Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

The Howie Effect

Posted March 1st, 2025 | 2 Comments »

The Eagles had the best roster in football in 2024. They will probably have the best roster in 2025. That puts a lot of pressure on other teams who want to compete with them.

Let’s start with the fact that the Eagles didn’t just win the Super Bowl. They went 18-3 for the season. If Saquon and DeVonta catch late game passes vs ATL and WAS, the Eagles might have gone 20-1. Beyond that, they won the NFC title game by 32 points and the Super Bowl by 18 (should have been more than that). That was a special team.

This isn’t lost on the rest of the league. We can already see teams trying to figure out how to close the gap.

The Rams considered trading Matt Stafford, their 37-year old QB. Instead they gave him a raise, knowing they needed a good QB to compete with the Eagles. Sam Darnold wasn’t going to be the answer.

Washington traded for CB Marshan Lattimore at the deadline and just acquired WR Deebo Samuel. This would be a great deal in 2022, but is less compelling heading into 2025. Lattimore has struggled with injuries. Samuel remains productive, but isn’t the same kind of playmaker he was in the past. He’s coming off the worst season of his career. Rather than add young playmakers around Jayden Daniels, the Commanders have a bunch of older guys.

Deebo Samuel – 29
Terry McLaurin – 29
Zach Ertz – 34 (if re-signed)
Noah Brown – 28
Austin Ekeler – 29

The Giants are so desperate to be relevant that they are considering Aaron Rodgers. This makes zero sense. They need a young QB to build around. They need good culture. Rodgers might help them win a game or two extra. If he had an amazing year…maybe he gets them to a wild card game. Does that really help you?

Green Bay is trying to trade for DK Metcalf. They think they need a true #1 WR. Metcalf would give them a big, physical presence. I’m sure they see the way Jalen Hurts trusts AJ Brown and would love to duplicate that.

Dallas feels like they have given up. Last year they talked of being “all in”, which they clearly weren’t. This year they are saying they will be selectively aggressive. The Cowboys have some talent, but also a lot of holes to fill. Jerry Jones seems comfortable with being good, but not really trying to compete with the best teams.

The Niners fell to 6-11 last year, partially due to a lot of injuries. That team got old and it feels like they are trying to change that. They dealt Deebo. They are going to cut Javon Hargrave. They will consider trading Brandon Aiyuk. I have to think seeing the Eagles stomp the Chiefs with a bunch of young talent got their attention.

I’m curious to see what Detroit does. Their GM is disciplined. He likes to build through the draft and think long term. But you have to wonder if he’ll feel pressure to make a big move since the Lions didn’t win a playoff game and saw how good the Eagles were.

Most interesting of all will be the Chiefs. They got destroyed by Philly, but still have Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones, Xavier Worthy, Trent McDuffie, Trey Smith and Creed Humphrey. They also have some holes to fill. Brett Veach is a terrific GM, but he’s going to have to be creative to add key talent to that roster.

Howie Roseman built a juggernaut team that is now the measuring stick for the rest of the league. This should make for a fascinating offseason as teams try to close the gap.

*****

There has been a lot of talk since the Super Bowl about how the Eagles build on the line of scrimmage. That has been true since Andy Reid came to town back in 1999. Howie kept that going when he took over.

Building on the LOS is harder than it sounds. It takes time and discipline. You need years to build a good OL and DL. There will be misses (Andre Dillard, maybe Bryce Huff). You have to stick with it. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah explained it like this. “You have to go to the hardware store before you can go to the toy store.” Simple and brilliant.

I’m curious to see if teams overpay for Milton Williams and Josh Sweat. Both are good players, but could get a Super Bowl bump. We’ve seen this effect for 30 years. Free agents from SB teams will get overpaid by teams that overrate them. Josh Sweat played his best game against Kansas City. He did lead the Eagles in sacks this year, but I don’t think anyone would tell you he’s a great player. Williams had the best season of his young career. Let’s do point out that he’s always played beside Fletcher Cox or Jalen Carter. How will Williams do if a team pays him big and expects him to be the stud? He might thrive, but could also struggle with that. I hope both guys get big deals to help the Eagles chances with comp picks.

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Eagles Go Bowling

Posted February 28th, 2025 | 2 Comments »

Nick Sirianni had to fill multiple spots on the coaching staff after losing some coaches. It looks like final move is done.

