A Disastrous Day
Posted: December 2nd, 2011 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 95 Comments »So I went to turn my Eagles wall calendar over to December. What player is featured? That would be DeSean Jackson. I immediately flipped back to August, as a tribute to Shady McCoy and the great season he’s having. There is no way I’m looking at a picture of DJax for the next 31 days. He’s in my doghouse right now.
Then I turn on the Eagles game. They get whipped by Seattle, 31-14. Colt Anderson, having a great year, tears his ACL. Nnamdi Asomugha suffers a concussion. I’m not too worried about him missing a game, but I do dread the post from Mike Florio this week about how the Eagles somehow didn’t handle the situation right.
The loss drops the Eagles to 4-8 and ends the season. There may be some mathematical scenario where we’re alive, but the reality is that 2011 is done. We’ve got 4 games left to play, but only pride and individual accomplishments left to play for. And we can’t even get excited about Colt Anderson making the Pro Bowl.
I am looking forward to the offseason. Can’t wait for the very second that Asante Samuel is on his way elsewhere. I still have mixed feelings on DeSean Jackson. Key with him is getting the dude a deal or getting him out of town. Limbo DeSean has sucked royally.
And the Vince Young experiment sure has gone well, huh? I hated him from the second he said “Dream Team”. Then I gave him a second chance when he beat the Giants. In the last 2 games VY has struggled mightily. Receivers had drops in each game that hurt him, but Vince didn’t look like the star QB from Texas and the Titans. He looked like a project, an incomplete project.
The last 4 games are Miami, Jets, Dallas, and Washington. Boy am I fired up for the last month. Can you just feel the enthusiasm coming through the computer?
* * * * *
I’m glad Shady had a good game. I would love to see him score 20 TDs this year (has 15 right now). I would really love to see him lead the league in rushing. That would be awesome.
* * * * *
My man Derek Landri did everything he could to win. Guy is playing his butt off.
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We’ve got a lot of time between now and the next game. We’ll get to the subjects about who to fire and who to keep. One day at a time.
For those keeping score, the draft is April 26-28.
Well, thats the season. The next big day will be Super Bowl Sunday and then the fun really starts. Its draft time!
We still have Dallas… A true Eagles fan will remember the dark days and won’t consider this season to be a total failure if we beat the Cowboys twice.
Also, the last game of the season is shaping up to have interesting draft position implications.
Again its the coaching. Its bad drafting over and over and over and over again. We are very loyal Eagle fans and we “prop” up our draft picks until seasons go by and we realize “hey you know what they arent good enough to play in the NFL”. We need to speed up our evaluation process and realize that alott of these players that we drafted should not be playing and dont deserve a free pass to keep playing. They need to “earn” a starting job not just being handed their job on a silver platter. For those who are the optomists, stop giving these bum players (you know who they are) free passes and telling us to sit through another season or seasons of losses until you realize they cant play. We need to get a head coach in here they will bring a change. Bear with me, bring in a different prespective and bring in “their” type of players because a side from a few of them here I dont like this team and these type of players. I dont care how nice they are. They are not good players. And we are not winning with this team and this coaching staff. If we just open our eyes, and sincerely evaluate this team, its coaching, its drafting (overall) and its decisions about players and coaches, Reid and this type of football has to go. Think about this, yes Desean is caustic. Hes probably very selfish and has a tremendous ego. But this coach has allowed this situation with him, to bring out the worst in Desean. We need “skill players”. Coach Reid needed to make sure this situation with him didnt get worse and it did. We need skill players. Getting rid of Desean most likely will make this team worse and for that again Reid must go. Even the best coaches in the NFL have their end day, We appreciate Coach Reid, nothing personal but its time to go.
At this point I don’t even see the point in assigning blame. The team is terrible and the season is over.
Time to give guys like Mike Kafka, Dion Lewis, Riley Cooper, Julian Vandervelde, King Dunlap, Winston Justice, Stanley Havili, Cedric Thornton, Greg Lloyd, Jaiquawn Jarrett, Curtis Marsh, Casey Matthews, Keenan Clayton, Phillip Hunt, and Clay Harbor some serious playing time. Find out who deserves a job and who doesn’t, assuming we can even trust those who evaluate talent.
Would have liked to see Colt Anderson at safety, but I suppose even that is asking too much from this season.
