Some Day

I fell in love with the Eagles during the Gang Green era. The players were great. The uniforms were great. The team was a lot of fun, especially with a rambunctious coach like Buddy Ryan. Those were good days.

If we say that era was 1986-1994 (I know that includes Rich Kotite as well), those teams won…one playoff game. They beat the Saints in a wild card game in 1992. I still love those teams. The players were special and there were a lot of great memories. Just not nearly as much success as we wanted. Still, to man

Think about the current era. The Eagles have been to three Super Bowls in the past eight seasons. They won two of them. Two Lombardis. I can’t stress to some of you younger fans how hard that is for some of us old peeps to comprehend. Two.

The Eagles are 24-3 in their last 27 games. The current team is 8-2 and has the best record in the NFC. This team could very well make it back to another Super Bowl. Nick Sirianni has one of the highest winning percentages in NFL history. The amount of success is crazy and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

There will be a time in 20 or 30 years when people look back on this as the good old days. There will be stories about Jalen Hurts playing his best in big games. Nick Sirianni will be regarded as the best coach in team history and fans will talk about his remarkable ability to win games. I’m assuming Vic Fangio will still be alive through some advanced medical technology and will still be running the defense from a special hyperbaric chamber.

My generation talks about sacking Troy Aikman 11 times or the House of Pain game or the Body Bag game. That generation will be able to talk about Saquon running for 2,000 yards, winning NFC championships in blowout games and destroying the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Which memories would you rather have?

I’m going over all of this to make sure you enjoy the current success. Winning can come and go. Dallas fans were on top of the world in the mid-90s. They have had a lot of disappointment since then. The Giants won two titles in five years, but have become one of the worst teams in the league. Does Washington even have fans?

It is absolutely fair to complain about the offense. There is nothing wrong with complaining about Sirianni’s fourth down calls in the last two games. That’s part of being a sports fan. Just make sure you don’t overlook all the good stuff. These are good days.

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I thought about this because Tuesday was Seth Joyner’s birthday. He’s one of my all-time favorite players. Seth was smart, athletic and fierce, which is a great combination for a linebacker. He could stuff the run, cover well and make plays as a blitzer. Joyner finished his career with 24 INTs, 29 FFs and 52 sacks. That is one hell of a playmaker.

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One of my big frustrations as a football fan is the lack of context that analysts offer. The Eagles offense did stink the past two weeks. They also played in cold weather night games against the #6 and #5 defenses in the league. The Cowboys defense looked terrific on Monday night They were going against one of the worst OL’s in the NFL and an offense that is 30th in points and yards.

We love to talk about results, but need to do a much better job of putting them into context.

Dallas is 30th in the NFL in yards allowed. If the Eagles score 31 points and put up 400 yards on them that won’t suddenly make Kevin Patullo a genius.

The Eagles have played against 5 of the Top 10 defenses in the league. Let’s see how the offense does as they go against mediocre or flat out bad units. Maybe the offense will start to show signs of life. If not, there will be real reason for concern as we head into December and January.

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I’m reading a book about Bill Walsh called The Genius. Back in 1981 the Niners traded for DE Fred Dean about a month into the season. Dean played 11 games for SF and had 12 sacks. He gave them a force off the edge and took their defense to the next level. In the five games without him, opponents averaged more than 20 points per game. In the 11 regular season games with Dean, SF only gave up more than 17 points once. And they won the SB.

I’m not saying Jaelan Phillips will have the same impact as Dean, but he sure is off to a good start. The rest of the defense is coming together nicely. Still, there is no denying that Phillips has made a definite impact so far and the defense has gone to the next level.

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