A certain
co-host of mine likes to often point out the fact that I made very bold
predictions about Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo that came crashing to the
ground week 17 while conveniently forgetting he picked the Philadelphia Eagles
to win the Super Bowl this year. All kidding aside, the Eagles were a popular
pick to at the very least win the NFC East and possibly represent the NFC in
the Super Bowl. After 2011’s off-season splurge that resulted in cornerbacks
Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, a hefty new contract for
Michael Vick (we’ll get into that soon), and a load of expectations that led to
this bomb by back-up quarterback Vince Young, a super bowl-or-bust attitude surrounded the Philadelphia.
It didn’t
take long to realize the “dream team” reference was one of the worst things
that happened in the 2011-2012 season. The expectations were too much and the
Eagles got off to an atrocious start, only to finish equally as hot and
narrowly miss the playoffs at 8-8. This team has the talent, but injuries and
inconsistent play led to a terrible 4-12 season this past fall. Let’s dig deeper into the
problems and find some solutions.
The Eagles
defense is loaded with talent at some fronts and thin at others. Dominique
Rodgers-Cromartie was playing with a very reasonable contract but had a
terrible year, posting a -7.1 season ranking him fifth worst for all potential
free agent cornerbacks according to ProFootballFocus.com. Nnamdi Asomugha signed a five year, $60 million dollar
contract and has not lived up to the hype at all. Neither Rodgers-Cromartie or
Asomugha have been described as worlds-class tacklers, but their tackling is
poor in every way and Asomugha can't cover anybody anymore.
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| Players had a hard time adjusting to Juan Castillo's defense. |
Scheme was
a big issue in Philly, where former coach Andy Reid hired then-offensive line
coach Juan Castillo as defensive coordinator. Castillo continued running a wide-9
scheme, which has defensive ends lining up a foot outside the offensive tackles
outside shoulder to pin their ears back and get to the quarterback. Wide-9 puts
a lot of pressure on the linebackers and safeties and asks for a lot of zone
coverage and turnovers… basically all of the Eagles weaknesses in one scheme
(especially after trading Asante Samuel. Knowing what I do now about the wide-9
scheme, I’m almost speechless the Eagles traded the best ball-hawking corner in
the NFL). It was a disaster. Despite ranking ninth and 15th in passing and total defense
respectively, the Eagles ranked 29th in points allowed per game. How does a
team that’s giving up 343 yards per game also give up 28 points per game?
Giving up the big play. No one seemed comfortable in the wide-9 scheme to say
the least, and although the Eagles struggled to produce turnovers after
Castillo was fired week six, the coverage in the secondary definitely improved.
The Eagles
offense is a hot mess. You’ve got the star names in Deseasn Jackson, Jeremy
Maclin, Lesean McCoy, and Michael Vick. Brent Celek is a really good tight end
and Jason Avant, Damaris Thomas, and Riley Cooper are nice role players. Bryce
Brown filled in nicely for an injured Lesean McCoy, but desperately needs to
work on his ball security before he finds himself jobless. It doesn’t matter
who you are (unless it’s Tiki Barber), fumblers don’t last in this league.
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| Is it the Nick Foles era in Philadelphia? |
Having
good position players is definitely a plus, but the two most important
positions on the field were frazzled all season. Quarterback Michael Vick only
played in ten games due to rib and head injuries. Nick Foles was a
third round pick in last year’s draft and has the size and arm to be an NFL quarterback,
but his field vision and decision making are both questionable. In the seven
games he appeared (six starts), Foles was average, which isn’t a bad thing for
a guy supposed to be a project. Foles threw for six touchdowns, five
interceptions, and boasted a 60 percent completion percentage. Releasing Vick
would free up an extra $12.7 million in cap space according to the Huffington
Post and seems like the right choice at this time. Vick is a dynamic playmaker
with a huge arm and wide receiver-like speed but too often seems to fail to
read defenses and has injury concerns. The Vick era was interesting and fun
(My personal favorite is the 88 yard dime to DeSean Jackson to start the Monday Night Football game in Washington) but I would say the Bills and Jets are his two most likely
destinations. Releasing Vick would also free up money to extend Jeremy Maclin,
who is a free agent after this season and deserves more than the three
million/season he’s making now.
The
offensive line was bad too, but I’m really optimistic of their future. Most of
the bad play was a result of numerous injuries, forcing back-ups to play and
starters to play out of position. Guard Evan Mathis finally lived up- to his
first round hype, playing his first full season in his career. Mathis was
listed on the all NFC East Pro Football Focus team. King Dunlap played a solid
left tackle this season, recording a +7.1 rating in 838 snaps according to PFF.
Dunlap is a free agent, and with Jason Peters coming back after missing the season with a torn Achilles, you can let Dunlap
walk. Todd Herremans will also be back. Herremans can play guard and tackle,
and I would start him at right tackle and let former first round pick Danny Watkins
take over for Jake Scott at right guard, who is also a free agent. Now, a
Peters-Mathis-Dallas Reynolds-Watkins-Herremans offensive line is something
that can produce. The key is health, which you can never predict.
There seem
to be only a select few people who don’t feel drafting Texas A&M tackle
Luke Joeckel is a must (I’m one of them), but when you look at the board, where
else would you go? At four, drafting a quarterback just seems like a waste and
drafting a safety, cornerback, or linebacker would be a reach. Drafting Joeckel
would likely move Herremans back to right guard and at the very least would be
insurance for Peters. Joeckel, in my opinion, is every bit as good as Matt
Kalil. Ideally, Philadelphia would trade back to the middle of the first round (Miami
at 12, St. Louis at 16?) where they could gain more picks and get better value
by taking a linebacker like Manti Te’o, Kevin Minter, or Alec Ogletree to play alongside DeMeco Ryans.
They also
have the third pick in the second round and I would look safety there, maybe
someone like Oklahoma
 |
The Eagles made a mistake keeping Dominique Rodgers-
Cromartie and trading Asante Samels to the Falcons.
|
Dominique
Rodgers-Cromartie is a free agent. DRC was playing for a very reasonable three
million per year in his time in Philly and will probably look for something
closer to five million on the open market. I’m not against Philadelphia
Finally,
the Eagles are looking for a new coach. To me, you can’t go wrong with an
offensive or defensive minded coach. It’s important to develop Nick Foles but
it’s almost equally important to develop a young defensive line and get as much out of the secondary as possible. I really like the idea of Ken Wisenhunt
and even Brian Kelly, but my personal favorites are Seahawks defensive coordinator
Gus Bradley and 49ers defensive line coach Jim Tomsula. Both are brilliant
defensive minds who know how to shape out a roster and are no-nonsense, no
excuses type guys. Nabbing Bradley from Seattle
Quite
frankly, I’m not optimistic of a Nick Foles-led future. I think Foles’ ceiling
is no higher than that of Josh Freeman or Ryan Fitzpatrick. I’d give Foles this
season to prove me and other doubters wrong and if he doesn’t you have to
invest in a guy you know can lead you to that ever-elusive super bowl. The
talent is there, but like we’re seeing in the playoffs, if you don’t have that
big-play quarterback, it doesn’t matter. LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson are
great talents, but they can only do so much. Vince Young claimed the Eagles
were the dream team, and Mike Vick said this team has the pieces to be adynasty...
We're still waiting.
--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella
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