Season Finale Eve

Posted: December 31st, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 29 Comments »

The 2016 season is over on Sunday. We get to see Dallas come to town. The game doesn’t mean anything in the standings, but you always want to beat Dallas. You never want to see a smile on Jerry Jones face.

I wrote a piece for PE.com on the game, but also about how the Eagles can learn from Dallas. A year ago they were a 4-12 team that finished 31st in the league in scoring points. This year they are going to win at least 13 games and are 4th in points and yards. What a difference a year makes. The Eagles can learn from Dallas and find themselves greatly improved next year.

It sounds like the Eagles will be without WR Jordan Matthews on Sunday. That will make things more difficult for Carson Wentz, but it gives Paul Turner another chance to show what he can do.

*****

Not much sympathy for Chip in Philly.

I’m not on the anti-Chip bandwagon. He was a great coach at New Hampshire and at Oregon. He did some impressive things with the Eagles. Chip is a very flawed coach, but he’s had a significant impact on the game of football and I hope he finds a spot where he can get back to being fun to follow.

*****

Happy New Year!!!

_


29 Comments on “Season Finale Eve”

  1. 1 Sb2bowl said at 11:43 PM on December 31st, 2016:

    Happy new year Tommy, and to this community! Here’s to a brighter 2017 season for the birds!

  2. 2 A Roy said at 1:25 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    Happy New Year, Tommy. Thanks for all you do. Here’s hoping 2017 brings us a significantly improved Eagles team.

  3. 3 P_P_K said at 10:25 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    Best wishes to everyone on Iggles Blitz.

  4. 4 Fufina said at 6:52 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    Problem with Chip is in the NFL you cannot do the same thing every year and expect success offensively. You need to evolve year to year, changing looks and route combinations to keep defences guessing and to counter what defences are doing to stop you. Chip has stood still bringing out gameplans and schemes the best DC’s cracked 2 years ago and even the most incompetent DC’s copied in the last year or so.

    That and high pace is good if you have an efficient offence… if you don’t then its suicide.

  5. 5 Media Mike said at 7:47 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    The Eagles really need that set of games, starting with our own win over Dallas, to hit today in order to get the Vikings first round pick as high as possible and our’s as low as possible.

    All of those games falling our way today falls well within our rights as fans and a pox on any team / fan base who doesn’t make that happen for us.

  6. 6 Fufina said at 8:03 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    Think things shape up well if the da Bears manage to beat the Vikings… just seems really unlikely since the Vikings are better at pretty much everything compared to the Bears. But maybe the Vikings are really checked out and the drama last week with their CB’s becomes endemic across the entire roster and then they might find a way to loose to Matt Barkley.

  7. 7 Media Mike said at 8:05 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    No, that needs to be 100% likely!

  8. 8 Media Mike said at 8:18 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    https://twitter.com/GregSKennedy/status/815366054650277888

    Here it is! This needs to go down or nothing but venom for the guilty parties!

  9. 9 The original AG said at 9:52 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    This could possibly put them @number 9.

  10. 10 Media Mike said at 8:26 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    Other than pointing out that I’m not shocked, I can’t take too much glee in Chip being fired. I already hate Kaep, can’t stand Balke, and am repulsed by their spoiled rich brat owner who lucked into a team because his stank mamma stole it from her brother.

    So maybe I’ll root for the Niners again once Eddie gets his team back and they clear out the read one and run dolt at “QB.”

  11. 11 Media Mike said at 8:33 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    Kubiak call it quits today over health concerns. I don’t blame him for walking away if that’s what he feels he needs to do medically.

    Denver is going to be an odd job to fill. A lot of talent on D, terrible O-line, overpaid vets in a few key spots, and the “QB” of the future is some loser hipster with sever issues passing the football.

    http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000612645/article/memphis-paxton-lynch-doesnt-have-look-of-nflready-qb

    Amazing that a team who hoisted the Lombardi 11 months ago is now looking like a less than ideal job.

  12. 12 Julescat said at 8:50 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    hey Denver,

    Chip will be available

  13. 13 Media Mike said at 8:51 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    Elway would push him down the mile high steps.

  14. 14 A_T_G said at 9:06 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    I just checked the stats – the Eagles are undefeated this year and the Cowboys are winless. Let’s keep both streaks going.

  15. 15 Fufina said at 9:30 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    While there is a lot of talk about the Eagles draft pick, there are more rooting options tonight we can get behind.

    I want the Packers as the no.4 seed, because I think they have a great chance to bounce the Giants and Cowboys right out of the playoffs back to back weeks if they get in that spot. Ideally beating Dallas on a disputed noncatch by Des Bryant in the 4th quarter.

    Now for this to happen we need wins by Packers, Seahawks to make this possible.

  16. 16 P_P_K said at 10:31 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    It can be hard to discern truth from just reading media, but by all accounts Chip has not gone out of his way to show respect to the people he has worked with. At least not in the NFL. It’s easy to have a big ego as a college coach. You’re dealing with teenagers who are dependent on your approval for playing time and their very scholarships. Whole different thing in the NFL. Players, assistant coaches, and other personnel are more peers than pawns. Seems like Chip is a guy with a huge ego. The Greeks used to call this hubris; a quality of arrogance and righteous over-confidence that brings about a mans downfall.

  17. 17 Dragon_Eagle said at 10:32 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    No sympathy at all for Chip. He’ll land a good college HC gig even if its not at a primo program. Moreover, if he remains unemployed he’ll be collecting checks from either Philadelphia or San Fran or both. I have a hard time seeing him take an OC position in the NFL, though it would be the right move for him if he seriously wants to stay in the pros.

  18. 18 bdbd20 said at 11:17 AM on January 1st, 2017:

    I’d love to see him go to a program like Syracuse, Boston College or Rutgers and really get them back on the map. Rutgers would be interesting, given the large market there.

