LUrie won’t fire chip after 1 horrible year. The ONLY way we can get rid of chip is If Chip wants OUT!..
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Hopefully Lurie secretly gives Howie the power and green light to make some Behnd the scene phone calls to see how the Titans owner feels about bringing Chip in to reunite with the Titans Franchise QB?… I think a trade to the Titans is the only way chip can save face if he leaves the Eagles after this mess he created..he can sell it as not being able to turn down the opportunity to reunite with Mariota, and the Eagles can get back the second round pick chip traded to the Rams.. Without a trade to the Titans, I don’t see anyway we lose chip after this year. lUrie cares too much about stability to fire chip after this year, and if Chip quits on the Eagles after demanding GM power and leaving this franchise in disarray, he would have to be willing to give up on his NFL dream forever…. Because after demanding GM power, destroying the franchise and running away, leaving us in shambles, chip would be viewed as a Nick Saban, Spurrier type with the Scarlett letter of not being able to cut it in the pros… I don’t know that he would ever get another chamce to coach in the pros if Chip decides to leave us after the mess he made this year..
It’s a pick’em. They’re playing a bit better than before, we’re playing worse. We looked terrible last week, but is anyone really as bad or as good as they look one week in the NFL?
I think the eagles take it
If KElce and JP DONT play, I don’t see how that can happen
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beating the Lions womt solve our Problems, but at least it will prove the rumors of already having completely lost the locker room aren’t true and NOTHING is MORE important that keepimg the faith of his players, and keeping this team United until we battle thru,the adversity..
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We are 1 game away,from the division lead, with Plenty of time left in the season, and we still have a game left against the Giants team we need to beat out to win the division, so to still very much be in the hunt to win a division, yet lose your locker room and have playërs quit on you with so many games left and a great chance to win the division would be as alarming as it gets.
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It’s not often that a team completely implodes, quits on its leader, with so many games left and only 1 game back from the division lead. NOTHING would be more alarming than to lose his locker room AT THIS POINT in Time.. I can understand if there is two games left and we are 3 games back making it impossible to win the division, but to completely implode with the division sill in the balance, if that isn’t rock bottom, I don’t know what is…
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I’m so worried, that I domt even care about winning or losing tomorrow, I CARE about seeing a UNITED TEAM, that’s going To stick together, show some heart and Toughness in the face of adversity… Show me that you are still together, still fighting for each other and for this passionate city, make it a competitive game, and I can live with a loss…
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But if we Lose like we did against Tampa, It would be the worst sigń since chip became our coach…. I have no faith in predicting us to beat Anyone else this year. I don’t care who the opponent is, if we don’t get it together and stay together we will get embarressed every week the rest of the way..
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Hopefully the media has blown this out of proportion and we see a United Team, with plenty of Heart and Toughness showing up to Play on National TV tomorrow… It’s so bad that I care more about how we look, than I care about winning the game… I’m scared, Im worried…mHopefully this team rallies and proves that the media blew this out of proportion..
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after the Miami game, I wrote that while the season hasn’t gone our way, we have been in every game, and had a chance to win all the games we lost Til the very end, instead of it being a case of looking like we don’t even belong on the field against the teams that beat us, and then Tampa and a rookie QB came to town, made me eat those words and made us look like we didn’t even belong on the field with u an average Bucs team…. Completely RATTLING my confidence… I’m petrified of tomorrow, because there is more than just wins and losses on the line tomorrow… We seem to be in a fragile state right now.. And to Implode tomorrow, and go into Foxorough on a 3 game losing streak, with the Pats, Bills, and Cardinals coming up, would be a bigger disaster than anything I could have imagined going into this year
Feels like a loss to me. I have been in wait and see mode all year though, nothing changes.
Annonymous Agent claims chip has lost the locker room, but needs to remin annonymous because of his clients career. Everyone knows chip will cut you for running your mouth..
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That’s not even as bad as what one of his eagle players who were with him at Oregon had to say, his own Oregon import ripped chip really bad, my assumption is it came from Josh Huff…. When chip starts even losing the Ducks he brought to Philly,shit has hit the fan..
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What are the expectations for tomorrow. One game out of first place, getying embarressed 4 days ago, will this eagle team show some heart, Toughness and Charechter? Or does the implosion continue will a ugly uninspired loss to the Lions?
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jason Kalce and Jason Peters are both questionable for tomorrow.. I don’t care how Bradford feels, if KElce and JP DONT play, Bradford BETTER NOT take the field with an injured shoulder.. If the starting OL plays and the offense is Practcing hard showing some fight, im fine with Bradford playing, but he better DARE NOT PLAY if KElce and JP sit out. We will already be without Ertz and Ryan Mathews, don’t need to see SAM get completly killed by this teams incompetance..
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I sure would LOVE to be Wrong, but I do not get the impression that this team will rally and show some heart and fight for a win….. And we already learned the lesson that a bunch of new first year Eagle mercenaries aren’t what’s best for trying to weather a storm of adversity
I thought I heard that comment was made by an ex-Duck on another team, not one of the Eagles.
Back in 2005, Miami improved from 4-12 to 9-7.
The next season, the Dolphins took a step back to 5-11.
And Nick Saban, after two seasons in which he was both GM and HC, quit and went back to college football — after vehemently denying any intention to return to the college ranks.
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Saban had spent 6 years as an NFL assistant before leaving LSU to become Miami’s HC. He was no stranger to the rule that only teams with good QBs win.
Also, I don’t recall anyone reporting that Nick Saban — a controlling personality, like Kelly and many other great coaches — liked dealing with boosters. Or likes dealing with them now. He gives ‘bama boosters a shot at a national championship every year. (Here in the South, every Alabama grad I know loves the guy unconditionally . . . nearly as great as the Bear.)
