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Signed, The Fans

28 September 2020 Opinion Philadelphia Eagles

Embarrassing. Frustrating. Pathetic. Disastrous. Boring. These are all words that describe the 2020 Philadelphia Eagles in a nutshell, but these are far from the absolute slop fest that they are putting on the field right now. Truthfully, I don’t even know where to begin with the “accountability” train. I’m going to take it step-by-step in this though.

Jeffery Lurie. As the majority owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, and the true face of the franchise, HOLD YOUR EMPLOYEES ACCOUNTABLE. You watched Howie Roseman, and Joe Douglas for a short period of time, spend your money and draft assets on names that include Donnell Pumphrey, Casey Matthews, Nathan Gerry, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and the list continues to go on of wasted draft picks and overpaid free agent acquisitions that didn’t pan out, that have gotten us to this point. We, as fans of your organization, are tired of this. Hold your employees accountable instead of allowing them to continue to make the same mistakes with no repercussions. Put them on notice, Mr. Lurie.

Howie Roseman. As the general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles, MAKE BETTER DECISIONS. You are the man who is responsible for the overall makeup of this team. Mr. Lurie trusts you with this organizations’ success, both on the field and off. Your success off the field comes from keeping fans invested in the team and having success on the field is the main way to do that. With that being said, clean up your mistakes. Sure, the play and development of the players is not on your shoulders. You hired an elite head coach to lead this football team, NOW GIVE HIM PLAYERS TO HELP HIM SUCCEED! Stop with the analytics, it’s clearly a lost cause. Draft good football players who have the makeup to succeed, no matter the position. We are lacking big time playmakers on both sides of the ball and you’ve been drafting and acquiring players as if we’re in a position of strength in the NFC. We’re coming off back-to-back nine-win seasons where we barely scraped by to get into the playoffs in the worst division in football, and you’re a contributing factor to that. We, as fans of the organization, are tired of this. Stop making the analytical move, trying to outsmart your fellow GM’s, and make the smart move.

Doug Pederson. As the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, FIX YOUR STAFF. Your defensive coordinator is running a scheme that is counterintuitive to the players that the front office has provided you. Your offensive coordinator is a positions coach who has allowed your franchise quarterback to regress in every single season since his injury in 2017. Hold them accountable and lead these coaches. I don’t care that Jim Schwartz has been a head coach in the National Football League. You are the true leader of the coaching staff and the success and failures are riding on your shoulders because of your lack of accountability. Before you ask, no, I’ve never been a coordinator in the NFL but I know what slop he is putting on the field right now. As far as your offensive coordinator goes, just hire someone like Frank Reich so I can stop hearing how much of a god sent he was to your offense. Also, OPEN UP YOUR PLAYBOOK AND QUIT TRYING TO OUTCOACH YOURSELF. You just tied with the least winning program since 2016. Joe Burrow did not change the outlook on that team drastically enough for them to even be in the same conversation as you. Miles Sanders is a premier back in the NFL and you just faced one of the worst rush defenses in the league. The results, you ask? You abandoned him in some of the most crucial points in the game for a quarterback who has looked like a shadow of his former self and a running back who hasn’t been healthy since you won the Super Bowl….THREE YEARS AGO! Do you want me to believe that the game called for six straight pass plays and two consecutive three-and-out’s when you have an elite talent like Miles Sanders? We, as fans of the organization, are tired of this. Quit trying to prove you’re a smart coach and make the smart decisions. Quit trying to be right, just be smart.

Jim Schwartz. As the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles, FIX YOUR SCHEME. You’re running a wide nine defensive set that has no pressure from outside edge rushers. Oh, you had eight sacks today? I didn’t notice because we tied with one of the worst franchises in the league right now. Here we are though, three weeks into the season and your scheme has still yet to produce a turnover. Where is the flexibility? You’re not the lead dog of this team in Philadelphia. Be flexible and adaptable to what the front office is providing you. You want to rush four down linemen more than anyone in the league without an elite edge rusher. It’s crazy that the wide nine is supposed to generate pressure from the outside and make the quarterback climb the pocket into your tackles yet, all of your premier pass rushers are the middle of the defensive line. Can you not see that when the pocket collapses through the center of the line, you’re allowing the quarterback to roam left and right against edge rushers who can’t get off a block and linebackers who don’t have the speed or athleticism to keep up with Tom Brady in a foot race? Linebackers, please don’t get me started on how bad you scheme your linebackers either. We, as fans of the organization, are tired of this. Let your young guys play the game and see what we have. Your head should be on a stick, and Philly will make sure it is, for continuing to trot Nathan Gerry out every single week and allow him to give up play after play the way he does.

Finally, Carson Wentz. Stop. Just stop. Please. Yes, you have to clean up the turnovers, my man. STOP BEING SO SOFT. You’re allowing three bad, and I do mean bad, games define your 2020 season. Start grabbing your guys by the facemask and tell them to get it together or get off the field. As the on-field leader of the Philadelphia Eagles we look to you to guide us into the stardom that you are destined for. Also, look in the mirror, my guy. No, I don’t mean stand at a podium and say you have to clean it up and you’re going to either. You have overthrown more passes, put the ball on the ground, gave it away through the air and became more undisciplined than any young athlete on the field. Jalen Hurts isn’t going to take your spot any time soon. There is no quarterback controversy in Philadelphia, until you allow there to be. You’re opening the door for that at the moment though. Eagles fans trust you more than any QB I’ve seen in my lifetime. You think this skepticism is bad right now? Imagine being Donavan McNabb, getting booed by our fans on the happiest night of your football career before you even take a snap in the jersey. We, as fans of the organization, are tired of this. Be the leader that everyone knows you can be. Hold yourself accountable, hold your teammates accountable and make sure no one is complacent in their craft.

Lastly, the fans. We are all seeing the same things from this organization and the play on the field. Lax, melancholy, uninterested and downright lazy play by these players. I put a reply tweet out on Twitter and here are some of the replies:

“@folkloresimper: unwatchable football that I still feel the need to watch because a part of me still has hope they’ll somehow win.”

“@JustinEmeryShow: Totally apathetic, they’ve made me number to the season prior to October. I’ll be spending my Sundays exclusively with @ScottHanson moving forward.”

“@sugarfreeNJ: Major disappointment.”

As you can see, we are all feeling the same way. We, as fans of the organization, do not accept these failures and do not accept these defeats in the manner they are being defeated. So to this I challenge all of you (Jeffery Lurie, Howie Roseman, Doug Pederson, Jim Schwartz and Carson Wentz) to make these changes and right the ship. We will follow you and ride for you to the depths of the earth but we refuse to continue to vie for your position to continue on this team with the type of performances, and complacency, you have had since the 2017 Super Bowl season.

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