2 hours ago, EaglePhan1986 said:

The OL got better and I didn’t notice a drop off at all from Kelce to Jurgens

lolwut? Kelce made first team all-pro in '23. If you didn't notice a drop off from him to Jurgens, you haven't been watching Eagles games. No disrespect to Cam, but Kelce was still the best center in the league when he retired.

2 hours ago, EaglePhan1986 said:

It’s called speculation for a reason.

2023 - the whole team, including the offense, completely collapsed

After 2023 season - Kelce retired

2024 season - Super Bowl champs

Yeah man, I'm sure that had nothing to do with the transformation of a 31st ranked defense into the 1st ranked defense. You're making a super strong case backing up these hot takes of yours.

2 hours ago, EaglePhan1986 said:

Well it’s interesting that when Kelce left, the offense didn’t fall off at all. The OL got better and I didn’t notice a drop off at all from Kelce to Jurgens. Obviously you have to take into consideration that Jurgens is also a very good center, Bechton was an upgrade at RG, and a stud like Barkley will make any offense better.

But when Dawkins left, the Eagles defense, specifically the secondary, took a step back. Dawk only had one good year in Denver before his body quit on him, so it was the right move.

That being said, I think Dawkins was the more valuable player to this team. On the field, and in the locker room.

Total speculation, but I’m guessing some players in the Eagles locker room found Kelce to be annoying and his antics tiresome. It could have played a role in the 2023 cliff dive.

I'd look to collapse of the defense before besmirching a HOF center.

Oof

2 hours ago, EaglePhan1986 said:

It’s called speculation for a reason.

2023 - the whole team, including the offense, completely collapsed

After 2023 season - Kelce retired

2024 season - Super Bowl champs

Why not blame Cox? The defensive collapse was epic when compared to the offense.

12 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

Why not blame Cox? The defensive collapse was epic when compared to the offense.

My belief was that failures in coaching had more to do with the collapse than the players. The brutal, unforgiving schedule in the last six games was a known hurdle from the time of training camp, but the coaches were totally unprepared for it. Things went from bad to worse when Patricia replaced Desai.

3 minutes ago, mattwill said:

My belief was that failures in coaching had more to do with the collapse than the players. The brutal, unforgiving schedule in the last six games was a known hurdle from the time of training camp, but the coaches were totally unprepared for it. Things went from bad to worse when Patricia replaced Desai.

Domino effect....the collapse in '23 allowed them to be in position to draft Q and Dejean which definitely helped get them the Super Bowl in '24......I'm ok with that! :)

14 hours ago, BigEFly said:

It’s for charity. Why **** about it. It’s at a bar. I have no issue with Jason capitalizing while he can (especially with Kylie in tow). More power to them both. I also have no issue with Travis showing up in Nashville with his less pretty GF for TE University (hope Goedert attends). My hope is maybe she remembers her country roots while there. (Anything to help me escape Lainey Wilson).

Yeah, this.

Was the event a little wild and over the top? Sure. But it was all in good fun and was a really good atmosphere.

Somehow was both crazy and yet almost everyone there was being really cool. Positive vibe all around.

Kelce's performance on the field was great. I'm not going to get into the reasons for the 2023 collapse, we talked about it at length then (defense, coaching, turnovers, SB hangover, etc.). Kelce was not at blame for that, I'll leave it there as my opinion.

Lane Johnson was on Rich Eisen's show and asked about Kelce. He said "strike while the iron's hot." Jason clearly has ADHD and needs a lot of variety and new things to keep his attention (and he keeps losing things, even his SB ring). A lot of players focus on their post-football career while they're still playing, to have plans to continue to make money. They learn from watching what other players are doing. Players have podcasts, do guest appearances on TV shows. You'll even see current players that their team is not in the playoffs go on to give analysis about playoff coverage.

I think there is some Kelce fatigue in that when you see someone everywhere it can become too much for some people, while others love it and want more. It can be subjective. (I feel that way about McCoy and Jackson who are STILL talking about their experience with Chip Kelly. Just move on.)

The Kelces do a lot of charity work especially with the Eagles Autism Foundation. The Christmas albums profits went to charity. I think Jason likes to do new creative projects to stay interested. He's indeed striking while the iron's hot and taking advantage of opportunities. Sometimes less is more and you leave them wanting more. But he tested the waters with things at first and then immediately after retiring he was being offered things to do. As long as people show up - like to their wrestling live event they did - and they're making money, they'll keep doing things. At some point it will fizzle out, or he'll settle into something more routine like being on ESPN, doing charity events, and maybe some other things here and there.

There are other athletes that have multiple things going that set a model for other players. Shannon Sharpe went from analyzing football, to debating other TV talking heads about all sports and now has a very popular podcast where he interviews celebrities, mostly black entertainment culture. He's moved beyond sports. Shaq has been in movies, put on stand-up comedy specials, made a rap album, has done many commercials, has a line of Big & Tall clothing and I was in the grocery store and saw recently that he has a line of sour gummy candy. Seriously. Nick Foles became a Pickle ball champion, has a clothing brand "DAD SZN." People are going to take advantage of opportunities to do new things and find new ways to make money. And people will have opinions of whether they like it or not, but you can always tune out and not watch or spend money on them.