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Why is it so hard to say that Kelly may return to college?
Boosters? Being ranked in the Top 4 in December is a cure-all.
Just ask the LSU folks who’re gonna buy-out Les Miles.
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I’m not guessing what Kelly’s gonna do. Or wants to do.
I just don’t see boosters, or any other aspect of how college football works, as a problem.
Chip is pragmatic. That I think is the key to trying to figure out what he’s going to do.
Good to see a few of your quality posts in the comment section again ACV. Your concise points and counter points are always appreciated, and when the team is struggling like it is and we fans begin to write with more and more emotions, your posts stand out in stark contrast.
Agreed and Kelly isn’t going to some back water or 2nd tier program to just coach football.
The Eagles will probably be a strong candidate for “Hard Knocks” next summer
I’m sure its a lock at this point…. Is Dallas eligible?
no made the playoffs a year ago, think you have to be a non playoff team for two years in a row
Only thing that will save us is getting a new coach…. not that Im in that boat yet
or…..(gulp)……winning the division
I expect this to get worse before it gets better
Yup.. Need to miss playoffs two years in a row to be forced to do HardKnocks, and you can’t have a 1st year HEADCoach to be forced onto HardKnocks..
aka the only candidate. my #1 reason for Chip Kelly will straight up leave. He resents people trying to get into his life that much. I truly believe he will walk out rather than go through the headache of trying to hide the way his program works from the camera/ being a dick to the camera.
I agree that could be the straw
what does he have to hide? haven’t you heard? the entire league has figured him out!!!!
At this point, unless we win the division, or chip quits (Lurie won’t fire him), Id say we are the odds on favorite to be on HardKnocks next year..
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We are aLso in the Mix for possibky having to travel to London to play the Rams next year (it would be a Rams home game)….. Let’s say the Rams finish the year in 3rd place of their division, the team in the NFC east that finishes 3rd willhave to travel to London to play an away game against the Rams next year… Whatever place the Rams finish in their division, the NFC east team that finishes in the same spot that the Rams finish in their division wilL have to play in London,
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We could end up on HardKnocks and havng to play in London Next year..
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Sure would be great if we had enough, step up and go win this damn division and save the franchise from imploding again
I was just thinking the same thing
haven’t the Eagles really only had 1 BAD full game?
if you add up the halves they had that were bad it’s more, but Tampa killed us, no one else has come close to crushing the eagles like that this year.
every loss save Tampa was one score right? 1 field goal?
I can’t wait for Tommy’s article about, remember when after the Tampa blowout everyone wanted to send Chip packing along with most of the new players?
THAT was the turning point as the Birds came on strong ever since.
It could be written this year or next year, but IT WILL BE WRITTEN
I feel like Tampa and Dallas were full games that were awful, and the Dolphins game was 3/4 awful, so almost a full game.
Otherwise yeah we’ve been streaky. It’s just confounding to see how poorly some of the guys play at times. It’s almost like they’re still in the first week of training camp, not halfway through the season.
To me the biggest surprise is Jason Kelce. It’s just hard to understand how bad he’s been this year, and with no apparent reason. No injury that we know of, nothing, he’s just flat out bad all of a sudden. Dude was one of the best centers in the league the last few years and now he’s a huge liability. I don’t know how to explain it.
crap yeah Dallas too, and most of Miami, ok ok
The Eagles are in Y-3 of the Kelly era.
From Lurie’s point of view, is the arrow pointing up?
We have no clue what Lurie’s yard-stick is.
At this point in the Reid era, the Eagles already had been to the divisional round and were heading to the first of 4 straight NFC title game appearances.
Does Lurie see NFC title game appearances on the horizon for Kelly’s Eagles?
Lurie gave Reid lots and lots of rope — because Reid earned it with 5 NFC title game appearances in 8 seasons.
Rhodes? Trended down after his first season, culminating in the ’98 disaster in Y-4.
Bottom line . . . only Lurie knows what the yard-stick is here.
But the arrow’s trending down.
Reid had a top draft pick he used on #5. if we try hard we can get to a top pick but there is no Mcnabb out there
I wonder if Lurie sees this as growing pains or not. I wonder if even if we fall apart and finish say 5-11 or 6-10 if he’ll still see it as growing pains.
I wonder if he’s pissed that he gave Chip control of personnel only to see it blowing up in his face.
Lurie is patient though, I doubt he’ll can Chip, but Chip might walk away. We’ll see.
I guess it really matters how hard Lurie views it to get a franchise QB. Let’s go back through it.
Year one w/ Foles, I think everyone bought in to Foles being the answer.
Year two Foles shows he is not the answer and regressed to a back of the pack QB.
Now two years into Chip we still do not have a QB, so Chip seeing as he cannot get the person who he sees can be his franchise QB goes and get what Chip thinks is the next best thing Sam Bradford.
Year 3 clearly not the answer again, Chip feels less and less comfortable with where the offense is without a QB he can trust and we are where we are currently.
Now does Lurie think giving Chip another offseason to find a QB or should he blow it up and get a new coach?
I think Lurie will give Chip a final try to get the QB answer correct. But just a guess.
I agree with your logic. The key is, Chip spent significant resources to more or less confirm exactly what everyone already knew about Bradford. How does Lurie feel about that? Have they even confirmed what Bradford is yet? That’s the big unknown in determining how warm that coach’s seat is.
I too suspect Chip will get another stab at getting his QB, dunno if it will be demanded he take that shot this upcoming off-season or the next (the O is more than 1 piece away from being good, I suspect we will be very active in FA for O-line because there are just not enough picks to address it). What is yet to be seen is if Chip Kelly can develop QB’s in the NFL. Every QB Chip has worked with has either failed to progress at all or flat out regress at the fundamental levels. Not a huge sample size or a boat load of talent there, but it’s on the radar to watch.
