6 hours ago, Mike030270 said:

When Bill Belichick and the Patriots divorced in 2024, Sean Payton considered presenting Broncos owner Greg Penner a proposal for the ages: Hire Belichick as head coach until he reached 15 wins, enough to break Don Shula's career record of 347. Payton would temporarily step down to assistant head coach and run the offense, then move back after Belichick became the all-time leader. In the end, it was too complicated -- and maybe too fanciful.

3 hours ago, LeanMeanGM said:

This is such a BS "look at me” story. I’m not surprised considering it’s Sean Payton

It's even more of a cheap farce than a 'look at me' story. Of course, it's not surprising that it involved Payton and Belicheat. Brett Favre likely signed up to play QB for opposing teams so that he could fall down for Belicheat to get there too.

14 minutes ago, Vileborg said:

Yay, I get to not care about soccer for another 4 years. I figured they had a chance to at least advance to the next round but oh well.

Women's world cup is next year where we normally have far more success

11 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

It's been like this forever too, that's why all the outrage about the tush push is so stupid. It's a QB sneak, the eagles have been great at it forever. Most teams are successful when doing it. There is no world where they would ban a traditional QB sneak

1 hour ago, eagle45 said:

Ignore fit and how they'd fit into soccer. If you were to ranked the finest, most elite American athletes right now...how far down the list would you have to go before you got to Christian Pulisic? And then how much further would you continue to go to get to their second best soccer player?

What do you think the Spanish or Argentine soccer teams would look like if their 500 best athletes were not eligible? Would they even qualify for the WC?

Blame the cost structure of American youth soccer, colleges, cultural interest...the reality is that the talent just isn't going into the sport, despite the widespread participation of 5-9 year olds.

I'm not going to blame anyone other than the stupid rules for why soccer isn't more popular here. We have hands for a reason. Imagine going to see a doctor and he decided to do everything with his forehead and feet rather than his hands. Why eliminate the single greatest tool we have for 'entertainment'? It mimics 'stupid pet tricks' a bit too much. They make the net so big because its just that much harder to kick the ball accurately. Whereas sports with nets where you use your hands... the nets get much much smaller.
Soccer net - 24 feet x 8 feet.
Basketball hoop - 18 inch diameter
Hockey net - 6 feet x 4 feet
Lacrosse net - 6 feet x 6 feet

Sort says it all, doesn't it?

9 minutes ago, devpool said:

It's been like this forever too, that's why all the outrage about the tush push is so stupid. It's a QB sneak, the eagles have been great at it forever. Most teams are successful when doing it. There is no world where they would ban a traditional QB sneak

Imagine how the Ice Bowl game might have ended... without a QB sneak.

NFL is trying to fix a problem that only exists in their own minds.

Surprised at all the soccer talk. World cup is over. We can go back to ignoring it.

19 minutes ago, paco said:

Surprised at all the soccer talk. World cup is over. We can go back to ignoring it.

Not true. VARgentina is still playing.

2 hours ago, devpool said:

I think cost is a big part. Probably a third of America is cut out because people in the lower middle class and below can't afford it. Where do a lot of NFL and NBA players come from? Low income areas. That's why the sports are so great, there are so many rags to riches success stories because it's possible.

But your overall point is correct. Soccer just isn't popular here. In most of the best soccer countries, all they have is soccer. Look Canada (hockey), Japan (baseball) and Australia (rugby), whenever there's another choice of sport that sport is more popular than soccer.

Look at how successful women's soccer is here in America. That's because the only other path towards pro sports is the WNBA, so a lot of our most talented women play soccer while our most talented men play anything else.

Women's soccer is a popular sport but success on the world stage has to do with the implementation of Title IX and how that drove college athletics to create women's sports programs. College athletics drove the growth of women's sports and the competition at the collegiate level helped the US become much better at the sport than most other countries.

I mean it's pretty simple: the US has every major and minor sport, kids have lots of options. Some of these countries only have soccer. A lot of people joking with other countries on social media that soccer is a sport our children play until they grow up and decide to play a real sport.

Even college sports are more popular than professional soccer in the states. Some of our states are the size of entire other countries. We're a huge country with lots of options. If we cared enough we could put together better soccer teams but our best athletes play other sports.

On 7/6/2026 at 12:27 PM, RememberTheKoy said:

I'd rather Hunt start opposite of Greenard than Nolan.

My thoughts are this MFer can't count to 11.

33 minutes ago, Outlaw said:

My thoughts are this MFer can't count to 11.

There’s three kinds of people in the world. Those who can count, and those who can’t.