4 hours ago, EaglePhan1986 said:

Well it’s interesting that when Kelce left, the offense didn’t fall off at all. The OL got better and I didn’t notice a drop off at all from Kelce to Jurgens. Obviously you have to take into consideration that Jurgens is also a very good center, Bechton was an upgrade at RG, and a stud like Barkley will make any offense better.

But when Dawkins left, the Eagles defense, specifically the secondary, took a step back. Dawk only had one good year in Denver before his body quit on him, so it was the right move.

That being said, I think Dawkins was the more valuable player to this team. On the field, and in the locker room.

Total speculation, but I’m guessing some players in the Eagles locker room found Kelce to be annoying and his antics tiresome. It could have played a role in the 2023 cliff dive.

This is a take, I guess.

The situations were so completely different. The only correlation here is that they both left the Eagles, and other players took over their spots.

Dawkins did not retire. He was not resigned because the Broncos backed up the truck for him, and that was too rich a contract for the Eagles to match, especially for a player in decline. They did not necessarily have a backup plan for him, but thought they could fill the void with Quintin Demps or Macho Harris. They brought in Sean Jones to be a bridge player, hoping that one of them would take over. They all unfortantely sucked.

Kelce helped handpick his successor in Jurgens, as he sat in film study of centers with the scouting team. Jurgens sat on the bench for the first year, played guard his second year, and then took over at center last year when Kelce finally retired. He had the opportunity to train behind a great center, who helped him take over.

That is why there was less of a drop off from Kelce to Jurgens versus Dawkins and the trio of misfits.

2 hours ago, we_gotta_believe said:

Yeah man, I'm sure that had nothing to do with the transformation of a 31st ranked defense into the 1st ranked defense. You're making a super strong case backing up these hot takes of yours.

So what that means is that Kelce was holding the defense back.

We all know the real reason for the 2023 collapse:

Big Dom banned from the sidelines. 😄

Remember when people in here were pissy after Jason smashed the phone of some kid who was harassing him at Penn State . Some losers have always been reaching for reasons to not like like the guy. It's bizarre.

4 hours ago, we_gotta_believe said:

At least he was an actual player. Dom's whole shtick where he's been trying to cash in on his 15 minutes is even worse considering he never played or coached.

Yea, he started off as a funny meme but now that he’s doing "limited edition socks” it’s just getting weird

How many Eagles?

Hurts, Barkley, Brown, Johnson, Carter, Baun.

Maybe Smith or Mailata. Too early for Q or DeJean.

5 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

How many Eagles?

Hurts, Barkley, Brown, Johnson, Carter, Baun.

Maybe Smith or Mailata. Too early for Q or DeJean.

Dickerson could be in the conversation too. Probably won't make it but for me he's a "maybe"

10 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

How many Eagles?

Hurts, Barkley, Brown, Johnson, Carter, Baun.

Maybe Smith or Mailata. Too early for Q or DeJean.

Biased but I don't see how Q doesn't get listed. The number of top WRs he covered and did well against should have got him in the top 100

4 hours ago, we_gotta_believe said:

At least he was an actual player. Dom's whole shtick where he's been trying to cash in on his 15 minutes is even worse considering he never played or coached.

Dom is an integral part of the Eagles. He will forever be a hero for driving to get Lane. I think he is the kind of person that people can unload their troubles to.

19 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Yea, he started off as a funny meme but now that he’s doing "limited edition socks” it’s just getting weird

He's just trying to help Lurie bring in some extra money, as we all know Lurie is terribly cash strapped.

5 minutes ago, Mike030270 said:

Biased but I don't see how Q doesn't get listed. The number of top WRs he covered and did well against should have got him in the top 100

Same reason rookies rarely make All Pro. It's biased towards veterans who have done it at a high level over multiple seasons. For better or worse.

26 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Yea, he started off as a funny meme but now that he’s doing "limited edition socks” it’s just getting weird

Pete Davidson reached out to Big Dom. Davidson is the creative director for the company that sells them. Wouldn’t be surprised to see that Big Dom is giving to charity just like Stout with his gear. If you look at the socks, they mostly have Italian flags and colors on them.

Not a huge fan of Kempski’s reporting

but this play on Seuss had me retorting.

It brought out loud a chuckle or two

And Goodell you will note, this Bird is for you.

9 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

Not a huge fan of Kempski’s reporting

but this play on Seuss had me retorting.

It brought out loud a chuckle or two

And Goodell you will note, this Bird is for you.

"Until Hurts found a crease through which he could squirt."

21 hours ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Pretty soon AI will tell us who won the Super Bowl.

About 3 weeks and some change away from Camp starting, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens with the 2nd round mess and Mukuba. It would be concerning if that situation keeps him out of camp and puts him behind the 8 ball for the season.