Consider . . .
The last 7 Qs of Kelly-coached Eagles football have been bad to terrible.
And one thing to consider about the Dallas victory 3 games ago.
In the 5 Cowboys’ games sandwiching the Eagles’ game, Dallas averaged just 13 points/game.
Against the Eagles, Dallas scored 27 points. (And in the next game, Dallas scored 6.)
Don’t know what all this means. But it doesn’t seem encouraging.
yeah that’s bad defense for sure.
I don’t think dallas had given up so many points until the eagles either though, i don’t know?
For me, I can deal with a down year….. What scares the crap out of me is the possibility of Chip Losing the Locker room. To have 6 games left, only be 1 game out of the division lead and ALREADY lose his locker room, would be such a huge disaster, I don’t even know what the answer Is, how we proceed from there.
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It’s one thing for players to quit when they know they won’t make the playoffs. But After so much emphasis on Culture, if these players start to quit on each other and quit on Chip with 6 games left in the middle of hunt for division title only 1 game back, that would be a disaster of epic proportions that I don’t know how you come back from that
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I can endure a 5 or 6 win season, and the first time chip has had a down year. No problem, I’ll get over it… ALL My CONCERNS are about the state of this locker room, and the Culture which was supposed to be a strength is in danger of becoming a mess.. If there were only two games left, no big deal… But with 6 games left, things can get much worse and that’s a lot more time we have to worry about this locker room further imploding…another 6 weeks of media getting Nasty with Chip, And getting emotional players to say thngs that can lead to more trouble
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Honestly, I wish tomorrow was the last game of the season, instead we have so much time left for more disasters to happen, and we haven’t even got to the tôugh part of our schedule yet,. We lose tomorrow and we go into a stretch Of games against Patriots, Bills, and Cadinals already on a 3 game Losimg streak. I’m petrified of what can happen to this locker room if they have to endure a 6 game losing streak and then still have two division games left against skins and Giamts.. That’s a LONG time with a Ton more that can go wrong… Wish this season ended tomorrow, as sad as that sounds,.
Tomorrow is also the one year anniversary of the last game we really got to enjoy before we started on this ugly downward spiral..
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Cox had a Monstrous performamce dominating Dallas OL on the Big National Thanksgiving stage last year… Hopefully Cox is ready for anothet dominant Herculian performamce and completely Takes over the Detroit game
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If we win tomorrow, Fletcher cox, our best player needs to set the tone, LEAD US and demand his teammates Follow him
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If we win tomorrow, it probably means Fletcher Cox treated us to a Special performance
I hate the Eagles so much right now that I hope they end up with the London game next year, London can have all of our home games for all I care right now.
Sorry, but if we play in London next year it would be an away game. It’s officially scheduled as a Rams Home game next year
good cause I hate St Louis anyway, aint goin there neither lol
Chip the coach has regressed this year. His offense went from being very varied scheme that always seemed to put a defense in a bind by including multiple options built within each play that left the defense wrong no matter what they did. This year the scheme is shockingly simple, with the same few plays being run over and over and over with little variation and very few tendency breakers to punish teams that start to guess correctly what’s coming.
His personnel management on game days is completely asinine. He’s clearly under utilizing his playmakers and sticking with inferior veterans like Miles Austin and DeMarco Murray over their more productive counterparts. Aside from personnel, his game time decisions have been questionable too. Opening nearly every game with a swing pass for 1 yard and then a DeMarco Murray inside zone run for 2 yards lead to what seems like 6 straight weeks with a 3 and out on the opening drive. Trying to score with less than 20 seconds on the clock at the end of the first half two weeks in a row was needlessly dangerous both from an injury perspective and from a game play perspective. Consistently calling plays on 3rd and long that call for your best receiver to sit down, stop and square up to the quarterback 3 yards short of the sticks is just pointless. Running Murray outside on sweeps is puzzling since he’s rarely successful doing it and there’s two guys on the bench that excel at it.
As a GM Chip does not appear to have a good sense of value, the subsequent effects on the salary cap and the need for playmakers on offense. Getting nothing for DeSean was wasteful. Getting a LB coming off a bad knee injury for McCoy wasn’t the best value. Foles and a second for Bradford seemed excessive when the trade was first reported and seems even more lopsided now. Paying Austin $2.5mil with $1mil guaranteed is insane. Considering he was unsigned late in free agency it would appear we dumped that money on him while bidding only against ourselves. Wouldn’t you rather give that extra million to have Maclin playing outside instead of Austin and give that 5th WR spot to a guy that could develop and play special teams? Cutting Mathis without viable replacements on the team was short sighted. Maxwells contract far exceeds his skill level. The contract extension given to Peters last year was unnecessary as we still had him locked up past this year and it was clear he was declining. Celek is making $5mil to be an extra blocker on run plays. Giving DeMarco Murray the huge contract we did was crazy in a league where the value of RB contracts is plummeting and more and more teams are proving that it’s the easiest position to plug and play for cheap.
Right now we’ve got hoards of money tied up in 3 RBs, Murray is the least effective, making by far the most money and seeing the most playing time, Matthews is the most effective, but only sees about 10 carries a game while still having one of the higher RB salaries in the league, and Sproles, the most electric playmaker of the bunch and one of the only players on the entire offense that presents a real matchup problem to defenses is being paid $3.5mil this year to catch one or two passes a game and fair catch punts.
Meanwhile we have little money invested in WRs with 3 rookie contracts, Austin and Cooper all making similar amounts of money. And, the results show. We have no outside threats in the passing game and a glut of RBs that we can’t get on the field enough to justify their salaries since they all play the same position and for the most part there’s only one on the field at any given play whereas most plays we roll out with 3 WRs.