Need roster space? Cut Vince Young (no value at all), Steve Smith (if he isn’t playing over Chad Hall enough said), Joselio Hanson (he’s not even good in the slot anymore), Jamaal Jackson (he’s never going to play anyway), and/or Trevor Laws (has done almost nothing in his career yet mouths off).
If there aren’t going to be major changes, time to evaluate what you’ve got. If there are going to be major changes, time to evaluate what you’ve got.
I don’t know… VY might be able to tank the season a bit more easily than Kafka.
Its nice to see someone else on board with thinking that Laws is over-hyped. Not that I don’t like the guy, but if we can improve our DT rotation I think that’s where you start.
Jose… I’ve been saying last year and this year that he really isn’t that great of a corner.
Disagree on Joselio. Wes Welker schooled him, no doubt. But Wes Welker is hands down the best slot receiver in the game. Joselio should never play outside, but he has plenty of value as a slot guy.
As I turned the computer off on Sunday night after the 3rd drive of the 3rd quarter against the Pats, I felt that this was the most likely outcome and that it was also probably a a good thing. Easier for me to say, as I knew I would be sleeping through whatever happened last night to cause it.
Sounds like Limbo Jackson didn’t have a good time again, yet without watching the game I think I can safely say just in terms of value for money this season he has been better than ‘Dream’ acquisition Steve Smith. In fact how much of that dream team money has been wasted on players that had prior achievements with the Eagles of zero? We have too many mercenaries, including ‘Limbo’, but it a problem of our own creation.
Since Mike Patterson, how many of our ‘top picks’ have we extended? Kolb. Does that even count? Wasn’t it a restructuring? Winston Justice. We extended Winston Justice as a result of multi million wastage in the Andrews Corporation.
Big changes in January.
Mercy killing.
Really to me this is better than winning a few games only to get beat by the Cowboys to (finally) eliminate us. Better to just get it over with.
I am sure that if the world ends as predicted in week 16, 2012 the eagles will be 15-0 and unstoppable.
I was envisioning a late run, putting the Eagles into playoff contention, capped by a gut-wrenching loss to the Redskins to take us out of it so yeah, this is almost a relief.
Best exchange of the night over at BGN:
at least were not penn state :
that’s true Reid doesn’t sodomize little boys
This may be the first positive thing said about Reid in this thread.
Tommy
In your honest and humble opinion, but is there any reason to NOT fire defense guru Castillo right now?!! Really???
In a sport with long seasons like basketball, hockey and especially baseball, firing a coach in mid-season might make sense. In a sport like football, which only has 16 games, I’ve never seen a mid-season coaching change that made sense.
Firing Wade Phillips?
I knew it was a mistake to use an absolute the moment I sent the post. I should have said that: “I’ve SELDOM seen a mid-season coaching change that made sense.”
Even so, I’m not necessarily agreeing with you regarding Wade Phillips. Did the Cowboys gain all that much by firing Wade Phillips in mid-season? All they did was guarantee that their coach would come from within. Waiting until the end of the season to make a coaching change is the best option in most every occasion.
Firing does make sense when either :
1) You have someone on staff that you want to give a “try-out” to as HC
2) Your team has totally quit and you don’t want to lose the fan base.
Having said that, no Castillo isn’t going anywhere because Lurie isn’t firing Reid until the end of the season and Reid stubbornly still thinks Juan can turn it around.
TOMMY FOR GM!!
Well we’re looking like we’ll get three top 40 picks next year including one in the top 10.
Only positive I can think of.
Seems like there will be a lot of four/five win teams… I’m too lazy to look it up but it seems like one win here or there or a tiebreaker could mean drafting 6-7 or 13-14, which is a big deal.
Juan better be gone by next week. Looser makes terrible teams and terrible QBs look like probowlers. Marshawn is the only guy on that team worth anything. Juan can’t even slow him down.
Don’t see Juan getting fired now. That stuff isn’t common in football and Andy’s not that kind of guy. AR could adjust power on the coaching staff, but I wouldn’t even count on that.
Changes will happen in January.
If J(one) goes and not the other it will be a travesty. I just can’t see how AR can survive losing both coordinators? He would resign too, he wouldn’t shirk that.
I agree that Juan will not get fired right now and that we will not see any power change on the coaching staff. AR is loyal to his guys and will at least wait until the end of the season. Unfortunately, ARs loyalty is what brought Juan to the defensive side in the first place.
There is being bough to the defensive and running the defensive side. Would a move to LB coach a la John Harbaugh, not have been more prudent?
