Philadelphia Eagles RIP
2000-2004
Last night in a dome in Indianapolis, the Almost Great Eagles team from this century’s first decade was finally laid to rest. The team had fought adversity admirably earlier during 2006, however the struggle to live finally came to an end. It ended not with a bang, but a whimper.The death of this Almost Great team has been near for several weeks. The final nail went into the coffin last week as the leader and heart of the team, Donovan McNabb, shredded his ACL and was placed on IR. Hope remained though as the back-up QB had experienced success in the past. Also, the defense was still relatively healthy and had been known to shut down strong offenses in the past. Unfortunately, both have aged to such an extent that winning was no longer possible. Not against the NEs and INDs of the NFL. Nor against the TENs and TBs.
I will forever fondly recall the wonderful 5 years of Almost Greatness. The upset of the highly favored Bears in the playoffs. The run of 4 consecutive NFC Championship games. The one, lone Super Bowl appearance. They gave us Ws. They gave us joy. But most of all, they gave us hope. Almost Great Eagles, you will be sorely missed.
Labels: football
posted by The Mean Guy at 8:05 PM
14 Comments:
y big question is what do you do to fix this mess? Burn it down, fire everyone and start over? Deep six 8-10 players and bring some guys in who can play? I am unsure, but here are a few things I'd do.
1. Let Willie Tra go-he cannot run block, start Justice
2. Cut all 3 LB and get some bigger guys who can play. At worst keep McCoy as a backup.
3. Draft a skilled TE who can also block. Then cut Schoebel and make LJ a receiving TE.
4. Get a punter.
5. Cut McDougle immediately and bring in some DE who are big and play the run well. I care less about pass rush and more about run stuffing.
6. Cut Darwin and Trucker and get 2 veterans who have some nasty in them.
7. Only extend Stallworth if no other WR is a free agent. He is too gimpy.
8. Start looking for Akers replacement. He looks shot to me.
9. Get a better QB. Not a starter, but someone who can throw longer than 30 yards.
10. Draft nothing but defensive players a la the Cowboys in the 2004 draft. They need all the help they can get there.
Bumble
I would just like to thank Andy Reid for another horrible display of football this year....worse than anything this team is gutless and outmanned. They have no heart. Bumble put an excellent wish list, but that was a ginormous waste of time....unless there are wholesale player changes driven by more than likely a philosophy change that won't occur under this regime. Boo hiss, I hate being a Philly die hard.
As much as I hate to say it, I think getting rid of JJ is job #1. Let's get one of the Ryan boys in here to run the D. Probably a better shot at prying Rob away from OAK than Rex from BAL. Defensive philosophy won't change until new coaches are brought in.
I think the Eagles have proven that you can't sign a starter quality back-up QB in this league. You have to draft them like ATL and JAC and then develop them for a couple years. I'd spend a 2nd round pick next year on that guy.
No other offensive talent/changes are really needed in my opinion. This team's problem is NOT scoring points. Even with a back-up QB. I'd spend the 2 on a QB and the rest goes for D.
And while blaming Reid for this team is appropriate, you can't let the players totally off the hook. They've given up and I think that's probably the more upsetting thing. Especially in this town that likes their scrappers.
The young players do get alot of the blame, but it mostly lands on Andy for the way he's coddled them. Didn't show up for the Jacksonville game? Take a week off! Embarrassed on national TV? No practice till Thursday!
The Reggie Brown situation is a great example: the kid won't concentrate and catch the ball. So what does Andy do? Cut his play time? Nope, give the kid a contract way before he's due. Now he has even less incentive to work hard and correct his obvious problem. Master psycology, Mr. Reid.
I use to have faith in Andy: he had a philosophy, which was more than you could say for the re-treads and retards that run half of these billion-dollar sports franchises. But in the end, he's a mini-Martz, he thinks his philosophy is bigger than reality.
They won't fire Reid, that's the simple reality, but he has to get out of the personnel decisions, he's clearly failed there, and they need a new D-coordinator plus a new front seven. They're stuck with Patterson and we'll see about Bunkley, cut every other last one of them. Maybe keep Cole as a situational pass rusher, that's it.
-Behan
Behan I love your Martz analogy. I never saw that before but man is that dead on. The league has caught up to his offense and a change is due. I am not screaming for him to go, but he must be stripped of all personnel decisions and Jim Johnson must go. I hate being a Birds fan right now. they are the laughing stock of the league. they try to position themselves as righteous because they care a lot about cap management, but in the end, if you cap manage a bunch of dogshit, you're stuck with a well-financed pile of dog shit.