It’s not so much that the individual players or each individual personnel decision was bad on its own, but when it all comes together the peices don’t fit together well. You have the most amount of money dedicated to 3 RBs that don’t have enough snaps to split between them to justify that cost with adequate production. The highest paid member of that RB corps is a downhill power runner, who you’re forcing to run behind a criminally undermanned inside OL that can’t give him the push he needs to run successfully with his style. You’re paying a QB $12.5mil who is a marginal improvement over the guy who was making less than a million dollars a year, he’s extremely injury prone, hadn’t played in almost 2 years, and you’re putting him behind a shaky line with no playmakers in the passing game. You’re best WR plays the slot and works the middle of the field, your second best option in the passing game is a TE who also works the middle of the field and your third best option is a 5’6″ RB with shaky hands who excels at screen passes and short range option routes, after that your highest paid outside WR is a guy making $4.5mil to be a blocking WR (I wasn’t even aware that was a thing before Chip Kelly) and he’s gone half the season without a single catch and an aging, declining veteran with stone hands who offers you absolutely nothing in the passing game. Just a piss poor allocation of resources on offense and the results speak for themselves.
well when you put it like that sure it sounds BAD.
damnit
Haha yea it sounds like an offense that wouldn’t be able to put up points against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But, it’s not something that I feel needs to be completely blown up. A few things have to workout in our favor and a few young players will have to develop into good players, but a complete turn around by this time next year isn’t entirely out of the question.
Let’s start with the Oline which is #1 on the list of things that needs improvement for this offense to excel. Let’s assume that next year Lane moves over to LT and were able to get at least one more good year out of Peters as a LG. If Peters moves inside he’ll undoubtedly do so with a substantial pay cut. LGs don’t make $10mil per year. So we’ll save some money there with our LT on a rookie contract and Peters restructuring his. Now you have a relatively solid left side with Lane, Peters and Kelce. To completely revamp the line you need to obtain a RT and a RG. A high draft pick (or two) plus a decent mid level FA could take a glaring weakness and make it a strength in just one offseason. Barbre, Tobin, Kelly and Andrews go back to being backups with lots of playing experience and are plenty adequate in that role.
If Agholar develops into a true playmaker, and everything I’ve seen from him so far as made me think a big sophomore leap is pretty likely with him, that will completely change the dynamic of our passing game and give us the outside threat and deep threat that we so desperately need. We can cut Cooper and let Austin leave in FA to begin his new career as a manager at Kinko’s. That’ll save us another $6million. The second WR spot will come down to a competition between Huff and a decent mid level FA/rookie. Celek will probably get the DeMeco treatment this offseason and be offered to rework his final year on his deal from over $5mil next year to a two year deal for $2.5mil each of the next two years. He can either take that deal and retire as an Eagle or he gets cut and most likely won’t get more on the open market. Which fixes the financial problem of paying him so much for mostly blocking.
Unfortunately, we’re stuck with Murray for another year since it’ll cost more to cut him than keep him next year, but he can be cut for a substantial savings the year after. Mathews will undoubtedly be back next year and we can either keep Sproles for his final year or cut him and save $3.5mil. I’d probably just keep him and wait till 2017 to get our RB salaries under control.
The big difference maker will come at QB. Bradfords probably not the long term answer, but he has shown steady improvement and has honestly not been the problem on offense. He hasn’t been the solution either, but he’s far from the main problem. I’d resign Bradford if I could to a short term (3 year) deal that is structured much like Kapernicks current deal in San Fran (essentially a series of one year deals with lots of performance incentives that gives us the flexibility to get out of it if and when we ever find a better option, and gives Bradford the potential to make good money if he starts to play well, while being short enough that he’ll be able to get another big deal before he’s too old if he becomes a good starting QB.) Then I’d either draft a developmental QB or take a flier on RG3 or Kapernick to be the 3rd QB.
I don’t think any of those things would take otherworldly amounts of luck or are unreasonable expectations for us to accomplish in one offseason. And, those few moves coupled with the development of a few guys already on the roster could make a huge difference on our offenses production.
The defense is solid and really just needs a few tweaks, depth at some positions and locking up our key players like Cox, Thornton, Ect. After the 2016 season we can get out of the Maxwell deal so we have 2 offseasons to find or develop another CB.
So turning this around is certainly possible and shouldn’t be prohibitively difficult to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time.
get em
Well said.
some things i disagree with and could nitpick, but all in all i mostly agree, great write-up!
Thanks! Just for the sake of discussion though I’m curious to hear what the few things you disagree with are. Maybe it’ll open my eyes to some other point of view I’m not seeing and help me form my opinion better.
Not to hijack Joe’s reply but I feel the same. The only parts I disagreed with were in terms of what we got back for Jackson & McCoy & the Bradford trade. I don’t believe anyone was ever going to give anything up for Jackson. I felt getting Alonso for McCoy given McCoy’s contract situation plus the potential to have an impact defender at a position that sorely needed it, plus financial flexibility was a fair trade.
I didn’t like giving up the 2nd round pick for Bradford but this league is such where you have to really give up something to get something, & so that was the unfortunate cost of doing business. Something had to be done at QB. Chip felt like the Bradford gamble was better than any other option & I can’t fault him for that. Unfortunately it came up snake eyes.
Yea I can’t argue with any of that. And, I actually liked a lot of those trades too.
there’s lots of hind sight is 20/20 going on. there’s lots of logic behind the moves. i think to think we could rebuild the team in one year and compete for a superbowl was a little short sighted.
i gotta assume like with nick foles Chip is seeing trash every day in practice and just trying to make the best of it. i do expect him to aggressively try to fix the rest of the roster that he can fix. but it’s become more and more obvious no matter how easy to make the throws for a qb you aren’t going anywhere w/out a franchise guy.
trust me, it wont lol….we are pretty much on the same wavelength regarding the structure of the team. I personally liked many of his personnel moves but i agree wholeheartedly with the first half of your post regarding his coaching this season and how he has hampered the offense with play calling and how he uses players.