Here’s my prediction: If Juan gets fired before the end of the season, Andy Reid will get another year. If Juan makes it through the rest of the season, Andy and Juan are both gone next season.
Someone better get fired. Again I don’t care who. But for the last 10-11 weeks, we’ve heard the same bullshit excuses, and Reid taking blame. Mr. Reid if you can’t do your job, you should be fired. If someone else is at fault, blame them, fire them, and fix the problem.
We need to keep losing at this point, but I don’t think that’ll be very difficult. This team is bad, and needs some talent.
Tommy may be looking forward to Asante leaving, but I want nothing more than DeSean outta town. Hopefully we’ll pick high enough to get Justin Blackmon or Jeffrey.
I know most will want to pick a defensive player, because our defense sucks, but hell – look at Green Bay, if you have a great offense, they defense can give up yards, and points….
I also don’t care who is starting, 7th round rookies, UDFA’s – but Nate Allen & Kurt Coleman, should be out of town or benched or whatever, along with 2 of our 3 LB’s.
I’m not quick to blame a lot of the young defensive players as easily as everyone else.
We always hear the mantra that the most important step in a young players’ career is their second season. Well, none of these guys didn’t have an offseason. And the little they had was with a guy that never coached a defense before. I’m willing to lay a lot of the blame on Juan for how they’ve played. Allen, in particular, at least has a much more viable excuse because he played well last year and then had his season cut short.
Agree totally. This defense is very young. I just looked through the roster for draft built D players, and guess what… Patterson, Cole, and Jordan are the only extended players on the D. Build from the draft hasnt happened in a long time here. There is a lot of youth, and some young mistakes. I think a lot of Allen’s fails are coming from not being able to trust the LBs in front of him. Get some more home-grown talent and let these guys grow up together.
I just hope that some good drafting is in place that can pan out to future talent, not just 7th rounders that fill space. The bulk late picks idea has to pass.
a big difference between us and GB is turnovers. they seem to be great at protecting the ball on offense and getting timely turnovers on defense.
we are quite the opposite….
I didnt get to see the game last night, but Tommy what do you think of Coopers future as a receiver? He seems be the favorite target of VY with Maclin sidelined, with the possibilty of Jackson not been here next year, do you think a tandem of Maclin+Cooper would good enough?
Cooper has the talent to be a good role player, but he’s not meant to be a workhorse WR. And he’s better on short/intermediate stuff than deep balls. He’s big. Let him use his size. Has gone deep a lot in last 2 gms.
My impression of him was that he had great long speed but wasn’t a particularly quick accelerator, then again he looked pretty nippy on the shorter stuff he caught against the Giants. Consistency seems to be his issue now like it was in College, at the Senior Bowl etc
I’m sure this will be discussed in massive detail but what are your thoughts on Vontaze Burfict Tommy? He seems like just the sort of firey, smash you in the face, scream at you in the huddle type competitor this team needs. I’m totally for the drafting model of picking intelligent, football loving players but you need some spirit as well.
I saw him play last week and commented recently about it. He played as if in a daze – not at all what I expected. On plays around the end, he literally jogged in the direction of the sideline. I thought he was hungover! No interest in this guy.
If we’re drafting MLB in the 1st, I think it’s between Luke Kuechley and Manti Teo.
Exactly Vontaze cost himself a ton of money with his play this year. Unless he runs like a 4.4 and has a team fall in love with him there is no way he goes first round. Give me Kuechly or Teo all day.
One thing I’ve noticed about him is if he has to turn to make a catch, he’s not very fluid or athletic and often stumbles. You basically have to hit him in stride to have a chance for a reception.
Tommy,
It’s funny you mention the calendar. Right before I left work I flipped over to December and saw DeSean. I immediately took a picture and was going to tweet you with a snarky comment. I completely forgot, but it’s just amusing to see someone else had the same thoughts.
I mentioned it a few posts before, but I think the Eagles are in a unique position draft-wise (assuming they can get someone to draft well) to be reborn and not have to wait too long to get to that point. Look at the Packers in the ’09 draft, Falcons in ’08, Jets in ’06, etc. All of these teams had a top 10 pick and then traded into the backend of the first round. The Eagles are more ideally suited than even those teams to do so with two 2nd round picks, a 3rd and two 4th round picks.
