Nick Piccone
Adrian touched on this in his Catching up with the Birds links post, but here are my thoughts on the idea that there’s less buzz – or even no buzz – for the Eagles this year.
If only one word could be used for this past offseason for the Eagles, it’d probably be crazy. Many things happened that have turned the team into a completely new direction after Jeffrey Lurie fired Chip Kelly and hired Doug Pederson. They traded Byron Maxwell, Kiko Alonso and DeMarco Murray, re-signed Sam Bradford, brought in Chase Daniel, moved up in the draft, twice, to draft their future franchise quarterback in Carson Wentz, and locked up Fletcher Cox, Malcolm Jenkins, Vinny Curry, Mychal Kendricks, Zach Ertz, Brent Celek and Lane Johnson. Those aren’t even all the moves they made, but the most important.
So, with all of the moves they have made, one would think the media and fans would be more interested in this year because the NFC East is such a crapshoot and the Eagles have seemed to improve their defense with the addition of Jim Schwartz as the defensive coordinator. I know for sure at least our audience would be totally invested in the upcoming football season, and there’s no reason to think The Linc won’t sell out every single game.
But when “only” 18,000 fans showed up at The Linc on Sunday for the first Eagles’ open practice, that opened up the opportunity for Last year, on a Sunday open practice, over 43,000 fans showed up. That was also a Military Appreciation Day.
So, people want to know what gives?
Well, first of all, the weather was not great. I know many people who stayed home and changed their plans because it was pouring when they woke up. It makes sense – is an Eagles training camp open practice really that important to make the trek when the weather looks bad? Probably not.
But, the rain ended before the practice began and it became a gloriously beautiful day. So, that led some people to question if people still care strongly about the Eagles as they have in the past.
One thing’s for sure: our pageviews indicate there is no shortage of Eagles interest throughout the year. Buuuut on a hot summer day when the weather looked iffy, I could see even the biggest Eagle fans sit this one out. Last year, the first Eagles open practice of training camp didn’t even get 18,000.
https://twitter.com/davespadaro/status/759927442014343168
Sure, it was a Wednesday, but wouldn’t more people be apt to be out of town during the summer on a Sunday than a Wednesday? The answer is probably.
Some might think Matt Lombardo asking that question is just a ploy to create a storyline because everything else surrounding the team has been covered in the offseason ad nauseum. Kind of pointing the finger at the fans, asking, “Why aren’t you here?” But, I get it. It gives people something to talk about while we wait for the first preseason game. Not many people have written or posted about Eagles preseason game attendance, and I don’t think they ever will. Because that doesn’t matter. Just like an open practice attendance figure doesn’t matter. And that’s fine.
The second open Eagles practice will be Sunday, August 14. It’ll be Military Appreciation Day. And I’m sure we’ll hear about the attendance again. But, interest in the Eagles hasn’t dropped off, it’s just taken a backseat for a moment. We’ve got Ben Simmons to look forward to. We’ve got Joel Embiid to look forward to. The Phillies are making some great moves and have a bright future, and the Flyers are in the same boat. All of these teams are on the upswing. There’s hope in Philly sports.
But just because there’s hope now for all four teams – and, hey, the Union are doing pretty damn good, too – doesn’t mean there’s zero buzz for the Eagles. It just means the fans will wait to voice their pleasures or displeasures when the time is right. And that time isn’t August 1.
Maybe, just maybe, fans this year will wait until after seeing games played to get hyped up. Can you blame them?