Life is really tough right now EMB.

Hit me with some optimism about the 2026 Philadelphia Eagles.

5 minutes ago, Iggles25 said:

Life is really tough right now EMB.

Hit me with some optimism about the 2026 Philadelphia Eagles.

we're running the Division back again. Eagles will be 12 - 5 at the very worst.

I wonder if we will be able to get any good sense of what the offensive scheme will be from preseason or if it will all be so generic and basic for preseason. I would think we are still at least going to see a lot of under center QB play and a lot of zone running.

10 minutes ago, Iggles25 said:

Life is really tough right now EMB.

Hit me with some optimism about the 2026 Philadelphia Eagles.

Top 3 team in the NFL. At worst, 2nd overall defense in the league. Maybe #1. And an offense that will be refreshing to watch, and start hitting is stride around the middle of the season. Ready for some blowout wins heading in to post-season.

Also, 6ers will be awesome to watch.

Also, better days always ahead. Hang in there. Click click symphony is a pretty cool new song about getting through tough times. Raye sings, with Hans Zimmer instrumentals. The song, and the music video is a trip.

Big Brother season starts tomorrow. Cast member named Lyric looks worth watching.

Fishtank Live does Big Brother better than Big Brother. Their edited episodes from the 24/7 live footage for season 2 and 3 are amazing.

48 minutes ago, Iggles25 said:

Life is really tough right now EMB.

Hit me with some optimism about the 2026 Philadelphia Eagles.

Kevin Patullo will not be coaching

7 hours ago, devpool said:

I think cost is a big part. Probably a third of America is cut out because people in the lower middle class and below can't afford it. Where do a lot of NFL and NBA players come from? Low income areas. That's why the sports are so great, there are so many rags to riches success stories because it's possible.

. Yet soccer is super popular in some of the poorest countries in the world. Soccer isn't a rich person's sport. That narrative won't work. The inner city kids choose to play football (which IS an expensive sport, if we are talking about helmets, pads, etc.), because it is a path out.... it is a way to be a hero in your community... its a way to prove you are tough. Same with basketball. Soccer isn't expensive. Soccer requires an open flat area to play in and a ball, nothing more than that, really.

Football and basketball are so great, because they are so great.

4 hours ago, Outlaw said:

My thoughts are this MFer can't count to 11.

What?! You never heard of a '12' personnel package?

6 hours ago, Iggles_Phan said:

. Yet soccer is super popular in some of the poorest countries in the world. Soccer isn't a rich person's sport. That narrative won't work. The inner city kids choose to play football (which IS an expensive sport, if we are talking about helmets, pads, etc.), because it is a path out.... it is a way to be a hero in your community... its a way to prove you are tough. Same with basketball. Soccer isn't expensive. Soccer requires an open flat area to play in and a ball, nothing more than that, really.

Football and basketball are so great, because they are so great.

Soccer is not cheap here, that's the whole discussion

Edit: what kid is buying their own helmet and pads for high school football?

21 hours ago, eagle45 said:

Another funny contrast for us Americans...

In my mediocre athletic career, I was always taught that footwork is important in maintaining proper body mechanics (be it pitching or edge rushing or running a route). But that was one small piece of the puzzle. The vast majority of our sports are all about eye-hand coordination. Soccer is, obviously, all about the feet.

At a young age, Americans are throwing, catching, swatting, putting bat on ball, stick on puck. Europeans, South Americans, and Africans are kicking. The developmental differences are that fundamental.

A hilarious thought experiment would be 11 on 11 random but fit 35 year old Americans versus European counterparts in flag football and then in soccer. Both matches would be absolute murder.

Depends on what part of Europe. Rugby Union is a Europe wide sport and Rugby League is more limited - league is a little more flag equivalent, so it would actually be an interesting comparison. The throwing part would be the issue, but its not exactly rocket science is it? NFL roster, you'd roll us over v v easily.

Mitchell at 6th is stupid. Shows how many executives, coaches, and scouts are actually stupid when it comes to football.

1 minute ago, HazletonEagle said:

Mitchell at 6th is stupid. Shows how many executives, coaches, and scouts are actually stupid when it comes to football.

I think it's that they don't want to give Howie too much credit. He drafted 2 All-Pro CBs in the same draft. Nobody does that, except Howie.

2 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Mitchell at 6th is stupid. Shows how many executives, coaches, and scouts are actually stupid when it comes to football.

Slay made it a little better and put him at 4th. And sounds like he is only down there because he needs to start catching the ball. Mina Kimes, of all people actually owned all the football guys and said Mitchell is already a top 3 corner.