Let’s hope they realize this way of building and do something like go after Justin Blackmon and then trade back in for Kuechly. 🙂
We’ve had a turned over, youthful roster for the last couple of years. I mean we’ve had what 25ish draft picks since Howie has been GM? I’m not sure we need bodies, we need to get quality quality players.
Agreed, but 2 1st rounders would be acceptable right? : ) The problem is the Eagles infatuation with 5th, 6th and 7th rounders because the FO are such geniuses that they pride themselves on finding diamonds in the rough. I agree with you: Quality over Quantity.
Ah yeah! I misread what Eric wrote. I’d be very happy to get Morris Claiborne then trade back into the 20’s for Kuechly.
That’s my point. In order to get back into the first you’ll need to invest some later picks and the front end picks. I want 5 guys we’re pretty sure can contribute right away. Not 11 guys where maybe two pan out and those two not being from the 1st two rounds.
And I’ve always said it, if there is a guy you covet as much as the guy you just drafted in the 1st, go ahead and use up a 1st next year. I know a lot of people are not for that but if he’s someone you think is a cornerstone for years to come, get him now.
I can’t seem to figure out who I’m more angry at. Trevor Laws for boasting how much better we were than Seattle, Vince Young for saying he played ok, Jamar Chaney who now leads the league in air tackles or Reid who didn’t take a timeout at the end of the first half.
It also begs the question: Are we a 1-13 team without Shady?
I could very easily see us being 1-13 without Shady.
Tommy i’d like to hear your opinions on how the FO helped create the DJack “caustic” situation. i certainly agree that Djack let his contract affect his play and thats inexcusable, but how in blue blazes did it get to this point? most of us have been eagle fans long enough to remember 2005 and how one contract destroyed team chemistry. Banner goddamn knew better. HE LIVED IT.
but given the same situation 5 years later you make the same choice? what kind of idiot? we “reupped” guys after solid years (Reggie Brown, Patt, Celek) and then went on a spending spree but forget the guy who’s made plays here since he stepped foot on the field? you make let the most dynamic player on your team stew because of your relationship with Rosenhaus? #1 rule of contract negotiation. check your emotions at the door. let the player get angry/emotional. be a GD professional! if you can’t deal with rosenhaus excuse yourself.
for that Banner needs a demotion. let him manage the cap. bar him from negotiations. clown came went into those negotiations trying to “win” and show them who was boss after the 2005 Debacle and ended up doing it all over again. His penance? He gets to do it all over again with Shady. WONDERFUL.
meanwhile we’re the losers as the team loses its best receiver. JMac is good but is not a #1 guy, he’s more john taylor than alvin harper but he’ll get exposed without DJack to scare defenses. Like TO, DJack gets paid next year regardless, so congrats Banner. you blew it AGAIN.
It’s ok we’re gonna tag and trade his crybaby ass to some shithole like Cleveland. I’ll take a 2 and a 4. Then take Sanu at the top of the second and Joe Adams in the 3 or 4 and our WR corps is far better than it is w/ Djac.
Well, I’ve read reports where he wants the Fitz money of 10 million plus and the Eagles offered somewhere around 6 to 8 million. The latter seems very reasonable to me, but I’m not DeSean.
What’s even more inexcusable is if giving Vince 4 million, Steve Smith 2 million and Ronnie Brown 2 million and saying to DeSean, “sorry, we’re all tapped out.”
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
$4mil for the backup QB sounded like a slap in DeSean’s face even back at the time.
I knew yesterday’s game was going to be bad when i saw Vince Young, Jason Babin and the rest in the pre-game intro collectively reciting the Vince Lombardi quote about winning not being a sometimes thing. It just sounded so utterly ridiculous coming from these guys (and Seahawks players too) on a 4-7 team. There was no way anything good was coming for the Eagles after that.
I actually stayed up to watch that debacle. Not sure why. Probably just morbid curiosity mostly, like watching a car wreck.
I think the only thing last night’s game proved was that AR no longer has a handle on this team. Jackson has checked out, other guys aren’t playing hard. Some are (Landri, McCoy), but most are going through the motions.
On top of the boneheaded play from the guys on the field their were once again huge failures from the coaches and sidelines. Time management / timeouts, questionable gameplan and a hideous replay reviews. Examples:
-Challenged the first VY INT throw on a ball clearly caught and hung onto by the defender.
-Down 17, late in third quarter had to burn a timeout before a Seattle punt – 12 men on field. Left them with only 1 timeout.
