Philly Phantasy Corner: Eagles Lay an Egg

[Philly Girl]

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Reid's last game as an Eagles coach is here | Image courtesy of USA Today

As if this season was not disappointing enough, the Philadelphia Eagles will have no representative at the Pro-Bowl for the first time since 1998. Also, a former player, Jason Babin, has stated publicly that the Eagles are a socialist' organization. As if the miserable two seasons were not bad enough for Andy Reid, it seems that his ailing team and fans will only have one more weekend to struggle with their emotions prior to possibly having losers remorse. Andy is a great head coach (I know I have been harsh) but in general he has brought much success to the Eagles' organization; however, his success has not brought the coveted Lombardi Trophy. After 14 years, we are 7 years past the 7 year itch and he has doubled most coaching tenures of his era. While it has been a good run, it has not been a great run. With the remaining players rallying around him in support of him and one more year left on his contract, this disgruntled Eagles fan has no idea what to expect anymore.

So what about the under-performing players of whom none were tapped as Pro-Bowl caliber? While I do believe this team has talent (Shady being the most overlooked in this snub).  As a whole, no one played up to his [McCoy] par and expected value for the entirety of the season. Despite Detroit's struggles, Megatron has set records. While this could easily be passed aside as a personal desire to be the best and overlook his teammates, those on the Eagles' squad with this type of talent didn't even try their best, which would have aided the team and maybe brought one less loss. I am highly disappointed in D-Jack, who's miserable 2011 was supposed to be in part related to contract disputes - what is his excuse this year? And Michael Vick's monstrous $100 million contract through 2017 which, if he is released by February 6th, the Eagles are not under an obligation to pay... Look for his release to be before the Super Bowl.

Now that we have eliminated the head coach and original starting QB, what are we left with? Nick Foles who has a broken hand, but I am impressed with his play and poise considering he is a rookie who played only a handful of games. I wonder what he would have done if he knew he had the confidence of his team and coach? We already know that we have the potential for solid WRs but Riley Cooper seems to be the only WR who literally laid out this year to assist his QB(s). At RB, Brown appears to be a force and a nice supplement to Shady as we move into next year. Offense seems solid right? WRONG. We have absolutely no line whatsoever. We need to have a solid off-season finding o-linemen who can actually defend a QB. Period. No defensive tackles, just offensive line help, period.

Speaking of defense, they got a bad wrap this year. I find it impossible to blame the issues of this team on the struggles of a defense who is expected to play nearly three full quarters a game due to an offense that cannot score, hold onto the ball, and constantly giving up great field position. Overall I think the defense was fairly solid in the beginning of the year and look to see some of these young guns, like Brandon Graham, grow over the next few years. The coordinator question - that will come with the new head coach and thus I am optimistic about the future of the D.

[Jonathan]

Reid is gone, thank god. Horrible coach. Time management, pass happy, inability to change, red zone, pass happy, bad coaches...injuries.......... pass happy? The best thing he ever did was hire Jim Johnson, that was the one thing he did right. Vick and the rest of the coaching staff should all be gone too. It will take a year or two, but I am hopeful they get this right. Pass happy with an inaccurate QB, does is seem that hard to figure out? The Eagles need true leadership, from both the coach and QB. They got it from neither this year, Reid just likes to say "We Need To Get Better". The OL will be fine, I think they use that #3 pick (RT) + with Peters coming back, they will have a solid OL. Peter was one of the best T in the league in 2011, and helped both Vick's blindside and Running game. We need an old-school coach like Cowher, who will emphasize and rely on the running game. They got 3 guys they can give the ball to. It will be interesting to see what they do, but they got to do something. They got talent, never seen a 4-12 team with talent like they have, just need better coaching and a healthy Peters will help a lot. The organization is a mess at every level right now, but they got talent, just need a leader that can make the moves to get things right. The last time they had a pick that high was 1999, when they selected Donovan McNabb(#2), the same year that Andy Reid took over the franchise; It has come full circle.