The Missile That Missed

Posted: December 2nd, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 92 Comments »

Tommy and I will be discussing solutions in the days to come. But first, I want to dwell for a moment on the mess that we have.

I once heard the CEO of a major company tell the following story. His first job was as an engineer at a defense firm, and he was assigned to a team that was designing the guidance system for a long-range missile. After a ton of work, they took the missile to the desert and tested it. Bang, the missile hit the target exactly. A perfect hit. There was much celebration.

They then moved on to the next phase of development, another component to the missile, and added that on. This time, the missile missed the target. Literally by miles. Only then, following the disastrous test, did they go back and really look a the test data from the first launch. The guidance system had been a total failure then too, and it was sheer luck that they had hit the initial target.

The lesson from that story is clear: we are easily misled by the end result. Long term success requires being as critical of apparent successes as you will be of apparent losses.

As we go through the rubble of this epic disaster of a season, there is a great deal of evidence that this team’s figurative guidance system has been broken for some time. More bluntly, the team’s front office philosophy and personnel appear to be fundamentally flawed. And when we think about how to fix this franchise, it is the front office that needs the most immediate attention. Even before we think about what the implications are for the coaching staff.

This isn’t the first time I’ve ranted about this particular subject.  There are a lot of difficult questions to answer. But to help us identify the magnitude of the problem, let’s catalog some flaws that have been long-standing — flaws that are immune to the “it is just one bad year” line of thinking. Read the rest of this entry »


State Of The Franchise

Posted: October 3rd, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 66 Comments »

I have much stronger feelings about the current state of affairs than Tommy. In fact, I believe that starting today, Jeffrey Lurie faces one of the biggest tests of his tenure as the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles. After yesterday’s debacle against the 49ers, an organization rife with failure has floated to the top of the bowl. And it is Mr. Lurie’s job to fix it. The hardest question he has to ask is where to begin.

There are still 12 games to play this year, and the team and organization should do everything it can to try to win as many of those games as it can. It is not unheard of to come back from a 1-3 start to make the playoffs.

But it is hard to imagine this team doing so. The weaknesses are everywhere, starting most blatantly on defense, but the offense and special teams are each serving up their own steaming piles of ineptitude. That said, I can imagine scenarios where the offense and special teams improve.

I hear the calls to replace Juan Castillo, but I can’t imagine a way that the defense improves this year. How can a new coordinator implement a new scheme, especially within the confines of the Wide 9 which we are wedded to thanks to the presence of the one outstanding coach on defense, Jim Washburn? And more importantly, where does that coordinator find enough NFL-quality players at linebacker and safety to actually run any scheme effectively? Castillo is surely in way over his head, but I don’t know if the mess can possibly be fixed by changing coaches in October. It’s worth a try, if the right guy is out there, but I don’t expect much to come of it.

What this makes clear is that even if the season can somehow be turned around, if the offensive problems can be fixed and we just outscore opponents in high-scoring games, the organization needs a serious and thorough review from the man who owns it.

The questions that Mr. Lurie must answer follow the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »