FanPost

Saying What Needs To Be Said

This team is shameful at this point and there are few who are going to be spared from this rant. This team has no heart at all, some guys have it but as a whole we've got no heart. We're so soft it's ridiculous. This defense is shaming the Philadelphia Eagles franchise, the city of Philadelphia and their fans. The Eagles have such a proud history of defenses and these guys are embarrassing this team. The defense is gutless this year. And the offense isn't without blame either, how soft do they look too? DeSean Jackson says his number one priority is to stay healthy, Maclin chokes in key situations, Celek is invisible, Ronnie Brown is a dumbass and our offensive line blocks about as well as a sieve stops water. 

The guys on defense should really be ashamed of what they're putting out on the field. The only guys that are exempt are Trent Cole, Cullen Jenkins and Jason Babin. That's it.

I want to know how Casey Matthews, Jamar Chaney and Nate Allen can look Trent Cole in the eyes. How can these guys talk with Cullen Jenkins? How can they even be in the same room as Jason Babin? Its pitiful.

Jim Johnson, Reggie White, Jerome Brown, Norm Willey and Andre Waters are all rolling over in their graves.

I can't even stand the idea that these guys are representing everyone who has ever worn the Eagles' uniform. I think ole "Concrete Charlie" would be laugh in their faces if these guys told him they were representing him.

Could you imagine what Brian Dawkins and Jeremiah Trotter would have to say to these guys? Those guys were dominant players in their hay-day who played with heart and soul. Brian Dawkins CRIED when he signed with the Broncos and couldn't finish an interview with a Philly TV station. Jeremiah Trotter said that if you cut him open he would probably "Bleed Green" and that he would bleed green until he died. Jeremiah Trotter once said that "I think that is one of the most things I'm going to miss...the fans, my teammates. I've been somewhere else and I know the grass isn't greener."

Buddy Ryan still loves the Eagles, he was desperately trying to get Rob Ryan to become the defensive coordinator of the Eagles. I would be surprised if Buddy's TV still works after he tossed his remote through it.

Do these guys honestly think they're upholding the Eagles tradition of defense? Andre Waters gave it all on the field and injuries he sustained eventually took his life. They're not doing Waters proud.

Jon Runyan played through a broken tailbone one year and played through all kinds of injuries and ailments. He was so dedicated to the Eagles that he put an elevator in his house because he reserved himself to the fact that he wasn't going to be able to walk one day.

Old Al Wistert who as a rookie jogged around the field to warm up for the Steagles practice without anyone telling him only to have the entire team follow his lead must be sick. Al Wistert once thought he broke his leg and still went back out and kept playing both sides of the ball. Oh and he also played through a severely sprained ankle on both sides of the ball as well despite the fact that he could hardly walk. That guy revolutionized blocking and is one of the NFL's all time tough guys. Surely he must be sick whenever he catches this gutless team.

Point is, they're not living up to the Eagles' tradition. Tough guys like Keith Byars, Bill Bergey, Bill Hewitt, Troy Vincent and Seth Joyner deserve to be represented better than this. 

I just can't get over how gutless we are. DeSean Jackson says his #1 priority is staying healthy. Asante is on record saying that he isn't paid to tackle. Cullen Jenkins says we lack a killer instinct. Juan Castillo didn't give a post game press conference after the Giants game. Jeremy Maclin left before reporters could ask him about his fumble late in the game. We're getting pushed around in run defense. We're getting bullied at the point of attack on both sides of the ball. At what point does pride start to kick in? How long can our guys take having their asses handed to them? 

Here is the saddest thing: WE CANNOT EVEN TACKLE. I know that through 3 weeks we have missed 17 tackles. 17. And in addition to that we allowed 200 yards after contact. 200 YARDS AFTER INITIAL CONTACT. Those are pitiful numbers.

The Eagles aren't wrapping up. They're taking terrible pursuit angles. They're getting washed out when they're taking on blocks. They're ankle diving. The safeties in particular are bad. The linebackers aren't going to be perfect and when they do mess up the safeties have to fill in the gaps, they have to make tackles and they have to take the right angles. Nate Allen looks absolutely awful out there, he is slow, hesitant and he isn't physical. Kurt Coleman wasn't any better. Jarrad Page is becoming notorious for his horrible angles in pursuit.

And I swear to god if I hear anything about ‘not being paid to tackle' from anyone I will go off. They're football players, tackling comes with the territory.

There appears to be no accountability on this team. Players don't seem to be improving on their mistakes. The fundamentals are so shaky. We keep committing dumb penalties at bad times. We turn the ball over at the least opportune times. We crumble under pressure. Juan Castillo just skipped out on a press conference after a bad showing. Jeremy Maclin avoided reporters after he contributed greatly to the Eagles' loss. You should have to face the consequences of your actions. The team looks complacent on the field and they're just not making the plays they're supposed to make. They're like a ship without a captain or a rudder.

