It’s been a wild and sometimes bumpy ride for the Eagles and their fans over the past decade. But things are shaking out so unpredictably in terms of coaching, administrative and personnel changes that I get the feeling we are due for a major leap forward as a winning organization in 2016. If for no other reason, this team is making progress by experimental factors of elimination.
Old Tom Edison tried out hundreds of different substances before he finally discovered tungsten as a successful filament for the light bulb.
Jeff Lurie has tried out a bunch of different filaments since he got so close to delivering a championship winner in the 2000 to 2005 seasons. Some might say the green light has grown dimmer based upon his last ten years of experimentation.
This year’s laboratory has a familiar feel for me when I look back at Lurie’s earliest years as owner when he replaced Rich Kotite and hired the 49ers’ defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes as head coach in 1995. It was a bold move in a new direction and it underscored Lurie’s public statement that his goal was to win a Super Bowl with Rhodes.
Along with the rejection of the way things had been done in the past, Lurie encouraged aggressive recruiting and deal-making. He created his first “Howie Roseman” by appointing Bob Ackles as the czar of football administration. Unlike Howie, though, Ackles had previous experience as director of player personnel for a Super Bowl-winning organization—the Dallas Cowboys in the early 1990’s. But the concept of having a guy in Howie’s current role with the Eagles was born.
And oh the deals that were made! On the two days of the NFL Draft, the Eagles made seven trades, moving up and moving back but never sitting pat with the seventh pick overall in each round.
Green light, baby!
The Ray Rhodes/Bob Ackles experiment ultimately fizzled out after a hot early run. But that first year was fun for long-suffering fans, I can tell you that. That’s the feeling I’m getting from this current attempt by Lurie to turn things around. It may not work out, but it sure feels better than the administrative mess Lurie made by putting Chip Kelly in charge of personnel.
I also have a positive take on Lurie’s past failed experiments. After 21 years of throwing stuff against the wall, something is bound to stick to the plaster sooner or later.
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Here are some quotes from our new defensive coaching leader which really get me excited over the new direction of the Eagles defense:
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz on moving OLB Connor Barwin to defensive end:
“He played end in Houston in a very similar scheme to mine,” Schwartz said Wednesday on 97.5 The Fanatic. “We played him when I was [head coach] in Detroit. He gave us a lot of problems.”
Schwartz said he would use offseason workouts and training camp to figure out who else goes where in his defensive alignments:
“Not everybody here was a great fit for the 3-4 [scheme],” Schwartz said. “Mychal Kendricks might be one of those guys. He’s an explosive downhill guy. I think we can get him back to that.”
“I had Kiko in Buffalo for about four months [before he tore his ACL]. He had played [middle] linebacker the year before and we had decided to move him to what we call ‘stack’ linebacker. We’ll try to find what fits those guys best.”
“Just about everything that we’re going to do defensively hasn’t been determined yet,” Schwartz told 97.5 host Anthony Gargano. “Other than a philosophy — attack and try to be around the quarterback. Exactly how we use each guy is going to be determined on what they do in OTAs, what they do in training camp.
“I think you make a mistake if you predetermine, go in with a scheme and say this is what we’re going to do scheme-wise. I think the best system is to find out what the players do the best.”
“The thing I like about Vinny Curry is he is a really hardcore competitor,” Schwartz said. “You have to be a competitor to get to the quarterback. It’s very rare that you just beat your guy clean, very rare that you’re just free to the quarterback. Most sacks are due to work ethic.”
“There were some guys that fit well in the defense here last year. I think he was one guy that really wasn’t a great fit. He played in that square stance. They played (him) at the line of scrimmage, a lot of two-gap (technique).”
“That has proven to be an effective system, also. But it didn’t really fit Vinny that well. I think we can take the handcuffs off him, so to speak, and cut him loose along with the other guys up front.”
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