Surprise Move

Posted: January 13th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

Something happened on Monday. We’re just not sure what.

The Eagles got rid of a bad assistant coach, who led one of the worst secondaries in the league.

Or the team lost a coach who the players liked and respected, and someone the organization was very high on.

This is kind of like modern art. Are we looking at a painting of a cow riding a skateboard on a fall day or a woman holding a baby in front of a rainbow?

Judging head coaches and coordinators is tough. Judging positional coaches is a whole other level of difficult.

The Eagles have not had a good secondary in Undlin’s tenure. They didn’t develop DBs very well.

On the flip side, the team has gone to the playoffs three years in a row and Undlin helped them win a Super Bowl. And it isn’t like he’s been given Pro Bowl material to work with. Maybe he’s actually done a good job.

You can see where coming up with a smart, reasonable conclusion on this subject is challenging.

We did get some interesting info today.

I hadn’t heard anything about the players loving Undlin before today. Always interesting to find out something like that.

Undlin is not a bad coach. It is easy to look at DB issues from the past two years and to blame him. I think that is being a bit overly simplistic.

At the same time, there were issues that seemed to reflect on coaching. CBs rarely seemed to be looking back for the ball. We watched multiple corners break up passes with their back or the back of their head in just the last month. CBs must be able to look back and play the ball. That sure feels like a coaching issue.

The Eagles looked lost in zone coverage a lot of the time. Some of that is on talent, but some also has to be on coaching.

Too many players failed to develop. Avonte Maddox showed a lot of promise as a rookie. He didn’t make a jump this year. Sidney Jones showed flashes early in 2018, but then fell apart. He struggled this year, until playing as a backup late in the season. Did Rasul Douglas look better in 2019 than either of the previous two years? Ronald Darby has been a disappointment. Much of that is due to injury, but he never seemed to develop either.

I can’t tell you if losing Undlin to the Lions is a good thing or not. Just changing coaches wasn’t going to fix this secondary. The Eagles need more talent on the back end.

I do think mixing things up can be good. Players can get in a comfort zone with a coach. Bringing in someone new will shake things up and sometimes that will get players to play better.

If the Eagles can find the right coach and the right players, the secondary could take a big step forward in 2020.

Or we could find ourselves lamenting the loss of Undlin. Either way, I sure didn’t see this coming.

*****

No good rumors yet on any of the Eagles coaching vacancies. Some speculation, though.

https://twitter.com/JClarkNBCS/status/1216750924946968578

Flip did have success here in 2017, but bringing him back isn’t a slam dunk. Flip wanted to be an offensive coordinator and play-caller. He went to the Vikings, where things didn’t work out. He then went to the Jaguars, where things didn’t work out.

You have to wonder where his head is at after a couple of tough years like that.

Flip might not want to come back to Philly, where this is Doug Pederson’s offense. Of course, Flip might be desperate for a job so he’s willing to put aside what he wants. But then you wonder if his heart would really be in it and if he’d be a good fit this time around.

Just speculation at this point.

*****

I can’t wait to see this.

https://twitter.com/allornothingtv/status/1216790541884485632

Some players and coaches will come off well. Some won’t. It will be interesting to see how all that plays out.

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One Comment on “Surprise Move”

  1. 1 Eagles News: Il est temps pour Howie Roseman de tourner la page sur certains joueurs de l’équipe du Super Bowl | FR24 News France said at 9:48 AM on January 14th, 2020:

    […] Coup surprise – Iggles BlitzUndlin n’est pas un mauvais entraîneur. Il est facile de regarder les problèmes de DB des deux dernières années et de lui en vouloir. Je pense que c’est un peu trop simpliste. En même temps, il y avait des problèmes qui semblaient refléter le coaching. Les CB semblaient rarement regarder en arrière pour le ballon. Nous avons vu plusieurs coins casser des passes avec le dos ou l’arrière de la tête le mois dernier. Les CB doivent pouvoir regarder en arrière et jouer le ballon. Cela ressemble à un problème de coaching. Les Eagles semblaient perdus dans la couverture de la zone la plupart du temps. Une partie de cela est sur le talent, mais certains doivent également être sur le coaching. Trop de joueurs n’ont pas réussi à se développer. Avonte Maddox a montré beaucoup de promesses en tant que recrue. Il n’a pas fait de saut cette année. Sidney Jones a montré des éclairs au début de 2018, mais s’est ensuite effondré. Il a eu du mal cette année, jusqu’à jouer comme remplaçant à la fin de la saison. Rasul Douglas avait-il meilleure apparence en 2019 que lors des deux années précédentes? Ronald Darby a été une déception. Cela est dû en grande partie à des blessures, mais il n’a jamais semblé se développer non plus. […]