-Down 10 middle of 4th, they’re driving the field prior to that hideous VY INT for a TD. The drive was hideously slow, huddling after every play and reminiscent of the Superbowl. Even if they had scored there would have been maybe 3+ minutes left and only 1 timeout left to try and stop Seattle and get the ball back.
I don’t think I can recall a more sloppy, stupid, heartless, undisciplined, non-tackling football team. It’s dumbfounding to watch the incompetence in real time. I mean how do you put a football team together of that many defensive players who can’t or just refuse to wrap up and tackle somebody?? Its not a one-year issue either. This has been getting worse over the last few seasons. I mean let’s be honest, his defense has not been good since 2004 and is at an all-time low after what seemed impossible to be worse than last season.
My problem was even if you believe that pass wasn’t intercepted, you really shouldn’t waste a timeout that early in the game. Obviously if it was a questionable thing near the endzone, but where they were? That early in the game? Ridiculous.
I really thought that Andy just burned the timeout on purpose with the challenge. That did two things… 1) gave the D time to rest, so Washburn wouldnt jump down MMs throat again , and 2) showed Vince a little vote of confidence.
He could have achieved the first with just a TO, but trying to ease a fragile mind may have been a goal also. ‘
Besides, if he hadnt burned that TO, he would have had to carry all three into half time while not saving the 40 seconds before the punt.
You didn’t even bring up the worst one, which was Andy somehow not calling timeout on 4th down at the end of the half. About to go down 10 in a “must win” game and you let the Seahawks run 40 seconds off of the clock so you can go into halftime holding 2 timeouts?
Yes, I did forget to mention that. Totally unacceptable to let time just wither away like that when there would have been plenty of time to work for at least a FG chance. But hey, that’s AR in a nutshell isn’t it.
Anybody else watch AR on the sidelines and feel like he just had a look of utter cluelessness on his face the entire game? In all seriousness, everytime they panned the cameras to him he just had this look as if he had no clue how the team got to this position, why they are playing so terribly or what to do to fix it. I truly think he is lost right now.
A few things….
+ I am now officially excited to see how high we draft. I think that we will probably be a top 10. However, I am very feaful of Howie behind the wheel on this one. We need this draft to pay off if we are to be back in NFC East contention in the next few years. I do not want to see multiple trades–I want safe, general consensus among the analysts picks. I do not want projects, or players that are “value picks” because they were undersized, hurt or had a down senior season.
+ Jason Babin is garbage and nearly every big running play has his fingerprints on it. The guy has no instincts. His stats–which is all he seems to care about–are empty.
+ I have no idea why anyone thinks that Kurt Coleman has been playing well. I am not an expert, but the guy can’t tackle to save his life and looks lost in civerage. But other than those two issues, I guess he looks great.
Finally, I would like to know what it will look like when the team does quit on Andy. I think we have been there the last few games, but others have said they have not. So please, for those who think that these guys are still putting 100% into this team, educate me as to what it will look like when the guys stop putting out max effort for Andy/Juan/Marty.
I don’t think Babin’s garbage (yes I have seen the article about it today) but he is a one-dimensional player. If you’re going to use those guys you have to work around that.
The Wide 9 needs MUCH better LBs than the Andy Reid Eagles have had. A defense needs to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The wide 9 DL is a good piece, but it forces the LBs to fill a much larger area of that puzzle. For years the Eagles LBs have been low-priority on draft day because it wasn’t a high-priority piece in JJ’s defense. If we stick with the wide 9, then you have to start taking 1st-round linebackers who can read, shed blocks, cover in space and tackle like monsters.
Fully agree with you. The one thing I will be curious about is when we hire a new DC, will he have the freedom to implement the defense he wants or will he be forced to use the wide 9? I think the wide 9 is a fine scheme if used properly and with the right personnel, but I do hope that they don’t bring in potential DCs and tell him he has to use the wide 9 or else he is not going to be hired. I want the DC to have the freedom to design the defense the way he thinks works best.
Coleman is a 7th round pick. He’s a good hitter and would make a great special teams player/back-up safety. The problem is that’s he’s been forced into a starting role.
Dear Joe Banner:
You made your “insanity” comment at the end of the 2009 season — after the debacle of back to back blowouts against the Cowboys. Same QB. Made the playoffs again. But no Super Bowl.
And — poof! — Donovan McNabb was gone. No more insanity.
Okay, Mr. Banner. No Super Bowl this year again.
Did you see the same offensive scheme and questionable play calling? And the horrible Red Zone schemes on both sides of the ball?