It's said that a team takes on the personality of it's coach and I think that is QUITE clear with the Eagles. Andy Reid has gotten complacent, he is a fat cat at this point who seems to think that he can outsmart other coaches and out-athlete other teams while avoiding the actual meat and potatoes of the game. He has too much power. Anybody who has the power to make Juan Castillo his defensive coordinator with limited resistance is dangerous. His ego has grown too much. Why he keeps things in house is beyond me, its almost like he thinks he breeds the best coaches and integrating a new guy would be too much work. And we always hear about how Andy Reid is the guy who calls the shots on personnel decisions and yet we don't ever hear about the terrible personnel decisions. Why isn't Andy Reid catching heat for the situations we've been in the past few years? Why aren't we questioning Andy's decisions regarding the offensive line, defensive line (Bunkley, Abiamiri, McDougle, Kearse, Clemons, Howard), linebackers (McCoy, Bradley, Gaither, Gocong, Matthews), his complete inability to replace Dawkins and Mikell (Harris, Demps, Allen, Coleman, Page), the cornerbacks in 2010 (Hobbs, Patterson) or the WR situation earlier in his career?

And there are certain things that are disturbing trends with these Eagles. Andy Reid has been here for 13 seasons now and he has yet to figure out the redzone offense and the red zone defense is even worse. Andy Reid still can't manage the clock worth a damn. Andy Reid still sucks at challenges. Andy Reid has never drafted a good offensive tackle. Andy Reid has never drafted a good TE. Andy Reid has never drafted a decent LB. He always stays in house for promotions. New GM? In house. New DC? In house, twice. New OC? In house. We're becoming a dysfunctional inbred team that has the same issues every single year.  

Howie Roseman seems to be a bit too big for his britches. I'm concerned about his role in the scouting department, he has never played or coached football and his drafts have been complete busts thus far. I'm terribly concerned about him. His relationship with Joe Banner concerns me as it might make Howie Roseman a little harder to get rid of.

And Juan Castillo has got to go now. Remember how we thought Sean McDermott was bad? Well Juan Castillo is markedly worse.

Coordinator

Yds/Gm

Pts/Gm

PYds/Gm

YPA

Yds/Ctch

Passing TDs

INTs

RYds/Gm

YPC

Running TDs

J. Castillo

357.2

25.2

217.8

8.0

12.09

40

8

139.5

5.3

12

S. McDermott

331.7

22.6

212.06

6.9

11.6

26

18

111.5

4.2

13

And he is completely misusing the talent that we've got. Nnamdi is not a zone corner or a slot corner, he is a big, long press boundary corner. DRC is not a slot corner, he isn't strong enough and he doesn't have the route recognition skills to survive on the inside against slot receivers whose game is grounded in route running. Then there is the whole Casey Matthews disaster. Jamar Chaney was not strong enough at the POA to be a SAM. If you are running a wide 9 scheme you need linebackers who can fill in against the run and the entire organization failed to address that. And you're also going to need good safeties. The Titans had Stephen Tulloch, Chris Hope and Michael Griffin. We had Casey Matthews, Kurt Coleman and Jarrad Page, clear miscalculation on the part of our personnel department. And the Lions who run a similar scheme have Justin Durant, Stephen Tulloch (both of whom were free agents btw) and Louis Delmas.

And then, there is the offense. Jeremy Maclin has made terrible plays that cost the Eagles their last shot to win the game in two of the four games. I'm wondering where our clutch WR from the first 2 years has gone. No longer is he making sideline grabs against the Redskins and Broncos, lighting up the Cowboys in the playoffs or scoring two TDs against the Giants in the Miracle. Now he is suddenly the guy who drops a perfect pass on 4th and 2 and the guy who fumbles the ball on the last chance scoring drive.

And don't even get me started on DeSean Jackson. He has dropped 6 passes already by my count, one of which led to an interception. He is completely lacking any thing that even resembles effort. He goes down easily and doesn't fight for extra yards. He goes out of bounds. His routes are sloppy and he isn't getting separation. He is such an unreliable target. And even when he does have a stat padding game like he had today, his impact was minimal. The coaching staff isn't helping him either, he isn't being used very creatively, they're content to just send him on downfield routes all the time.

Michael Vick can't read a blitz to save his life.

The middle of our offensive line is terrible and we're lucky if we ever get a push up the middle in short yardage situations. And the right side of our line is really bad. DeVan is struggling mightily, he is trying to gift wrap the RG spot to Danny Watkins. DeVan is slow footed and he looks much, much worse without Peyton Manning behind him. And Todd Herremans is struggling at the RT spot, it would appear that he isn't creating any movement in the run game and in pass protection he is being abused. Put him back at LG. But Howard Mudd is a stickler for continuity so Todd isn't moving anytime soon.

And whoever is calling our redzone plays needs to reassess their calls. That stupid trap play against Atlanta was a massive fail. The 2 Owen Schmitt carries against the Giants were massive fails especially considering how well Shady was playing. And today that run/pass option play from Ronnie Brown was horrendous.

And the defense is just as bad. Eagles opponents are 8 of 10 in the redzone. Meanwhile the Eagles have scored on 8 of 20 redzone trips.   

And Reuben Frank busted out this gem of a stat: Eagles are first NFL team with 1700 yards through 4 games AND a losing record since the 1983 Chargers

Whaddayano, Touchdowns beat field goals.

Things better change quickly because right now Andy Reid, Juan Castillo, Marty Morninwheg and Howie Roseman are on the hot seat. We really are a terrible team right now, we're talented as hell but our execution and fundamentals are equally terrible.