Not Dead Yet

[time2rock]

Not Dead Yet

Posted: January 3rd, 2024 | Author: Tommy Lawlor 

Mark Twain is famous for saying "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” That came he apparently read his own obituary. Leave it to him to turn an awkward moment into an all-time great line. Maybe, just maybe, the reports of the Eagles 2023 season dying are a bit exaggerated.

One of the key talking points for some people recently has been that Nick Sirianni lost the team. The players don’t care for him. They don’t have his back. That was speculation and it appears to be wrong.

https://t.co/qhg3J43ep1

We know accountability is a huge part of the Eagles culture. AJ Brown going public to talk about the end of the Seattle game is interesting. He and Jalen ad-libbed. That didn’t work and Sirianni covered for him. In another clip AJ talked about one of the QB runs from Sunday. With one better block, it could have been a big play. We can debate whether it was a good call, but the execution wasn’t good enough.

AJ apologized to the team for not speaking to the media and how that affected them. That became a distraction for other players. I think AJ speaking to his teammates can have a effect on them.

If the players start to hold each other accountable, that can make a real difference. The last two losses came down to a handful of plays. Clean those up and you get back to winning games. I’m not telling you to start making Super Bowl plans, but hitting rock bottom may have gotten some guys to wake up. Maybe that will get players to have more of a sense of urgency and will lead to some good things.

The 2012 Ravens went 10-6 in the regular season. They won the Super Bowl despite losing 4 of the final 5 regular season games. I wouldn’t count on the Eagles repeating that performance, but it has been done.

The Eagles need to focus on playing good football. Live in the moment. Play to play, drive to drive, half to half. Let us on the outside think big picture. It is important for the players to be positive. They aren’t going to accomplish anything if they don’t believe in themselves. AJ still believes.

The vibe around this team feels better. That doesn’t guarantee anything, but I think AJ speaking did a lot of good.

Florida State had an amazing run under Bobby Bowden. They had 14 straight seasons where they finished in the Top 5 in the AP poll. Bowden talked about one of the downfalls of the program being that too many players started to believe putting on the jersey made them good and not the other way around. They expected to be good rather than working to be good.

I wonder if a lesser version of that happened to the Eagles. Players lost the edge they had last year. They expected to be good.

Maybe the Arizona loss will really wake up the players and help them to get back the edge they need.

I am really interested to see how things turn out. It will be a lot easier to go into the offseason if the team shows some life against the Giants and in the playoffs. A bad couple of games would lead to a long, tough offseason.

*****

We do know the Eagles have talent.

They had 6 Pro Bowl players and multiple alternates. I’ll save you the suspense…James Bradberry didn’t make it this year.

That Stoutland guy is pretty good. It is amazing to see how the OL has been a strength of the team since Andy Reid came to town in 1999. Juan Castillo was a good coach and then Howard Mudd put together some good lines. Stoutland has done an amazing job in his 11 years with the Eagles.

http://igglesblitz.com/2024/01/not-dead-yet/

[UK_EaglesFan89]

After 16 games this team is who it is. It’s a sloppy football team who has enough talent to sometimes get them out of the hole they dig. That’s what they are and what they have been all year so there’s no reason to think that’ll change.