Eagles: Front Office Hiding In Back Room
Philadelphia Inquirer Sports Columnist Bob Ford writes about the Eagles, the Phillies, the Sixers and the Flyers.
Eagles: Front Office Hiding In Back Room
Bob Ford, Inquirer Sports Columnist
The Eagles dressed 46 professional football players for Thursday’s twilight special in CenturyLink Field in Seattle, and it’s fair to say that the 43 of them who made their way onto the field didn’t have a great game.
The exact failures in the 31-14 loss have been picked over like the parking lot trash consumed by the great flocks of gulls that collected outside the deserted stadium when the night was over. The Eagles didn’t tackle well, they didn’t run the ball effectively, they committed too many turnovers and they were being put through their paces by a collection of coaches often working at cross purposes.
By this point in the season, the players see that the mistakes brought about by faulty or too ambitious schemes are not being addressed. Instead, the coaching staff is sticking to a bad plan the way a faithful diner stays with a favorite restaurant long after the chef is dead and the health department has pasted flyers on the door. The players are being used poorly and they know it.
That much is obvious. What is more difficult to decipher is whether the Eagles would have been good under any circumstance this season, or if the combination of turnovers (an incredibly bad minus-13 on takeaway/turnover), injuries (mostly Michael Vick, but Jeremy Maclin, too; and earlier this season, the mess on the offensive line) and some plain, old bad luck (some of the turnovers were night-of-the-blue-snow weird) sentenced them to a record that looks far worse than the actual merit of the team.
It might be for the 2012 season to decide that one. If the Eagles come back with essentially the same core, and essentially the same staff and philosophy – oh, yes, that certainly is possible – then judging the oddity of 2011 will be easier.
A real concern, however, is that the Eagles, as presently constructed, just aren’t that talented, and that the bulk of the roster is made up of average or below-average players whom the player personnel department has misjudged as something more.
For a handy example, look at the three players who put on a uniform but didn’t play a single snap on Thursday: Brandon Graham, Mike Kafka and Steve Smith. This isn’t meant to pick on them, but there they were, taking up uniform space and contributing nothing.
Graham, a defensive end, was the first-round pick in 2010. He didn’t do much during his rookie season and, before he tore his ACL at the end of the year, he had all but disappeared. They even tried him on the inside, at tackle, to little effect.
This season, he was on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list until Nov. 7, played sparingly against Chicago and Arizona, was inactive the next two weeks, and then dressed but didn’t play against Seattle. Maybe the front office and personnel departments – who recommend the picks to Reid for consideration – get a pass here because of the injury, but if a guy’s dressed, he’s healthy. If he’s healthy and he doesn’t play, and he was a first-round draft pick, you messed up. If there’s another way to look at that, let me know.
Kafka was another 2010 draft pick, in the fourth round. In all probability, he was projected as a backup, not someone who would develop into a starting NFL quarterback. Nevertheless, the coaching staff doesn’t appear to have enough confidence in him – after nearly two years of observation and coaching – to put him in a game when the starter (in this case, Vince Young) is incapable of doing anything but get you beat.
Then there is Steve Smith, who the Eagles signed during their binge of training camp transactions. He’s a former all-Pro, but was coming off an injury and surgery. Still, the organization’s judgment was that they were smarter than all the teams shying away from Smith. And on a night with the season’s survival on the line, on a night in which Jeremy Maclin couldn’t play and Riley Cooper was a starting wideout, on a night like that, Steve Smith couldn’t get on the field for a single snap. Nice signing.
Anyway, the point is that, as bad as Reid and his staff have done this season, he might not have much to work with, depending on how you judge the roster put together by the front office tandem of president Joe Banner and general manager Howie Roseman. The two drafts conducted by Roseman since he took over after Tom Heckert, Reid’s guy, was forced out, have been awful and could get worse, depending on which direction Danny Watkins and Nate Allen go.
I went into greater depth on this subject, and the shameful way the front office has let Reid absorb all the public blame, in this Saturday column in the Inquirer, and link it for you here because many of you don’t flip on the computer to check out Philly.com over the weekend. Too bad for you. There’s good stuff here every day.
