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.
@JudgeReinhold - have you lived under a rock? Andy Reid is HC and VP of Football Operations. He is the final decision when it comes to personnel including the draft and FAs. Banner and Rosemann are bean counters/lawyers who negotiate with the players.
The fiasco is 80-90% Reid's fault. He drafted these players, with a lot of head scratching decisions (drafting Graham over Earl Thomas, selection of Te'o-Nesheim), Reid made Juan his defensive coordinator (after canning McDermott because he didn't have enough experience), and he allows the offensive play calling to get completely out of wack in some games.
The fault I lay at Banner's/Roseman's feet is the handling of DJax. They knew the type of personality they were dealing with, and they let it get completely out of control and saw the impact TO had on this team a few years ago. Let's hope they don't make the same mistake with LeSean McCoy, who will be in a similar situation next year. Most teams take care of their star players when the time is right and these guys dropped the ball! If I'm LeSean - I'd holdout until the Eagles forked over the money (see what happened to Matt Forte?)!— dankil13- When all is said and done, Reid is a key member of that front office. Banner and Howie may find the players and put together the deals, but make no mistake, if Reid doesn't agree and endorse them, they are not going to happen!— Colonel Klink
- All teams have weaknesses that can be exploited. Bad teams have holes that good teams will kill you with when they find them. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to realize the Eagles are not competitve at linebacker or safety.— tr88
- The comment about Kafka is just plain silly. He is a third string QB. All 3rd string QBs are taking up space. He has as much to do with this Titanic of a season as the radio operator on the Titanic had to do with the sinking.— Fredclaims
- The executive leaders of the Gold Standard...chubby Banner holding down his toupee while Pee Wee Roseman is out looking for his bicycle. Both need to go.— Astro Jones
- Banner and Rosenman are the biggest part of the problem. The defensive personnel are NOT GOOD ENOUGH. This is a result of thier poor draft picks, poor personnel decisions and poor position value analysis. The Eagles have never highly valued LBs, BUT they had Dawkins and a good nickle LB earlier on to support their mediocre linebacking corps. They lost Dawkins and Ike Reese. They used to have at least on CB who could tackle, first Vincent and then Sheldon Brown. NOW the linebacking corp is weaker. None of their SAFETIES can tackle or cover and NONE of their corners can tackle. Even a defensive genius as defensive coordinator can't put together an effective defense with this personnel. Take the Eagles CBs deep and alternate between running the ball and passing in the middle. The safeties and the LBs can't cover or tackle. When the Eagles lost Dawkins they needed to get an experience proven replacement. Rolle was available but the Eaqles didn't pursue him. The Giants did. The Eagles have since wasted 3 high round picks on safeties and none of their picks are good. Harris was bad. Allen is decent in coverage but can't tackle. Jarrett can't break into a weak lineup. They also wasted a high pick on an undersized DE. They could have used those picks to get better LBs, There starting LBs are 5th round and lower picks and they show it. There is no one to blame for this debacle except Banner and Rosenman. THEY BOTH NEED TO GO. No self respecting high quality proven coach would agree to come into the Eagles situation with these two in the way.— Commonesnes
- Vick makes 2 mil per year than Peyton Manning. Who would you rather have at QB? Nice job, guys.— kunivas
- The D- PASS COVERAGE has been a disaster. But Reid MUST have had full front office BUY-IN to hire Juan Castillo as DC [due to past team affiliation].
The O- PASS DEFENSE has had many early season failures. Vick's broken ribs play was by a completely UNBLOCKED pass rusher who was there instantly.
BTW: Vick's contract is under 15-million a year and only firm through 2012.— saunhi - With "over 25 draft picks" in 2 years, what has Roseman delivered.
NOTHING... he can't carry Heckert's bags, and Heckert wasn't all that good. Please, Eagles can not afford another Roseman draft. You got to get a recognized quantity football guy, known for talent picking.— Lerze777 - Thousand Gods and Tyronne7, I do prefer the kid from Southern Cal, his chances of winning the superbowl are 97.5%. Griffins is 2.5%. You two geniuses need to forget your dream of a black QB winning super bowl and play the odds. But you do have Reid and Lurie to bank on here. I make it 70-30 they draft Griffin.— Phil Checchia
- Prepare for at least two more years of the Front Office Follies. It's clear to me that Reid will not be fired, and Lurie is not going to break up the Brain Trust until he starts losing money. My guess is, that won't happen; they've got the system down to a science, maximizing profit by any means necessary.— MidStaterUXB
- This would be a much better team if they had one player--Brian Dawkins! Did you see the game he had for the Broncos?— Boulder Steve
- I agree with the article. When you look at the last two drafts, it is disturbing how bad they have been.— PhillyfaninChicago
- We should get an ex super bowl, quarterbacks coach to lead the team, so we don't throw so many interceptions.— gmr18901
- Bob, nice job on this article. No one seems to talk about the fact that Andy had surrounded himself in the past with excellent coaches which I think was critical to his success. Over time, he lost those coaches (think 4 became head coaches) and he has not been able to replace them. Seems like Andy wanted more and more control over everything, Lurie allowed him to take control over decisions and Andy has proven that he can't handle the control.— gottadoabetterjob
