This might take a while, but we got a lot to unpack here. The Eagles this season are the one team that has been the biggest disappointment in this 2020 season. This season has been atrocious on so many levels, where do I begin with this team?
Let’s begin by saying that the “new norm” head coach Doug Pederson was talking about in 2018 is really turning into. Did he know what he was talking about at the Super Bowl Parade on February 8th, 2018? This team’s in 2017 was like a dream and now it’s becoming a nightmare in front of our very eyes. It’s the first weeks of the season and we have more injuries than a hospital ER. All the players who we use to look at on this team and say, “We all we got, we all we need”, are no longer here. It’s more like “we don’t have all we got and we don’t need it”. To quote Jason Kelce, it’s the WHOLE TEAM, only not in the same way that he meant.
Unlike those injuries in 2017 when everything went right that year, this team is not even a month in and has so many injuries it’s a flat out disgrace. The replacement players aren’t good enough. I don’t get how we have so many injuries and three and a half years ago we were on top of the highest mountain hoisting the Vince Lombardi wearing the underdog masks, hearing Eagles chants at sporting events. Hungry Dogs Run Faster, right Jason? More like a Full Dog Runs Slower. I’m starting to think that Super Bowl year was a fluke and the year of blue snow.
Howie Roseman
Now to today. Let’s start at the top. In the 2017 offseason, Howie Roseman was doing whatever he could to bring a championship to Philadelphia by bringing in pieces like Chris Long, LeGarrette Blount, Jay Ajayi, etc. Also, the NFL draft was held right here in Philly and we were really excited about what the future had in store now with all of the players we got in 2017. That idea has been a disaster and now there is only one player left from that 2017 Draft. Yes, ONE! Howie hasn’t done nearly enough to get the job done and not enough to make the team better. While all the players who were supposed to make the team a better team or to succeed here, the talent lacks. It’s embarrassing that 5 years ago that we drafted our franchise quarterback in Carson Wentz but this year Howie decides in 2020 in the second round to draft another quarterback in Jalen Hurts. The biggest question I have with that is one word and that is WHY? What was the whole point of drafting Jalen Hurts in the first place?
He’s a project. at least a couple of years away. All the needs for this team were offensive line help because Jason Peters doesn’t have it anymore and it’s time to cut ties with the 38-Year-old offensive lineman. It also hurts that players like Vaitai and others didn’t pan out. Also, bringing back Desean Jackson has been a real disaster. It looks like he will play whenever he feels like and that is a huge head-scratcher in he has only played in 3 games and cannot stay healthy. In that, his return to Philly is embarrassing.
Also, the other disappointment wasn’t just the lack of injuries on this team. Drafting wide receivers like J.J. Arcega-Whiteside instead of D.K. Metcalf. This draft was all I needed to know to see how much Howie is clueless in his drafts. Not drafting down to get CeeDee Lamb, letting him go to our worst rival Dallas, or not even Justin Jefferson who was right in your hands, and we go with Jalen Reagor.
How is Reagor? Who knows? The last time I checked HE was hurt. I don’t even think Arcega-Whiteside is on the field. All the while the other players that got away are actually playing well for their respective teams. How did the Patriots with Brady, the Chiefs, the Seahawks, or any of the great teams get it done? They draft well and get the right players to help them to succeed also find ways to win in this league and it’s coming biting us where it hurts.
Carson Wentz
Now let’s address the quarterback, who needs to resurrect his career onward and upward now and has been a disgrace since Week 1 of the season. For months Carson Wentz hasn’t been Carson of old, after that 2017 season. The 33 Touchdowns 7 Interceptions is no more. The Injury bug has been the disappointment in his career and I hate to say it, but could this be RG3 2.0 all over again? But it’s hard to say.
They are similar in so many ways, one in that they both had serious leg injuries and the other thing is that they were rushed back and that the injuries might have messed with their careers. It’s been really disappointing for Wentz, the lack of play this year, and how much he has left in the tank, and that’s on coaching. After John DeFilippo’s departure, nobody is in his ear telling him what has to do and what he wants out of Wentz. Now a Five Year Veteran he just doesn’t look like the Carson Wentz of old. His fundamentals are what’s dragging him down for the count. He looks absolutely lost out there. Nobody is in his ear and I think might be also looking over his shoulder at Jalen Hurts in his wake and what could come in at any time. Wouldn’t be surprised.
Doug Pederson
As for head coach Doug Pederson, who back in Super Bowl 52 was aggressive on so many levels and it probably was the best he coached that year when he went head to head with Bill Belichick and Won! Now let’s flip the page to 2020. Doug looks to me like his aggressiveness in that game on February 4th came to fruition. After Frank Reich left for the Indianapolis Colts in 2018 he has just not the same coach or aggressiveness. There is nobody is in his ear like Carson about what to do here. It’s hard to say what “new norm” he talked about was. What did he mean and honestly we still don’t know what he meant.
The one thing Pederson has been reminding me of, but I wasn’t born during that time, and that is another Rich Kotite. What do I mean by that? It’s him being snippy with the press and basically saying “I’m a Coach and You’re not a Coach.” The lack of answers and just giving excuses is making me think, does this guy know what he is doing? The answer is I don’t know. But this might look like when I was only 3 Years old before Andy Reid and that was the 1998, Ray Rhodes, 3-13 Eagles. It’s just been really embarrassing to watch. There is nobody on this team like Gene Hackman’s coach Dale in the movie Hoosiers, “That the focus is on the fundamentals time and time again.” Quite frankly it’s frustrating but this is what they are. And we’ll be 5 years away from being 5 years away if the Eagles don’t right the ship.
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James Scorza is a Co-Host of the Pattison Ave Phanatics on Edge of Philly Sports. James attended the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. He loves Sports and Music and has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Philadelphia Sports. He may be young but is knowledgeable beyond his years.
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