The one issue i have is the Bradford deal, which at first i hated but came around to it after a day or two. Yea at the time Foles was making less than a million, but he had to be paid soon by somebody and he wasn’t Chips guy. As of now he’s making slightly less than Bradford this year. Bradford hasn’t lit the world on fire, but i like his skill set a hell of a lot more than Foles, and i’m kind of glad to see our coach and management take a shot at somebody, even though it looks like it was a failure as of now and cost a 2nd rounder. If Bradford was able to turn the light on here then it was a major win for this franchise. Just a risk i didn’t mind them taking. Also regarding Jackson, i don’t think teams were going to give much up for him when it was becoming known he was going to be cut anyway….I loved D-jax when he was catching long bombs, but he also seemed like a pain in the ass in the locker room and was already asking for a new contract after chip’s first year and i just don’t think he’s that much of a transcending player to keep around….i know people can argue this back and forth but that’s how i feel about Desean. pretty much the same thing with McCoy, i was happy when he was traded and was ok with exchanging him for Kiko because he was coming in at a low price with multiple years left on the deal. Kiko has been a huge bust so far, but i liked the freeing up of the money mostly. What i didn’t like was throwing all that money right back into that position. I would have liked going after an Ameer Abdullah in the draft along with signing Mathews just to keep the figure low. I like Demarco alot as a back just not at his cost.
in the end i feel like the personnel he brought in, he has held hostage both by his play calling and the decision to not address the o-line. He has a strong shot to get younger on the o-line (doesn’t mean better) in the draft, will he actually draft o-lineman? I’m also of the opinion that i believe Kelce and his poor play has effected the offense badly as well.
All in all i think this whole thing has been a lesson in how a major roster overhaul in one offseason can be a dangerous way to operate. Not only due to finding replacements for the players you got rid of, but the overall familiarity of the units coming together to play well can’t be underestimated as well, throw in the idea that Chip has also completely dumbed down his offense and it’s a recipe for a lost season
Yea I totally agree. I had the same experience with the Bradford trade. At first I was dismayed, but after a few days I actually liked the trade. And, I agree, I like his skill set a lot more than Foles. He’s clearly an upgrade over Foles. And, I’d actually like to bring Bradford back next year. He’s been far from our biggest problem on offense and I’ve been a pretty big defender of him this year.
DeSean was a pain in the ass, but this team would be better with him on it right now. If no one wanted to trade us a pick for him I think we should have kept him.
I initially liked the McCoy trade because I felt it freed up a lot of money. But, then they went out and signed Murray and Mathews and dumped the same amount of cash into the RB position as before.
Hopefully, Kiko will work his way back into form and become a dominating presence once again.
“If no one wanted to trade us a pick for him I think we should have kept him.” yes
Thorough and thoughtful post.
I would just bring up how Bill Walsh won, then lost for a while, then won again. Belichik did not win for some time until Brady, a 7th round draft pick. Even so, BB lost out for years in between SBs. . Noll took 5 years to build the Steelers into winners. After 1979, they lost for 10 years, when Noll was awarded Coach of the Year for coming within 1 game of the Super Bowl. Parcells won and lost. Lombardi did not win every game or every year. John Madden only won ONE Super Bowl. Carroll took years to win. etc. Landry – only 2 championships.
So how weird is it that the thanksgiving game against the Lions feels like a pivotal game in our season? I feel like how we respond to the Tampa loss is really crucial. With people sniping players anonymously in the media, reports about Chip, etc. I think if we don’t bounce back and at least play solid competent football, the team might really be on the brink of collapse, mentally. I mean shit, Fletcher Cox just seemed utterly at a loss as to why they were playing the way they were, it’s pretty unsettling to see a star player confounded like that.
Hasn’t every game felt like a pivotal one?
Re: Kelly and the Locker Room – What Does a Win in Detroit Mean?
Someone wrote that an Eagles win against Detroit proves Kelly hasn’t lost the team.
Maybe.
In 1998, in Ray Rhodes’ last season, the Eagles were 1-7 coming off a 34-0 loss against Dallas.
In game 9, the Eagles beat the Lions 10-9 — raising their record to 2-7.
Locker-room saved?
Well . . . in the next 3 games — all losses — the Eagles were out scored 72-19.
But on 11/29/98, the Eagles defeated the Rams 17-14!!!
Locker-room saved again?
The Eagles lost the next 3 games by a combined 53-36.
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Seems to me that a win, in isolation, proves nothing about a team or a coach’s standing in the locker-room. Or anything, really.
Probably need to wait until 16 games are in the book.
your right, a win, or a loss for that matter means dick about kelly losing the locker room. How the hell does them winning tomorrow suggest that Chip magically has the respect of his players now? I’d really like to know who this someone is that wrote this because it’s complete hack.
Bottom line is that those players will take the field tomorrow and they have a choice whether or not to actually show the hell up and play, if they do they should win no matter the quarterback….or they can sulk and mail it in like they did this past sunday. The last game had nothing to do with scheme or coaching or talent….just one team who was still sulking over the way the previous weeks game ended to Miami
I’m going to scream and yell my way through the final 6 games, but I agree 16 games will tell the full story………..and most likely we’re talking 22 games to tell the full story.
I believe that this year’s debacle looks even worse when you add last year’s 6 game swoon at the end of the season. I think Chip runs a very vanilla offense and defense as well. He believes that culture, practice and uptempo will make his easily diagnosed plays more effective. That worked in college, but in the nfl, the playcalling is a huge part of team success.
Lane: “we have a bunch of Hungry and Embarressed guys in year, hopefully we ready to make a statement”..