D-Mac’s not here to blame anymore.
Only Andy Reid. He’s the constant — doing the same things week after week, year after year . . . and getting the same results.
Mr. Banner . . . do you see that running McNabb out didn’t end the insanity?
And the insanity has gotten worse?
Do you see that only Andy Reid has been here for every day of the last 13 Super Bowl-less years? Do you see that?
Do something to end the insanity, sir. Please.
I agree that we need to make changes, but I can not stand the “insanity” quote. It is the most cliched argument used in Philly in reference to the Eagles, and frankly, it isn’t even a very good definition, especially the way Eagles fans use it to mean “if you don’t completely blow up the system after each loss, you are insane.” The Eagles have clearly made mistakes, and I have been very vocal about my feelings that AR should be gone, but the franchise has not been “insane” to keep him around as long as it has.
Not saying the front office has been “insane” for keeping Reid.
Just using Banner’s own words in the same sort of context he used them.
Now I’d like to see if he responds the same way or differently.
So Marty is innocent?
I’ve made multiple posts recently that MM is as responsible for the Eagles’ redzone performance on offense as anyone.
But it starts with Reid.
As an aside, what’s interesting is that when MM was the OC in SF back in the late 90s, the 49ers were a pretty balanced team (in 55-45 area pass-to-run).
But in Philly, Marty runs Andy’s offense. So McCoy is great but underused asset . . . and the team marches on as though VY is D-Mac.
With the help of Steve Young? We are balanced in terms of run pass too with Vick. Marty run Marty’s offense and Reid slobbers for more more more.
@Tommy.
Some have claimed “the Eagles played hard, but undisciplined”. Others claimed “Most guys quit”. Where do you fall on that?
Upon 1st viewing, I’m off the belief that the Eagles weren’t quitting as long as they don’t have to get too physical. They want no part of a “street fight”. I think they’d rather play the Pats in a shootout than play Seattle, or Miami next week, that likes to punch people in the mouth. Ultimately you can’t win without guys are willing to sacrifice their bodies in the name of victory.
I think there were clearly some guys who have not quit on this team. Brent Celek for example is clearly playing out of pride and there are some clear examples of other guys who have not given up. Still, I think in terms of the team overall, even if the guy hasn’t given up, they are not viewing these losses as if their pride is on the line. We need the Eagles to be playing as if every loss is a personal insult, and I am not seeing that with the majority of the team.
Why do you dislike Asante so much? He hasn’t been a problem for the past 3 games. In fact I think he’s been playing better than Nnamdi
Asante is a freelancer. And not in a Troy Polamalu I’m so smart that I’m going to do something that isn’t drawn up but still schematically sound kind of freelancer. He would throw a bitch fit if you made him line up on the right side of the field or didnt let him play off coverage.
I think I must be the only fan left that likes Howie Roseman.
Yes. You. Are.
He’s only had two drafts. His first 1st rounder has been injured and can’t yet be judged fairly. His second 1st rounder is starting as a rookie and doing fairly well despite the slow start. Another 2011 pick is starting next to him at center and also doing well.
Seriously, how can you judge someone’s drafting ability when he’s only been doing it for two years and his first two picks in 2010 have been injured for most of their time in the NFL?
Also, let’s remember that Roseman isn’t the only one making these decisions. He’s part of a team and he doesn’t even have the final say. I’m happy we now have someone who went to college in the SEC and we should have someone at the table who will respect players from major conferences more than Modrak did.
Modrak?
All he did was add some nice pieces to the core Rhodes behind that became the group who went to 4 straight NFC title games. Like McNabb, Welbourn, Cecil Martin, Corey Simon, and Derrick Burgess (from the SEC).
Overall, I don’t know that Modrak was any better than Heckert or Roseman.
But I do know that he selected McNabb, along w/ Reid. And that seems like the best pick the Eagles have made in past 13 years.
Westbrook and McCoy both > McNabb pick. And better value.
Yeah, Brain slip there… I meant Heckert.
I’m still undecided with Howie. He’s not as bad as some critics think, but he’s got a lot of room for improvement.
Nope. He’s that bad. 😉
I think it’s important to differentiate between bad picks and picks that don’t work out. I think there’s a difference. Bad picks are picks that get criticized from day one and the criticisms turns out to be justified. Picks that don’t work out are picks that most people think were pretty good on draft day but don’t live up to expectations because that’s just the way the NFL works.
With that in mind, I don’t think you can call Brandon Graham or Nate Allen bad picks. They were good picks and we’re waiting to see if they work out.
Te’o on the other hand was a bad pick.
Last night was another prime example of how bad of an in-game coach AR is. How on earth could he not take a time out before the Seahawks’ FG try before the half!? It is the same crap over and over again.
Don’t get me wrong, I like AR. I think he’s a good HC, but MM needs to go or whoever who’s responsible for the offensive playcalling and time management.
And deep in your heart, Tommy, I know you feel the same.
Time for some drastic changes, and as an Ex-Raider, I have only to say: get your guns up, Lurie!
Reid didn’t take the time out because he had no confidence in the offense. I think he wanted to go to the locker room, re-group, and deal with the 2nd half.
That plan was fine until the KO went out of bounds. Now you’re at the 40 and those missed seconds are a big deal.
Good point Tommy, but shouldn’t a “great” coach be aware of those scenarios? You have two timeouts, use them. If we don’t get great field position, take a knee. Above all a HC should be able to anticipate. For the record, I’m in favor of Reid staying out his contract. But every year he seems to make the simplest coaching responsibilities the most difficult.
Draft question:
Assuming we pick in the top 10, who would you guys rather have?
1) RG3
2) Coples
3) Jeffery
4) Claiborne
5) Z. Brown
6) Reiff
I would pick RG3 in an instant if we had the chance! Hopefully this is the last time in a looong time, where we have the opportunity to pick a franchise QB in the draft. I don’t think you can afford to ignore that. Great teams have great QBs, and great QBs are taken high in the draft (99.9 % of the time)
Then we can groom him behind Vick for 2-3 years and don’t loose a step… Just my opinion 🙂
RGIII – no brainer. This team, if necessary, should spend the Cards 2nd rounder to move up in the 1st round to make sure they get the QB they want.
Vick is a caretaker next year. Maybe even a year or two more, depending on a host of variables.
But the Eagles have a shot — if they continue to perform like they have — of being in the Top 7 and can easily move up a few sports.
Being that high up in Rd 1 just doesn’t come around too often in Phila (not since 1973).
Nail the franchise QB for the next 10 years . . . then get some LBs.
I don’t know. If we get the opportunity to get Luck or Barkley, then yes, you don’t even consider anyone else. Luck isn’t gonna happen, but Barkley might, and he might not leave college just yet.
RG3 is possbile, but have me worried. He’s not a “normal” QB, and only this year he shown himself to be a QB, not an athlete. He made significant progress in all areas, but still needs a lot of work when it comes to his technique, mechanics and his footwork. He’s a better passer than Vick was coming out, but not nearly the same playmaker. I certainly see the appeal, and he does have a strong arm and a quick release, and by the look of it, he’s a smart kid and not a bonehead. I like the fact that he’s been getting better consistently, that the most appealing to me.
The question is, like Vick, he’s not that big and NFL players hit hard. Can he cope with that and can he make sure his not injured 3-6 games every year?
Yeah, I want a 6’3+ pocket passer.
1. RG3- No problem there, not a bad pick could set us up for the future and learn from vick who is of a similar playing style
2. Coples- His best position would be a 5 tech in the 34. He would be a DT for us. I’ll pass.
3. Jeffery- HAHAHAHA no. Is he tall? Yep. Is he also slow? Yep. If he isn’t consistently getting separation in college that isn’t going to change in the pros. If Blackmon isn’t availble then this year has a fairly good group of second tier guys at WR.
4. Clairborne- A bit of a luxury pick but may be the BPA.
5. Brown- Haven’t been able to watch him for any extended period this year. From what I saw last year, he may be one of those super athletes who doesn’t transition well, but I wouldn’t hate it.
6. Reiff- Hell no. At the back end of the first? Maybe but if its in the top 10 Martin may still very well be available.
It will most likely come down to Floyd, Clairborne, Martin, Teo, and my man Kuechly
RGIII definitely. The man is everything Vick is now. Plus he is taller, more accurate, and doesn’t turn it over. I’m afraid to put a 6’3″ pocket passer in here with our o line the way it is. It has improved, and I believe Juan’s O line needed improving anyway, but pocket passers don’t succeed in Andy’s offense.
And even if Andy and Marty are gone, this guy can learn under new coaching while not being thrust under spotlight too quickly. This is the perfect time to draft a QB.