I love that Bowling Green is the one that broke the story. Very cool that a college social media group beat all the NFL insiders.

I didn’t have a strong opinion of Loeffler. I have seen his teams play at BGSU, but he wasn’t a guy that created a lot of buzz. He got my attention this year when his team scored 24 first half points in a game at Penn State. That shocked me. It wasn’t due to turnovers and fluke plays. Here is what I said that day.

The QB was well coached. PSU got pressure on him, but he sat in the pocket and made some critical throws. While he wasn’t a star player, he was confident and accurate. He kept BGSU in the game as long as possible. Their offense was creative. They had one star player, TE Harold Fannin. He’s a legit NFL prospect. BGSU moved him around and found different ways to get him the ball. That’s good coaching.

You can watch some of the game highlights to see BGSU in action.

Back to Loeffler.

He worked in the NFL back in 2008, coaching QBs for the Lions. That was an awful team, going 0-16. Dan Orlovsky, now a well-known ESPN analyst, started 10 games at QB. Loeffler bounced around CFB after that.

  • 2009-2010 Florida QB coach
  • 2011 Temple offensive coordinator
  • 2012 Auburn offensive coordinator
  • 2013-2015 Virginia Tech offensive coordinator
  • 2016-2018 Boston College offensive coordinator
  • 2019-2024 Bowling Green head coach

Loeffler has worked with different coaches and QBs over that period. He’s had great talent and overachiever types. Loeffler has had to learn how to coach for different players, different schemes and different situations. He got a great education.

If you watch this video Loeffler feels like a Sirianni kind of coach. He’s emotional. He seems to really connect with his players. From that perspective, he feels like a great fit.

How does he do with coaching QBs? Here is a blurb from his bio.

Over his career, Loeffler has coached eight quarterbacks who went on to play in the NFL – Tom Brady, Tim Tebow, Brian Griese, Chad Henne, Drew Henson, John Navarre, Logan Thomas and Anthony Brown. Those eight quarterbacks have won a combined 10 Super Bowl championships (Tom Brady, 7; Chad Henne, 2; Brian Griese, 1). He has also directed a potent rushing attack at Boston College behind AJ Dillon, who was 12th nationally in rushing yards per game in 2018. Dillon was the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2017 and the nation’s second-leading rusher among freshmen. Dillon was later drafted in the second round by the Green Bay Packers in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Loeffler is a big believer in TEs. When he was at BC, they ran 12 personnel as their base offense. He had success with TEs at BGSU.

With Fannin going to the league, all three of Loeffler’s starting tight ends (receiving) at BGSU will have signed NFL contracts, collectively earning four of the last five first-team All-MAC honors at the position.

That’s pretty impressive.

Loeffler will replace Doug Nussmeier as Jalen Hurts coach. Loeffler can teach fundamentals. The challenge will be trying to get Hurts to find the right balance between being aggressive and being smart. Hurts protected the ball really well in 2024. That seemed to affect the passing game. Hurts was more aggressive in the NFC title game and Super Bowl. The passing game came alive and helped the Eagles win big. Here is Loeffler on what a QB has to do.

College coaches have to be good teachers, especially at places like BGSU. Loeffler wasn’t coaching elite talents. He had to be able to teach specific positional skills to his QBs. He had to stress fundamentals. That should fit well with Sirianni and the Tough-Detailed-Together mindset that Sirianni has.

Loeffler is a good hire in the sense that he can bring outside ideas to the Eagles. He’s been coaching in the MAC and has seen plenty of creative football. The Eagles can expand on the 2024 playbook with ideas from Parks Frazier and Loeffler. It will be interesting to see how the offense looks. Here is Loeffler from a coaching clinic back in 2019.

I haven’t had a chance to watch the whole thing yet. The Combine eats up a lot of time.

I like this hire more than bringing in Frank Reich or Mike McCoy. Those guys have a lot of NFL experience, but the Eagles have veteran NFL coaches in Kevin Patullo, Jason Michael and Sirianni himself. They added a young guy in Frazier. Now they have added an experienced college coach to the mix. That seems like a good combination of backgrounds.

Of course I reserve the right to change my mind the first time the Eagles have a 3 & out or Hurts throws a red zone INT. Fire Loeffler! He’s a bum!

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