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Lane also revealed that SAM was a full participant today for the first time, but that Sanchez took most of the first team reps… Then Jordan Mathews revealed Chip took it really easy on the team this week focusing on recovery, so it’s not as big of a deal that bradford was able to get thru a light practice
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Unfortunately Word is that KElce looks hobbled, but Lane seems to think KElce will try and give it a go.. If he can’t finish the game, Josh Andrews is next man up, personally I have more faith in him than Vandervelde so im glad Josh Andrews is over his concussion..
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Unfortunately it’s really hard to feel any confidence going into this game. The Bucs game was horrible, and the rumblings and rumors coming out of the Lockeroom all week is pretty Friggin Scary!
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Instead of hearing that these players are hungry, pissed off, rallying to get some respec back after getting embarressed in Tampa.. Hearing playër rip Demarcos effort, an agent claiming chip lost this locker room, Lane lashing out to fans…. Certainly not the Ideal vibe Id like to hear going into this game..
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They say, where there is smoke, there is fire…. hopefully this has been mostly a media smoke machine, instead of a real fire…. Tomorrows Effort will tell us everything we NEED to Know..
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for this team to win, our Best player Fletcher Cox needs to be even more dominant than he was on the thanksgiving stage last year, play one of his best games, and rally the troops around him..
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The Lions aren’t one of the more scary teams in the NFL, but they are coming into this game on a two game winning streak, but the Lions have struggled to even score 20 points, but they do have skill players that can do damage if our defense doesn’t show effort like they did last week.. nolan has been picked on for the past month. Safe to say, Calvin will line up across from Nolan, and if Nolan doesn’t put the Tampa debacle behind him, Calvin can Embarress him.
golden Tate, Ebron, Theo Riddick, this ismt a high powered offense, but if you don’t tackle or cover, these skill players can hurt you..
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Im conflicted… Part of me is so afraid at the state of this team that I won’t go into another game expecting to win until they show us somethimg.. But are they REALLY THAT BAD, or because We finally lost confidence in them, will they finally play.well since the NFL rarely follows the blueprint of expectations?
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As afraid as I am, Detroit is still a very winnable game.. But we will need a pissed off eagle defense to show up, force turnovers and get back to playing solid football, and Demarco Murray and SPROLES need to step up and carry a serious Load successfully to try and limit the opportunities sanchez gets to piss the game away with a Terrible turnover.
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not having much fun… I realized that I haven’t even put On an eagle jersey since early September… Maybe I throw a cElek Jersey on tomorrow to try and change the JU Ju, especially since Celek is Hurt and Sanchez is scared to throw to WRs, Celek should have a good game… I’m going to wear his jersey on to try and save our season lol
I just read this on eaglerewind, its a interesting article:
Consider this: prior to getting Tom Brady, Bill Belichick had just one winning season in six seasons as head coach of the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots, with a combined record of 41-55 (.427 win percentage). In the 15 years since he teamed up with Brady, Belichick does not have a single losing season, and has a combined 165-54 record (.687 win percentage).
The fact that Kelly has been able to go 24-18 with a cast of Foles, Sanchez, Vick, Barkley and Bradford as his starting quarterbacks is somewhat remarkable. His .571 winning percentage puts him at a tie with Pete Carroll and ahead of good NFL coaches like Tom Coughlin, Marvin Lewis, and John Fox.
Ok..but he’s also the same guy that went 11-5 with Matt Cassel.
yup and had a .427 win percentage in his first 6 years!
6 years. under .500.
matt cassel was good that year, and is still in the league and almost just beat the eagles .
I was thinking earlier today that I wish we had Cassle. Sad times gentlemen.
and had Brady riding the bench behind Drew Bledsoe
and had a great defense.
oh and years of cheating..
Kelly overpaid but the Bradford trade is actually one of the more sound moves he made this offseason trying to upgrade the QB position.
It is the host of other ones you can second-guess.
Mathis, Mccoy, and Maclin. The only one I miss is Maclin. Rumors (Mark Saltveit) was that Mathis stopped getting along with Peters. McCoy was aggravating, and he’s feast or famine (much like DJax) and that’s frustrating.
It was a reasonable gamble. Remember after the pre-season, we thought we hit the qb jackpot.
Thank you, Tommy for a salubrious focus on the coach, team, and football market. I don’t think the book on Bradford gets an epilogue just yet. I’m not a brain-dead homer; I just think that the offense he inherited to stage a comeback as a QB was not a stable entity that gave him an out on most occasions. Viewing his performance in isolation of the disappointing receivers and OL just does the latter groups a big favor. DeMarco seems to be missing the road-clearing OL of his former team, whereas Ryan Matthews and Darren Sproles look much more at home here. But even they are handicapped by an inexcusably inconsistent OL.
On Kelly, I confess to never having seen him in “Belichick mode”. I cannot even imagine Kelly adopting a facial expression and body language that exudes such discomfort and resentment. I’ve seen him be curt and mum, but this is a HC who talks regularly with reporters, many of whom repeat ad nauseam questions he will never answer with any substance or elaboration. I can understand his weariness from the predictable persisters. The other day somebody – might have been McClane- challenged Kelly with the tired axiom: “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity” And Kelly responded, “I’ve never heard that” Anybody as busy as an NFL HC would get testy from regular exposure to armchair geniuses. And don’t you think that he meets with the trainers after PC precisely because he can say “I don’t know” when asked the state of players’ health during the PC? And your observation that something is wrong between concept and execution feels very right to me, but I don’t think it is just about CK the GM. When a team of high-character, wired right, team first-ers turns in a performance such as Sunday last, the coaching TONE has to be examined from HC to position coaches. Whatever they were selling last week got no buyers.
I really appreciated your views on the defense. It does seem to me that Kelly is the grand orchestrator of scheme and risk, and his loyalty to Davis may be predicated on his own doubts about getting anybody as qualified to run HIS defense as HE wants it. The whole debacle of the defense in Kelly’s first 2 seasons felt a lot like a scheme being applied that didn’t have the players it required. I took it as a fixed determination to stop the run at all costs. The wide open middle, the corners on islands. It was enough to make me miss Ray Rhodes’ DC, Emmitt Thomas.
I agree that Kelly will not be pre-maturely judged by the owner, and I am fine with that. Kelly is knee-deep in team issues, but, unlike a majority of guys in the business, he doesn’t come across as being over his head. He’s a football junkie, and it will be interesting, in my opinion, to see how he deals with it. Thanks again, Tommy for great perspective.
I cannot believe some folks are still bemoaning Desean Jackson! First, he’s been gone for 2 years now. What has he done to help his current team win? NOTHING! How many years was he in Philadelphia? How many of those years did he score more than 6 TDs? Twice only. In most other years he had 2 or 4 TDs only!
In 2014 he had 6 TDs for Washington. Maclin had 10! Matthews, a rookie, had 8! Washington’s last game he had one TD, then only caught 5 short passes after that. While his team was losing. He has never been a number 1 receiver. He has never committed to helping his teammates. Get over it.
Now, for the people who can’t wait 5 minutes for anything.
Bill Walsh HOF:
‘Your path and purpose will become crystal clear when you begin to trust your vision.’
‘Failure is part of success, an integral part. Everybody gets knocked down. Knowing it will happen and what you must do when it does is the first step back.’
Chuck Noll HOF:
‘Leaving the game plan is a sign of panic, and panic is not in our game plan.’
Vince Lombardi HOF:
‘If you are not making mistakes, you are not trying hard enough.’
Colin Powell:
‘There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.’
In response:
1) Djax’s value was much more than just catching TDs (deep threat = provides clear outs underneath and helps open up the run game)
2) Uh, we waited a little more than 5 minutes with our last HC I believe.
3) Here’s another HOF quote (OK, it was just Eskin being Eskin): “The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and getting the same results” .
No, allow me:
http://static.tumblr.com/cqzod9j/c8Alw2omo/greencolored.png
1) His additional value still hasn’t helped his new team win
2) Not giving up too soon is not the same thing as waiting too long. Just because we waited too long with Reid doesn’t mean we jump the ship too soon with every other coach.
3) While true, the original point is also true. As with 2, just because one pithy statement is true doesn’t mean we jump the ship too soon.
The Philly fans are a reflection of the short attention span, instant gratification mindset of American culture… and the rest of the Philly sports teams suck so that further adds to the frustration. I honestly think Chip cares very deeply about the fans but he has his vision and he’s gonna stick to it. The truth hurts… it’s gonna take time and lots of emotional pain. Do the fans wanna hear that? No. Chip knows that he reports to Lurie and only Lurie. He will be ok as long as he has a plan and executes that plan.
And I think everyone needs some perspective on the situation. No one except the media said he was an offensive genius. He’s learning how to be an NFL coach. He never had the experience of an O-coordinator job.
we’re also a product of the narrative that the media wants us to believe.
A good team? I didn’t think we were last year when we had all those fluky ST plays that won us games.
Not flukes if they happened every week, just part of an advantage that we had that year. Early in the season we were forcing a lot of TOs which kept us in games. Offense needs help to get to the 30ppg it needs to win.
An interesting and compelling array of distilled wisdom…BUT remember that your last quote was from a soldier who sold a lie to the UN carrying water for an ideologue POTUS and a treasonous VP. The global jihadist shit storm that we are presently witnessing is directly connected to that band of pretenders, and Powell was one of them.
What happens does depend on the rest of the season. There is a big difference in perception between 7-9 and 6-10. 7-9 gets Chip another year as both HC and GM I think, but 6-10 (or worse), you got to believe that at the very least, he loses the GM role. And I think he won’t take that well and may well walk away and go back to college.
Now looking at the remaining schedule, I just don’t see 3 Ws left to get us to 7-9, especially if we lose tomorrow. And if we lose tomorrow, I think the wheels do come off and 5-11 is in the picture with blowout losses thrown in that will lead to his outright dismissal.
One of the major issues I see with the Eagles is locker room leadership. Who are the leaders? On offense? Lots of new faces and young guys and no one who has taken ownership of the offense. And give me a break about Sam Bradford. The guy hasn’t played for 2 years. I’m sure he’s still favoring his knee which is affecting his mechanics. And throw on top of that his lack of training this summer, his lack of familiarity with the offense and horrid O-line play, below average WRs and run game. What do you expect?
On Defense? Maybe Ryans… which is why I think he was resigned. Or Barwin or Cox. And then there’s the story about Logan joking around on the field as the D is getting their ass kicked. He’s supposed to be one of the pillars of the D and he’s acting the fool out there. Brandon Graham? I’m tired of the excuses with him. He’s one of the “elders” on the team and was drafted as a pass rushing DE. Shut your mouth about 32 sacks… go out and do it instead of running your mouth. So did he forget how to rush the passer as an OLB? He was resigned because he was basically the best option I think. Chip would never had drafted him at number 12 or whatever spot he was drafted at.
We are very lacking in locker room leadership. It will take time. I see Jordan Hicks as a future leader on D. Maybe the coaching and scheme sucks… It will be another interesting free agency period and draft.
Kinda glad hicks is hurt so he isn’t tarnished by this
I also find it to be no coincidence that our defense started to really fall apart at precisely the moment he got hurt.
I read somewhere, maybe it was Seth Joyner n Dawkins, said that the ILBs were at fault during many of the big runs. I hope they fixed that for the Lions game. What a horrid performance at all levels of D.