You can’t deny that QB is a need. Young will deservedly be gone after the season and Kafka doesn’t have it. Draft this guy and you will immediately improve the back up situation. His accuracy is otherworldly, and a west coast offense demands that.
Who would have thought when we got the Cardinals 2nd round pick for next years draft that our own 2nd rounder would be better…yikes
I hate you for speaking the truth.
To me, the season ended when they lost to the Cards. I have been in draft pick mode since then.
All they did was trade a win for a higher draft pick. Good trade.
Yeah, last night was the last stand for me.
I’ll cheer for the team to win, but mild disappointment is all I’ve got left when things do go wrong.
The bright spot Tommy is that your ScoutsNotebook site will have more traffic than usual from Eagle fans 🙂
So who are on our short list of 1st and 2nd round picks?
Justin Blackmon
Quinton Coples
Morris Claiborne
Matt Barkley
Luke Kuechly
Manti Te’o
David DeCastro (is he too big for the new system?)
Michael Floyd
Devon Still
Dwayne Allen
Tommy, you could write up a post about everything that went wrong this year with the Eagles and all the things that need to change for next year but you’d probably break the internet; too much data. Still I feel like we need a battle plan going into the offseason, maybe we can start hoping for next year and that will make the last 4 games a little less painful.
I have come 180 degrees on Reid.
I think he’s a great coach, the players like him and his ability to deal with the ludicrous Philly media is phenomenal.
That said, this Juan Castillo thing cannot be survived. It made very little sense when it was announced, but it’s proved to be worse than anyone could have expected. The strength of this defense is being abused, there are no corrections. Fundamentals like tackling and sealing edges are totally abandoned.
Can there be any single justification for a defense like this to allow Tavaris Jackson a 130 PLUS passer rating?
Sadly, and unbelievably, I think Juan Castillo will be Reid’s harbinger of doom.
I cannot believe it has come to this.
I’m not intrested in seeing rushing titles, or personal stats with this team. In fact if I own this team I would insist on pulling out my key players or at least limiting their snaps. The last thing this team needs going into next year is a hole that has to be filled because of an injury sustained while losing to the Mami Dolphins.
Folks are really down on J. Babin today, but I’ll take him as my starting DE and the rest of this defense and as a coordinator M. Lynch would not run for 150 yds and Seattle’s offense would not score 24 points on me. This is how bad I think Juan is as a coordinator. He is terrible. It’s as if he hasn’t seen any tape at all on some of these teams we have played. I just don’t get it.
My question is not if the players quit on Andy. Tommy, do you think it’s possible that Andy quit on the players?
I never want the team to lose, but I think the silver lining is that a win over another mediocre team would have prolonged the agony. From here on out, every second of every game needs to be focused on identifying the real problems so moves can be made as early in the off season as possible. Some problems like the play of LB’s are obvious, but I think some are not. I don’t know what to think of Howie because I don’t know that Juan and Sean have made the most of what he gave them (or that they even did a good job communicating what they wanted). I know there are people who will kill me for saying that because they see Howie as a total failure, but I think he deserves credit for bringing in pieces like Mathis and Kelce that under a real coach have performed extremely well. Maybe those guys worked out because Mudd handpicked them, or maybe he just communicated his needs on the line better than Juan and Sean did. Same goes with Landri under Wash. Right now I am leaning towards good coach + Howie = decent results, so improving defensive coaching staff and keeping Howie is the right move. Would love to hear your thoughts Tommy on what we could do between now and week 17 to try to separate the “symptoms” from the true problems, or if you disagree that all of the problems are not obvious.
As far as Andy is concerned, I am not on the fire Andy bandwagon yet, but I am also no longer on the keep Andy one either. In my mind, how he manages the team in the last 4 weeks would determine whether I will be happy to see him back or not. If he continues to trot out these quitters every week, I say give him the boot. This is without a doubt the most gutless team I can remember in the Reid era, and now that playoffs hopes are squashed once and for all, there is no reason not to give the other players a chance.
Finally, I am done with Desean. I realize we may not be able to replace him with someone equally dynamic, but I don’t think he is worth what he wants, and if he accepts less, there is no reason to believe he will behave any differently than he does now (a moping self absorbed diva who feels he is under appreciated who plays not to get hurt). He has always been a frustrating player to me because you can never count on him, especially inside the red zone. Even thought it is not an imminent need, I would love to see us take a top receiver in the draft and send him packing to Siberia.