From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

THE EAGLES stand on the cusp of a truly remarkable accomplishment.

Last year, they were the only team in the NFL to miss the playoffs despite finishing in the league's top 10 in offense and defense...

...the 8-6-1 Birds enter their final contest of the regular season ranked third among NFL defenses and eighth among NFL offenses. Last year, they had the eighth-ranked offense and the 10th-ranked defense.

I can't seem to understand how a team that is top-10 defensively and offensively for two consecutive years misses the playoffs both times. How does that actually happen? I can't wrap my head around it.

Is it coaching? And if so, then how can we coach up players to play so well together statistically on both sides of the ball...but not win? Is it just lack of execution? Wouldn't that indicate that the stats are misleading? Is it just the little things? Is it bad luck? Would one additional player have made the difference - i.e. might a real fullback at the start of the year helped convert those 3rd and 1 situations? Would that have gotten us an extra win or two?

I'm interested in your explanations...because sadly, if we miss the playoffs this year, this seems to be a new type of futility which I can't grasp.

This article by Jordan Raanan (whose columns generally are chock-full of good quotes) seems to indicate the locker room is upset with the coaches:

Buckhalter:

"The run game got us to this point. But we can't figure out what the coaches are thinking in their head...they make the calls and we have to go with them whether they are run or pass."

Westbrook:

"I don't ask questions...coach saw something that dictated that we should pass the ball."

Runyan (on the wide receivers):

"The biggest issue is you have to catch the ball...it's been the situation here for several years. Simple - you have to catch the ball. It popped up again."

That's a lot of dissent from a lot of different players. No one's sarcastically calling Reid a "genius" yet, but how long until that happens?