A Gift From the Eagles

Happy Holidays from the Philadelphia Eagles. They got you a gift and you didn’t even ask for one. I’m sure some of you are questioning if I got hold of some spoiled egg nog or I’m suffering from PTSD after last night’s brutal loss. What gift did the Eagles give us?

Freedom.

When your team is going through a magical season, there is all kinds of pressure. A loss can be devastating. An injury can be soul-crushing. The goal is to win the Super Bowl. Anything short is disappointing.

The loss to Seattle took away pressure and expectations. The Eagles gave you freedom. If they win, great. If they lose, the season is already blown. There’s nothing to lose sleep over. If the team does win out and takes the division, that’s great. Enjoy it. If they win a playoff game, that’s great. Enjoy it.

This team isn’t winning the Super Bowl. There is just something that isn’t clicking this year. Don’t obsess on trying to figure it out. There are a lot of different contributing factors. There is coaching. Execution by the players. Roster construction. Health. Regression. Age. Brutal schedule. Selfishness. Just accept the issue for now. We can dissect it in the offseason, but even that might be a tough exercise.

The NFC Championship Game losses in the Reid era were tough. Brutally tough. Every year you thought “This is finally our year.” And then poof, another kick in the nads in January. The Eagles loss in Seattle means you won’t get your hopes up this year. Just watch the games and try to enjoy them.

Freedom.

*****

For those of you desperate for an optimistic spin, the best I can offer is 2008. The Eagles had an 0-2-1 streak at midseason to fall to 5-5-1. The last loss in that stretch was a 36-13 debacle in Baltimore. Things felt pretty hopeless. There was a lot of chatter about that being the end of McNabb/Reid. Big Red rallied his guys and they blew out Arizona the following week. That started a 4-1 stretch run that got the team into the postseason.

The Eagles won games in Minnesota and at the Giants. That got them to the NFC title game, where they fell to Arizona 32-25.

That team felt lost before their winning streak. This team has three weeks to right the ship. I feel like the problems aren’t going to get solved in that time frame, but strange things do happen in sports.

*****

Here is some info on the race for the NFC East.

*IF* #Eagles & Dallas both win out, whoever wins the below strength of victory tally wins NFC East: Eagles need MIN+TB+KC+BUF+ARI total wins to beat NYJ+LAC+CAR+SEA+DET total wins.
Current win totals and remaining schedules shown below. Games in green are "head to head" games. pic.twitter.com/u8Ljtv8Rau

— Deniz Selman (@denizselman33) December 19, 2023

*****

I still believe in Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts. Things just go sideways some years. Both men need to take a long hard look at how things have gone wrong this year and make changes moving forward.

Things might have come too easy last year. That obviously hasn’t been the case this season.

Sirianni and Hurts need to quit obsessing on explosive plays. Just focus on moving the chains for now. The offense looked good when they mixed runs and short/medium throws. Going vertical led to punts and interceptions. Those plays just aren’t working well right now.

Focus on the OL. Do what it takes to get them back to playing at an elite level. And feed the ball to the RBs. That doesn’t have to be standard runs. You can throw it to them. Use them on jet sweeps. Be creative. But get the RBs touches. That’s how you win in December and January.

*****

I was encouraged to see  young guys stepping up on Monday night. Kelee Ringo played his best game as a pro. He showed good ability. That’s huge for next season. Start him the rest of the year. Let him learn on the job.

Sydney Brown is catching some flak for his missed tackles. They were an issue. No question about it. But I loved the energy and physicality he brought to the defense. We’ve seen veteran DBs missing tackles. Brown is showing good ability. He just has stuff to work on. By the way…you know who else had tackling issues early on? Some guy named Dawk. Young guys are allowed to make some mistakes as they learn.

https://twitter.com/PhillyFanHND/status/1737274045991924019

Nolan Smith had some good moments. Moro Ojomo got playing time. Eli Ricks had some good snaps.

The Eagles desperately need some young players to step up so they can find answers for next year. This will be a much different roster in 2024.

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Bad

I hate the Eagles.

I hate the Seahawks.

I hate Pete Carroll.

I hate Jalen Hurts.

I hate James Bradberry.

In case you didn’t know, Seattle beat the Eagles 20-17. We can officially stop with any talk of the Super Bowl and top seeds. We’re a week from Christmas and the Eagles have yet to win a game in the month of December. This team isn’t getting better. They continue to make the same mistakes, while not making the key plays to counter them.

Jalen Hurts toughed it out and played despite being sick. He ran for 82 yards and 2 TDs and did some really good things. But he also threw a pair of horrible INTs. Those picks were the difference in the game. Inexcusable mistakes. He has got to quit forcing the ball down the field. Those plays worked in 2022. Unfortunately it is 2023.

James Bradberry is doing his best Toast Jenkins impression. He was so good last year, but gets burned over and over this year. Good guy, bad player.

Matt Patricia’s defense actually played well for 58 minutes, giving up 205 yards and 13 points. Did I mention that NFL games are 60 minutes? Seattle got the ball at their own 8 with 1:52 left. They drove 92 yards in 1:24 for the winning TD. Bradberry was burned twice on the drive, once for 34 yards and then for 29 on the TD.

Ugh.

In a must win game, the Eagles made critical mistakes and lost. This team needed help to come up with tough wins vs DAL, KC and BUF. Seattle didn’t help the Eagles out. No turnovers. No terrible penalties late in the game. No dropped passes.

The magic of 2022 is completely gone.

There are three games left. The Eagles will be in the playoffs. But I have no idea what to expect from this team. They are too talented to be bad, but they are clearly flawed and it sure doesn’t feel like we can expect much from here on out. We’ll see.

This is an important time for Nick Sirianni. He needs to calm things down and keep this team together. Three losses in a row and lots of odd things going on means there will be a ton of criticism. Sirianni can’t get defensive. He’s got to have the right messaging, internally and externally. Sirianni built up a ton of goodwill for two and a half years, but the last three weeks have burned through some of that.

A weird season got weirder tonight.

And a lot less fun.

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