Tony Cutillo
Once upon a time we had reason to believe we would be competitive and had a positive outlook for many years to come. Chip Kelly did his best impression of a meat factory worker and completely butchered a Philadelphia Eagles team that took a few years to build with some really good talent. I, for one, have to admit I welcomed the Kelly hire with open arms. After the many years of the vanilla Andy Reid era, I was ecstatic that Philly would be the stomping grounds for an innovative system that was sure to keep the fans pleased. Boy, was I wrong!
Kelly’s tenure started out strong with the media, but he had some of us scratching our heads when he made a special stop to WIP’s Wing Bowl to address the Philly faithful for the first time with a symbolic, “Yo Philly!” exclamation. Really? A guy who changed the college football scene and was being labeled as the next great mind to enter the NFL could only come up with a two-word line at such a ceremonious moment? That was just the first weird moment in a series of many that would conclude with every Eagles fan questioning what they bought into.
We bashed him in his second season for his talent evaluations and brought into question if his feud with Howie Roseman in the front office was more of an issue than what was on the surface. At the end of the day, isn’t Roseman a true part of what is wrong with this team? This is a guy who was supplanted in his role as general manager, then reappointed after Jeffrey Lurie had enough of Kelly, banishing him from the organization. Roseman, firmly back as the team’s GM, carried a claim to fame for his offseason prowess. While I thought the move to go up and get Carson Wentz was spectacular, the rest of his juggling still has me puzzled. As I waved goodbye to Kiko Alonso and Byron Maxwell, I still stood by my stance that DeMarco Murray needed to stay here. On top of all the trades, what about the excess spending of Wentz’s protection money? When you draft a kid who is projected to be the cornerstone of your franchise for many years to come, shouldn’t your first priority be to invest in his protection? Obviously anyone can buy a quick APA cameo, but to methodically draft and sign a line of protection that will stand for years to come takes a certain percentage of common sense; a percentage Roseman obviously doesn’t have.
On top of all the management fumbles, we now come to the head coach in Doug Pederson. When Pederson was hired, some of us found some way to make an excuse for how the process worked. Who else was out there? Isn’t Tom Coughlin too old? Shouldn’t Andy Reid 2.0 be a perfect fit? Well that time has passed and we now have the ultimate corporate mouthpiece and proverbial puppet who wears a snazzy visor. He is a guy who will repeatedly line up behind Lurie and Roseman to echo their direction. His vision is their vision.
Wake up, people! It isn’t cute or adorable for all three of the Eagles’ brass to be in conjunction with one another. Instead, it is a complete embarrassment of what this team’s front office has become. Wasn’t this week’s game a scary reminder of how we felt last year when the team quit on Kelly? When players, including the rookie quarterback, start to question the coach’s decision-making process, there usually is more to come.
One thing in this whole adventure is painfully obvious: Pederson is not head coach material and it is hard to envision him conforming to the role in the future. For all the critics out there who say he is a first year coach who needs time, I ask the question When does common sense play into your decision? When you have a rookie quarterback behind a questionable offensive line with zero talent at the wide receiver position, and continue to go beyond your self-imposed logic of 40 pass attempts per game, then there is going to be skepticism. This is just one of the questionable decisions that make you wonder what is going on in the mind of our head coach? To that point, this is a common sense move, not a football move. In laymen’s terms, it’s a move most of all know to be counterproductive. So why doesn’t Pederson?
The future outlook beyond Wentz is very concerning and is becoming a nightmare. Your defensive line is locked up for years, and on top of their lack of production, could hinder your ability to add pieces to the team that are far more needed. All of this, and then guys like Malcom Jenkins will be on the downside of their career when the team’s ready to compete. We haven’t even mentioned that our long-term solution to right tackle is a dumb decision away from being out of football for at least two years … probably forever. Is that $60 million you would like to invest?
I am a die-hard Eagles fan and will continue to bleed green. However, I also owe it to myself and my audience to open up my mind as a realist. Most of what I hear is a constant excuse of expectations, but our eyes still do not lie. Sure, we didn’t expect to compete in 2016, but we still were expected to show up!