  19. 19 Anders said at 8:19 PM on January 1st, 2017:

    Most college jobs are taken but he can get any premium opening in college next year if he wants.
    The best would be a OC job for a offensive minded hc

  20. 20 Gian GEAGLE said at 12:03 PM on January 1st, 2017:

    Surprised that the Niners had the Balls to make the right decision and cut their losses with Chip kelly a year after foolishly hiring him. This is the first time in decades that a team fired a coach after a 1 year stint two years in a row. As Dysfunctional as that is, I have to respect the niners for not compounding the mistake by keeping chip in place to save face, especially when in order to clean house like this the Niners are going to owe like $50mil to fired coaches and front office execs. That franchise is a disaster choosing Balke over HARBAUGH, then they decided to go wirh Tomasula over Adam Gase. And inexplicably they hired a disgraced Chip Kelly without getting assurances that he would ditch the junior varsity crap and at least try and become An NFL coach, At least he isn’t running the “swinging gate” extra point crap any more so I guess that’s “progress”…
    ,,
    Where does chip go from here? One things clear, he will no longer be allowed to stick with his “alternative” philosophies and coach in the NFL, but I do get the impression that he likes coaching in the NFL more than college and if that’s true something will have to give…. If Chip really wants to remain in the NFL and ever have another chance at getting a HC job he would have to swallow his pride and accept a job being a position coach under a respected NFL coach, and if he is reallly lucky become an NFL Offensive coordinator.. maybe if he pays his dues working on an NFL Head coach’s staff for a couple years he can then start to get NFL head coaching interviews and from there he would probably have to convince an Owner that he learned a lot and that he is much more prepared for a NFL HC opportunity. He would probably have to convince an owner that he will do things totally different and is no longer married to playing fast for the sake of playing fast or his pamphlet sized college playbook. Does chip have good enough friends in NFL coaches fraternity to do him a huge favor letting him be an offensive coordinator? Is chip even qualified to be an OC in a legit NFL offense after only running his zone read offense for like the last ten years? It’s probably more limely that he will have to go back to college with his tail between his legs
    ..
    Not to let the Niners off The hook because it’s so dysfunctionally poïntless to have hired Chip in the first place if you weren’t going to give him more than a year to build that team. chip shouldnt even have been considered if you didn’t trust him enough to give him more than 1 year especially when he Inheritted a team with No Talent, lol although one could argue THATS how chip likes it lol. Inherritting no talent means he can’t get ripped For getting rid of the talent.
    .
    Chip and the Niners were a mess that deserved each other. Kind of Dissapointing that we will never get to play against a chip Kelly coached team…

  21. 21 Dragon_Eagle said at 12:14 PM on January 1st, 2017:

    As supposedly difficult as Harbaugh was personality-wise, he knows how to coach – at all levels. Most ridiculous coaching decision of the past 10 years was letting that guy go over a GM.

    Didn’t the Browns fairly recently fire 2 coaches 2 years in a row as well?

  22. 22 Gian GEAGLE said at 12:50 PM on January 1st, 2017:

    That’s what I wondered too since the Browns been playing musical chairs with Headcoaches forever. So I was surprised to see this stat on ESPN.. It Probably has something to do with semantics, somethng like the Browns firing a coach with a few games left in the season so it technically doesn’t count as Firing a coach after a full season two years in a row, or some technicality like that… That’s my guess

  23. 23 Fufina said at 12:15 PM on January 1st, 2017:

    I would go be OC for Belicheat or any other established NFL setup. Chip has the ability to be a quality head coach but he needs to learn the NFL game from a seasoned expert and learn how to manage and maintain an NFL team.

  24. 24 Gian GEAGLE said at 12:47 PM on January 1st, 2017:

    I could see Chip preffering to be an NFL OC instead of going back to college because if he goes back to college he will never make the Neccessary growth to have a chance of one day getting another shot in the NFL. Im just not sure if Chip has the relationships in the NFL needed for an established pro coach to offer him an opportunity. Maybe if josh MCDaniels takes a HC,job this offseason a position on bellichiks staff will open up, but I don’t see him demoting MCDaniels just to give chip a job.
    ..
    If chip goes back to college he will stick to his system and that would probably end any hope of ever getting a chance to coach in the NFL again..
    ..
    Any big college job openings?

  25. 25 Dragon_Eagle said at 12:16 PM on January 1st, 2017:

    If Kubiak does retire, that’s a prime job. Good GM, strong defense, young QB to groom. Who gets the job?

  26. 26 Fufina said at 12:22 PM on January 1st, 2017:

    Kyle Shanahan makes a lot of sense, he is a quality offensive coach and they have skilled offensive pieces in place already. Add a young RB and some OL additions and that team could be filthy if they develop Lynch.

    Only issue is obviously the Shanahan family has history with Denver and Elway and there may be some reluctance to go in that direction.

  27. 27 Dragon_Eagle said at 12:30 PM on January 1st, 2017:

    NFL.com is suggesting Dolphins DC Vance Joseph who nearly got the job when they hired Kubiak.

    But, I would think Denver might go with someone on the offensive side who can help develop Lynch. Shanahan does fit that.

  28. 28 Fufina said at 1:00 PM on January 1st, 2017:

    Situation is so different to 2 years ago because of Payton not being there. Manning was always going to be involved in the game planing and prep as well as hardly needing development at that point. Go get a coach to help build the defence and make it elite.

    2 years later it is the offence and the young QB who needs the time and investment – makes sense to put in place someone with a rep for QB development and creating effective offences.

  29. 29 Fufina said at 1:40 PM on January 1st, 2017:

    So yeah… that Vikings loss is not going to be a thing.