Now you’re back at work, however, and the boss is out on a call somewhere and, well, you just can’t read enough about the Eagles at the moment.
Howie is off limits.....he always brings Joe his coffee on the way from his total football experience, in the mail room....and JoeB is the real GM and Jeffery's personal bean counter so we know he is going nowhere....Andy may stink in schemes and coaching hires, but he and howie team up to select low, limited talented players who he thinks he is brilliant enough to coach up (how is that working???) and that makes Joe happy for he does not have to pay them anything.....So while Joe is sitting in Jeffery's office showing him the money rolling in, Howie is bringing them their coffee and bagels....and the three smile as they watch the arrogant obnoxious one takes all the heat......Ah, to be a member of the Gold Standard, Dream Mangement Team...— nuggett- The picture of Roseman and Joe Banner standing with their hands on their foreheads made me laugh. Like, "Oy, what have we done?!"— dtrain67
good column, Bob. A succinct summary of this regime's failure portrayed through a current example of three no-talent duds (see also Todd Pinkston, Matt McCoy, Jerome McDougle et al.).— Sam Crow- Go ahead,...admit it,...no shame,...We were all thoroughly entertained by a REAL football TEAM last night...Go get your perfect season Packers, you deserve it...— wvbillz
- I agree with this, I am an iggles fan but it was fun to watch the Pack do their thing. Why is it their QB is famous for winning SB and photo bombing, ours......... — xlGmanlx
- @ Phil. I would LOVE to have RGIII on my team next year. Every article I've read on the guy says how talented and SMART he is, plus an outstanding person overall. Why wouldn't we want that again?? Please do some research before throwing useless opinions around.— athousandgods
- Ford: Get the facts correct! Reid put this team together not the front office. Why would you say otherwise. Its been made clear numerous times by all front office people that Reid has the FINAL say.— Lets Eat
- Brandon Graham was not just a 1st round pick. He was a 1st, and (2) 3rds. Eagles traded (3) top picks to move up to draft Graham. It's curious that most people/reporters do not mention this fact when discussing Graham. The Giants took Pierre-Paul two picks later.— chocolatethunder
- I was thinking that too, our "1st" couldn't even get on the field and JPP was all over the best QB in football right now — xlGmanlx
- Phil Checchia. I do agree with what ya all said bout draftin Robt Griffin III. He a great backup for Mike. If Mike get hurt, he step right in.— Tyrone7
- Howie looks like Gomer Pyle in that picture. Gomer and Goober would draft better players than Roseman and Banner though.
— s - It was fun yesterday watching the Denver Broncos win yet another nailbiter with Tim Tebow demonstrating real leadership at QB and Brodrick Bunkley, Joe Mays, and Brian Dawkins playing major roles on the defense.— dasher
- It was always the FO, even back to 1995 when they couldn't hire Vermeil because he wanted control of personnel, even back to when they let Tom Modrak go because they couldn't understand why he didn't listen to their great football "knowledge". Reid has just been taking all the bullets for the last 13 years. I've said it before , I'll say it again. They could hire Knute Rockne or Vince Lombardi as their next coach , as long as Lurie and Banner are there,they'll never win a Super Bowl.— drbob1
- So it was the FO that pursued and signed Vick, then gave him a $100 contract? It was the FO the signed Vince young to throw interceptions? Or Nnamdi to get burnt several times a week? Or that signed Steve Smith to sit on the side lines ($2.2 million per touchdown - not a bad contract!)? Or draft bust after bust after bust (with a few good ones like McCoy or Maclin thrown in to fool people like you)? Or was it the FO that sat on the side line while 35 seconds rolled off the clock at the end of the half last week? Or refuse to EVER implement a hurry up offense (going all the way back to the Superbowl against NE)? Or refuse to run the ball consistently with the top back in the NFL?
No, all that coaching "goodness" lands squarely on the shoulders of Andy Reid! Not the front office!— gdibig - Oh, and how could I forget the FO making Castillo the defensive coordinator? Yep those guys are terrible! — gdibig