The 2006 draft shocks me. i was the number one guy screaming from the roof tops about how well they did. Not one of their first four rounders is playing right now. that si disgraceful. The guy who picked players who cannot play needs to be held accountable.
Bumble
I completely agree with you Bumble, Andy can't go near the draft this year. Enough is enough.
2006: nobody on the field. I'm not giving up yet, but rookies are contributing on many good football teams right now, they can't get a guy on the field on a sh*tball squad
2005: OK in rounds one and two, but giving these guys big contracts already is completely undeserved. They have alot of developing to do still.
2004: Traded up for a G, nothing else.
2003: Overrated TE, bust DE
2002: One shining moment
2001: One great player, but he's gone. A contributor at back who has had really bad luck. Another first round bust.
2000: Got some decent years out of Corey, now he's out of the league
1999:Made the right move at QB. Nice value from Cecil Martin. Welborn, meh. The rest is slop.
Eight years of drafting has netted them what? A good secondary, a good QB, a good back, and some guys who may or may not be starter quality. Not one guy who you could say is the best at his position.
66 picks, 5 solid players, and a handful of maybes. That's not even close to good enough. Especially if your whole theory is letting quality players go and rebuilding through the draft.
-Behan
Last couple years have been really so-so on drafting, but I don't know as that's any surprise. Part of the problem has to be the late draft positions.
While they're no longer Almost Great, they're still quite a bit up the ladder from the ARIs, DETs, and OAKs of the league. Well, maybe a little bit.
Behan when you spell it out liek that it gets even more depressing.
Don't even play the "gee they could've drafted X instead game" or you'll cry. Instead of Freddie Mitchell, they could've had Chad Johnson or Steve Smith in the same year. Instead of Jerome McDougle, they could've had Vince Wilfork in the same year.
Bumble
i'm with you on a lot of this stuff. i have a lot of thoughts about this that i'll post when i get some time, but unfortunately i agree with the general sentiment that the change must start with dumping JJ.
Can't wait to hear Mean Guy's take...have some general thoughts....personally I have not liked Reid or Johnson's offensive and defensive approaches. I liked the fact that Andy has done a remarkable job fixing the Rhodes mess and making this a phenomenal team...starting with the Doug Pederson signing and playing and piss poor clock management against Tampa Bay at home in 99 (I was at that game and pretty toasted) I have thought that some things were amiss. In general, though, he's done a fantastic job....however some of his "problems" are more glaring than small miscues. My biggest concerns are two-fold....
1. I hate this version of the worst coast offense....they need more balance, blah, blah, blah
2. Banner and Lurie gave him the keys to the cupboard WAAAAAAAAYY too early....the Birds are basically a one man show with Andy calling all of the shots, except for defense (it seems at least)...
personnel assessment appears to NOT be his strength. I believe that he is better at just putting the players in the postition to win rather than determining who the players are....I am sure apologists can point back to specific successful picks, nice job Behan, though as I think that he has more failure than success. Donovan was his crowning moment, but after that a lot of debatable failure, which has probably now really set this team back in the pack.
Jim Johnson's philosophy hasn't changed much and I am not sure that he is at fault for this mess....I hate the defensive approach of speed exclusively as the Eagles think they have, and I also hate that you need to constantly blitz to create pressure...I love pressure, but your defensive line needs to occasionally provide a 4 man push. Teams have figured this out and just run the ball right at the Eagles and push them all over the frigging joint.
You need obvious upgrades on defensive personnel, but right now I think that there most pressing need is a proven GM who offers a check and balance over Red. Modrak had that, I think....Johnson isn't the problem, the personnel on the field is the problem....you really are only as good as your players and the guy picking the players has done a mediocre job, at best. Top that with past success and everyone has their A game for you and you have a bunch of losses....the embarrassing losses trouble me, big time, lack of heart, non-toughness, so it really is time for some top level change...otherwise this abyss grows deeper and instead of being with the pack, you go below it.
oh man, I just read an article by John Smallwood AFTER I wrote my blog, but it basically says the exact same thing!!!I should write for the Inquirer!!
Dog, keep in mind that JJ's the genius that decided to play Dawk closer to the line this year and Michael Lewis farther away. I hate dumping on the guy cause he was the best in the business for 2-3 years there. That's no longer the case. (Note: I'll take better players, too).
Phil, you are stone cold right, I am just trying to not kill the man when he's down. I think they need new blood in that position, too...fresh ideas....however, isn't he doing that to compensate for lack of personnel??? Or Dawk's age and Lewis not being able to cover my son, the real Big Dog
No knock on the real big dog. At 8 and 100 lbs., he shows heart and his best burst every time he runs a pattern, which is 50-60 times every time I see him. The real bog dog has ten times the heart of most of the Birds.
Bumble
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