At 5-7 and somewhat out of the wild card scenario, it’s time to look at the Bird in the Mirror, count the scars and blemishes along with the blessings, and move on against our next opponent—the Washington Redskins who come into the Linc this Sunday.
There’s always the possibility of winning out against the ‘Skins, the Ravens (away), the Cowboys and Giants to save face for what is in effect a developmental season. But the margin of error is practically “zero” for a team that has been making a lot of errors lately.
“I’m hurting like the players are and obviously I’m disappointed with where we are,” HC DougPederson said. “I really felt like we had some opportunities to win some of these games [we lost] and put ourselves in a better position down the stretch, even with all the adversity that we faced the last couple of weeks.”
“We still have a month of football left and three of the next four are division games. We’ve got some challenges. I told the guys after the game that this could go one of two ways, and I know the only way it’s going to go, and that’s up. We’ve got to dig ourselves out of this hole, and it starts next week.”
“The mood right now is that everybody is dejected and down and they’ll be that way for a little while, but the fact of the matter is that we come back to work on Tuesday and we’re on to our next opponent,” Pederson said. “We’ll put this one to rest and we’ll move on and learn from it. That’s the thing with these young players – putting them in those positions and those situations right now. It’s just a learning experience for them. And I know this is going to make us better. These young players are going to make us better. We’ve got a month left and we’re going to continue to work hard.”
Doug has to say what he says—he comes close, but he knows there’s no crying in NFL football.
Carl Taylor, on the other hand, whom many of us remember as CETS on the old “ASK CETS” Hour at the original PE.com On The Inside gallery, is pulling no punches in his acerbic reflections from the mirror:
“The reason our team is in the situation it is in is because players aren’t living up to their draft-pick positions or their contracts. Replacing players currently under contract or drafting players into those same positions only exacerbates the problem. You either need to draft a star [good luck!] or draft somebody that’s about the same skill level as somebody who’s making a lot of money on your roster. Otherwise you’re just repeating the same mistakes…”
“We’re competing with handcuffs on. WR for example… We’ve spent a 1st, 2nd and 3rd on the position and have not enough to show for it. We should be getting pro bowl level play for only a few million dollars spent there. To also pay for a top FA means we’re paying for it twice. Difficult to be elite when your franchise keeps doing that.”
“Our offense fell apart when Lane Johnson got suspended. That is no coincidence. They have been nothing short of horrible since. Also Wentz won’t progress until we can run the ball or the receiving corps improves. I watch about 3 or 4 games a week and one thing that is very clear is that just about every good QB throws jump balls or forces some throws into coverage. The difference between Wentz and other QBs is that their WRs come down with it or at least don’t allow it to get intercepted. For Wentz not to have that safety valve is extremely tough. Defenses now do disrespectful types of plays due to our WRs, like zero blitzes (blitzing 6 people). You simply throw a quick hot and a missed tackle leads to a TD. Or throw it to your best WR with some air underneath of it and you put their CB in a really bad spot. Who is that WR on our team? As long as Wentz feels like he has to do 200% of the work to win, he won’t improve.”
“Regardless of the position, we must draft great players and FAs must be worth the money we give them. And unless they are late picks, those players must perform right away. Otherwise we’re essentially competing with less money than the teams that do.”
“Our defense has been left out to dry and they are probably deflated by now. We have under-average CBs that can’t stand up to 1-on-1 coverage. We have great safeties that have been regulated to average CBs. Our CBs and CB depth doomed our roster from day 1. A great pass rusher gets to the QB in under 3 seconds. We put all of our money and hope on our D-line getting to a QB in less than 2 seconds. Because our CBs are so bad when they play press/bump, QBs can just launch a hail mary type pass within 2 seconds of the snap. Their WRs run under it and make a play on the ball. Our safeties can’t get there and help because they are playing nickle and dimes. When the CBs play off of the WRs they throw a quick WR screen in less than a second and get 7 easy yards. Do that to a D about 20 times and see where the pass rush goes later in the game.”
“My opinion of draft/FA needs in order:
– CB
– #1 WR (anything other than a legit #1 is a band-aid on a leaky pipe)
– DT (unless they resign Logan)
– RB
– RT (not a serious need, Peters has held up and might have another season, Lane comes back (perhaps with a discount), interior line already has too much money/picks invested there).
Is there crying in Eagles football? No—but right now a lot of heat is being put on the Eagles’ brain trust. Just “ASK CETS”.
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