Howie and Doug Speak

Posted: January 9th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Howie and Doug Speak

Howie Roseman and Doug Pederson met the media on Wednesday to share their thoughts on the 2019 season, current state of the team and the future.

Let’s start with Howie, since we haven’t heard from him in a while. Overall, I liked what he had to say. You have to understand that neither he nor Doug are going to sit up there and share detailed analysis or give away their plans for the offseason. You are really hoping to hear the right mindset and that’s what I came away with.

In Bill Walsh’s book Building a Champion, he talks about the importance of learning from mistakes. He said that was one of the key things that separated the Niners from other teams. They could analyze things and make solid conclusions about what went wrong. Too many teams focus on the blame game or don’t want to admit mistakes. There is incredible value in being smart and honest about what worked and what didn’t.

Howie talked about the fact this was a disappointing season. That’s a good start. He talked about the need to add more youth. He acknowledged that one of the potential issues with the injuries was the age of the roster. Howie said the Eagles are going to study the injury situation carefully, hoping to find something to address. The last two years the team has been overwhelmed by injuries.

I was encouraged that Howie talked about his personal difficulty in moving on from veteran players. That must happen this offseason. If he is aware that he struggles with that, it should help in coming up with a plan. Jeffrey Lurie, Andy Weidl and Andrew Berry can remind Howie of his admission when discussing what to do with Jason Peters or Tim Jernigan or any number of other veterans. The Eagles don’t need to go all Logan’s Run (everyone gets killed at age 30) on the roster, but they have to be judicious.

This team must get younger.

Howie was asked about the WR and CB positions. He wouldn’t come out and be openly critical, but talked about the team not having its head in the sand. They know they were not good enough at WR and CB. They know changes need to be made. He’s just not going to openly rip his own players to the media. That wouldn’t be smart.

Howie did mention the fact that several receivers from the past draft had limited production in college, but still came into the NFL and produced right away. He talked about the Eagles needing to be careful about putting too much value in college production. That is the kind of specific lesson you want to hear. Analyze the players that are having success and try to learn from that.

I thought Howie had the right tone. He understood that there were some things to be positive about, but he needed to come out and let the public know that the organization understood what a disappointment the overall season was. This wasn’t just a case of injuries killed the season. The Eagles had too many players who failed to live up to expectations. Part of that is on the player. Part on the coaches. And part on the personnel department.

Howie said the Eagles will be adding some people to the personnel department in the next couple of days. It will be interesting to see who they are and what role they will have.

Looking back at the past three years, Howie talked about how limited resources hurt the team’s ability to add the kind of young talent they wanted. The trade for Carson Wentz and then some trades in 2017 that helped the team win the title limited their options in those drafts. That is a fair point. But then you can counter with the Golden Tate trade from a year ago that turned out to be a bad move.

Howie also got questioned about the Genard Avery deal. Avery didn’t play much this year. Why make the move? Howie said this move was always about the future. They thing he’ll need a full offseason here before we can really see Avery at his best. Howie mentioned “explosive traits”, something you definitely want in a DE.

The Eagles medical staff has been a hot topic for more than a year. Howie said the team hired a new chief medical officer last spring.

“This is someone that we are very, very excited to have. He came in in June and what he asked for us was that he would observe, observe through the season, observe our training staff, observe our weight staff, our sports science, our processes, and make recommendations to us that we would carry out. So, we’re excited about that.”

We’ll have to wait and see it this move works. The Eagles will likely be implementing the changes heading into the 2020 season.

*****

Doug didn’t have much to say. He was questioned about his coaching staff and didn’t handle that well.

Initially Doug said he expected to have all his coaches back. He was specifically questioned about Mike Groh and WRs coach Carson Walch. Later, Doug admitted that he is still evaluating his staff. He said that no changes have been made.

Clear as mud.

Doug seemed caught off guard when asked about Jim Schwartz. I don’t know why, but that led to an awkward exchange.

Doug didn’t say anything negative about his coaches, but he just didn’t handle the questions well. Maybe he’s already in vacation mode.

*****

We need to see actions before we can really judge things, but I was encouraged by the fact Howie talked about the need for change. That’s my biggest takeaway.

Watch for yourself and see what you think.

*****

Zach Berman and his sidekick Bo Wulf put together their take on the PC.

As always, well done.

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