They were absolutely at fault. On the first 80yd TD run Doug Martin, Kiko Alonso made an extremely porous attempt at stopping Martin. He fell to his knees trying to take out Martin’s lead blocker. So Kiko effectively took himself right out of the play. I understand if you can’t stop the runner, but at the LEAST you can engage the blocker and disrupt the play. On that very same play, Demeco overpursued and was unable to re-route his path to catching Martin. Kiko and Demeco Ryans probably played their worst game ever. I don’t expect them to ever be THAT bad again. I’ll be watching both guys very closely today.
The Eagles will finish 9-7. Heard it from Gaylord_Focker.
[…] Big Picture Questions – Iggles BlitzMy take? He’s not going anywhere. Let’s talk about the college angle, since a lot of people seem to think he’s tired of the NFL and will jump right back to the safety of Saturday football. Not gonna happen. Chip hates boosters. Hated dealing with them at Oregon, which has pretty tame boosters compared to most football factories. LSU is seriously considering firing Les Miles, the most successful coach in school history. His sin, he’s not Nick Saban. The boosters don’t care Miles has won a national title for them. They don’t care that he averages 10 wins a year. The team has been up and down the last couple of years and they want more titles. Now. […]
Best article of the year. Said it before – CK is not going anywhere.
…..
“I don’t know if that is due to scheme, teaching or talent”. There are some very talented players on this team. Amazing talent. Problem is, the list of talented players is so short, it’s too hard to over come. The great Yankees run(started in 96) never finished a season with the best pitcher or hitter or HR king(ok, best relief pitcher in the history of baseball, but besides that..lol). They finished with the best “group of talent”. This Eagle team does not have a “group of talent”. They have enough to build on…..
…..
Leadership. Ugh. Remember when everyone was crying about Avant leaving because his “leadership’ will be missed? His leadership at KC is 5-5. YEAH!!!! Talent wins over player leadership – everyday, all day.
Team didin’t quite on Andy when they were like 0-5 and lost their best player. Need a start player that motivates, but helps that core group has been together for 3+ years.
team quit on Andy in his last year in Phila.
nah i mean KC
That’s kind of bizarre. This team would be better with Avant. At least he can catch.
Lot’s of talk surrounding CK the coach and CK the GM. Earlier in this post, I read about Lurie’s yardstick for Kelly may largely depend upon his ability to get a franchise QB. Let’s assume for now that we do not already have one…
As previously discussed, Aaron R was a late pick and sat for years. Brady was a round 7 guy and sat, obviously who knew…. Carson P was all but washed up in Oakland and under pig face’s system is now off the charts. First round busts include Leaf, Russell, Leinhart, Quinn, Weeden – the list goes on. Andy had the luxury of a nr. 2 pick when he took DMAC, that pick largely regarded as a gamble. The next 2 QB taken in that draft (which also included Tim Couch) were Akili Smith and Daunte Cullpepper.
Drafting a franchise QB is a crap shoot. Once obtained, developing a QB with sound skills into a franchise QB appears the true way to identify a franchise QB.
There has also been discussion about coaches like Bellicheat, Big Tuna and Walsh all starting off their NFL head coaching careers at .500 or less. Why should we all bang on CK who, so far, has a better win/loss record than that? Because he does things differently than you or i would? Because the media views him as egotistical? Because Heath Evans doesn’t agree with him? I mean come on folks, a little perspective please. I’m pretty good at my job, I’ve made plenty of mistakes – but over the years I’ve developed. I’m glad I was given the faith and support necessary for me to develop. I’m not drinking the CK cool aid – I’m just trying to be realistic. Maybe CK will leave, maybe he will stay. Either way you look at it, if he stays I believe CK the GM and CK the coach get a bye for the remainder of their contract.
There are plenty of reasons to suspect Chip may be in over his head. Still, most of the talk, I think, comes from “sources”, “unnamed players”, “agents”. The talking heads are running with it. Some of it is very surprising to me, since I can hardly imagine that Lurie wouldn’t give Chip another year. But as you know, sometimes where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Do we see lots of tempo today or does chip slow it down? I feel like Mark is only effective in heavy tempo with lots of rollout throws. Would not keep him in pocket and ask him to make reads.
I hate being on the 12:30 game for Thanksgiving. Lunch is always about 1pm for my family, so the overlap is going to make things awkward for me.
I was dismissive yesterday, but Botto’s vision took hold, and I am a convert.
I can hear the booming voiceover, “Reeling from two unforeseen loses and headed to face a hot Detroit team on a short week, it looked like Philly was down for the count. An anonymous source was blaming players, players were blaming fans, fans were blaming the coach. This was a team everyone thought should just quit.”
*cue Rocky music
“But never underestimate the city that gave us one of the great down-and-out-with-the-heart-of-a-champion stories of all time. On this day, one Eagle gave us a glimpse of the career that would follow, Detroit fans deja vue of days past for their waning star, and Eagles fans a first round pick they could be thankful for.”
*montage of remaining schedule highlights
“On that day, the Eagles truly were on The Road To The Super Bowl®.”
Happy thanksgiving everyone. Eat before the game, just in case…
The game starts at 10:30am out here, Luckily I have a mini turkey going as appetizer/brunch for the game.
0730 here. Way to early to start drinking. None the less…
Lucky bastards. I’m going to be neck craning from the dinner table to see what’s going on. Of course, maybe I’m the lucky one, depending on how the game goes…
Wish I was on board. 28-17 cats.
It’s the, eye of the tiger! The thrill of the… oh wait the Eagles lost 41-10.
Runaway train never going back… Wrong way on a one way track…
[…] suggest that he’s an Eric Magini-level asshole or anything. Given that he presumably doesn’t want to go back to the minor leagues, what’s next? Barnwell’s take is […]