Just now, RememberTheKoy said:

 

Dak Prescott has it in the bag after that injury. 

Oh yeah, good point.

47 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Theres Wentz being a bad teammate again. Working out with his WRs in the offseason.

Gotta root for Carson this year to get the 1st round pick. 

McLane article finally hit the print edition.

What was weird was it wasn't that damning in terms of actual facts, but the slant was snarky, which of course, is McLane who obviously doesn't like Howie.

The coaches wanted Reagor over Jefferson, but it gets spun as Howie's preference, yet Howie also gets criticized for supporting draft picks with position coaches because he's defending his scouts? There's a bit of cognitive dissonance in the article.

Is Howie thin skinned? Yes, to a fault.

Did he listen to Cox, well, you find me a team where the star players don't have some influence, especially the ones who are highly competitive (i.e., not when they push their self-interest, "give me more touches"). The thing with Lane was badly handled, but Howie realized he FU'd, and worked to repair the damage. Outside of Wentz, who we now know is a bit of a head case (and I like the kid, but imagine Tom Brady giving a fig about who NE drafted), who wanted "out?"

Howie likes to talk one on one instead of getting into arguments in group meetings, McLane spins that as secrecy and a desire for control, but you could also see it as keeping lines of communication open, allowing subordinates to talk frankly without getting into trouble with their immediate supervisor. Probably some of both.

Howie interfering with game day personnel turns out to be Howie juggling the 53 man roster (i.e. who to call up, who to expose on waivers), which is the norm for any GM.

The Doug thing, well, they should have fired him after 2019, but come on, imagine the optics of firing a SB coach two years later after making the playoffs twice. Doug simply wasn't willing or able to handle the administrative duties of a HC.

 

The idea they hired Sirianni b/c they could control him, the same applied to most of the coaches hired, the only one with "pull" was Meyer. Smith, Saleh may have be "up and comers" but they lack the resume that would allow them to challenge a GM. The only HCs with that kind of power are Carroll, Payton and Belichick, SB winners with long track records of success. AR got that in Philly and realized he ran into the Peter Principle, and has pulled back in KC. All HCs have some influence over personnel, the more you win, the more pull you have.

I think they hired Sirianni because of Doug's inability to handle HC duties (developing a staff and managing the team, I think Doug would be happier as an OC, designing game plans and calling plays). Sirianni blew them away with his version of the "binder," and it's obvious he's been preparing to be a HC, took no time to put together a well regarded staff, combining rising young coaches and some experienced veteran coaches. Sirianni has far more hands on development experience, as does Gannon, preparing him to captain a rebuild, where a lot of time and energy needs to be spent on player development, not just game planning.

This doesn't mean Siri is guaranteed to succeed, rather he's much better suited to a rebuild than Doug.

 

30 minutes ago, RLC said:

Gotta root for Carson this year to get the 1st round pick. 

Need him to be good enough to keep him starting but not good enough to make playoffs. Hopefully 7-9 or 8-8. 

10 minutes ago, jwill2420 said:

Need him to be good enough to keep him starting but not good enough to make playoffs. Hopefully 7-9 or 8-8. 

Yup. I'm hoping for a good Colts offense and a bad Colts defense. The Colts have a lot of free agents on defense, so it's possible.

19 minutes ago, jwill2420 said:

Need him to be good enough to keep him starting but not good enough to make playoffs. Hopefully 7-9 or 8-8. 

It’s like threading a needle.

43 minutes ago, RLC said:

Yup. I'm hoping for a good Colts offense and a bad Colts defense. The Colts have a lot of free agents on defense, so it's possible.

Carson plays 75% and the Colts go 3-14  Eagles go 2-15.  Eagles trade the 6th pick to the Broncos for the 9th and 2022 1st and the Broncos go 1-16.   Eagles have top 3 picks in 2022.  

1 hour ago, jwill2420 said:

Need him to be good enough to keep him starting but not good enough to make playoffs. Hopefully 7-9 or 8-8. 

The terms were for the 2nd Round pick to become a 1st Round that he has to play 75% of the snaps or 70% of the snaps with the Colts making the playoffs.  He'd have to play 13 of 17 (remember, there's 17 games in 2021) to hit the 75% mark as that would give him enough snaps.  We'd want the Colts to be good enough to make the playoffs just in case he gets hurt late in the season and falls just short of 75% but still hits 70%, which would take about 12 games played.  Once he hits the 75% mark then nothing else matters, but until he does we need the Colts to be in the playoff hunt just in case. 

I don't understand why anyone would care for the Colts to miss the playoffs.  Wouldn't it be better if Wentz played well and the Colts did well so Howie would look like a bigger schmuck?  Most here want Howie gone so having the Wentz debacle blow up in his face would be another step to Lurie finally having to admit to himself that Howie needs to go.  It's going to take things like that happening where Howie and the organization look really incompetent/foolish for Lurie to fire his 'avatar'.

So for most Eagles fans:  Wentz and Colts do well = 1st Round pick plus possibly Howie getting fired. 

Guess I should word it like this:

Higher 1st Round Colts pick with Howie still making the picks

or

Lower 1st Round Colts pick with someone else making the picks

 

Should be some action today, no?

1 hour ago, Waiting4Someday said:

How much of jump do you think Carson needs to be comeback player of the year. From statistically near the bottom.. to top 12? That’s doable on a good roster and if he gets his mechanics right.

He can be top 12 if he decides not to tank games, but if the Colts draft a QB in round 2 or 4, he’s bottom 5. 

I think a lot has been noted about the intrigue of pick #6, but I am more interested in #37. I think it will be the telling piece of draft strategy. #6 should be BPA non-QB or a small trade back, if possible. #37 is about filling in the biggest needs...someone will fall out of the projected first round and be available. They must nail this pick.

What Wentz does in Indy will have no impact on Howie, everyone knows Wentz is talented but is also a head case. He was finished here in any case.

What will make or break Howie is Sirianni, the next two drafts and his skill in finding players on the waiver wire and raiding other teams' PS.

Put together a good young team by 2023 and Howie is here for the duration.

2 minutes ago, austinfan said:

What Wentz does in Indy will have no impact on Howie, everyone knows Wentz is talented but is also a head case. He was finished here in any case.

Perhaps. I certainly don't think Wentz going to Indy and balling out is going to help Howie. 

45 minutes ago, Green_Guinness said:

The terms were for the 2nd Round pick to become a 1st Round that he has to play 75% of the snaps or 70% of the snaps with the Colts making the playoffs.  He'd have to play 13 of 17 (remember, there's 17 games in 2021) to hit the 75% mark as that would give him enough snaps.  We'd want the Colts to be good enough to make the playoffs just in case he gets hurt late in the season and falls just short of 75% but still hits 70%, which would take about 12 games played.  Once he hits the 75% mark then nothing else matters, but until he does we need the Colts to be in the playoff hunt just in case. 

I don't understand why anyone would care for the Colts to miss the playoffs.  Wouldn't it be better if Wentz played well and the Colts did well so Howie would look like a bigger schmuck?  Most here want Howie gone so having the Wentz debacle blow up in his face would be another step to Lurie finally having to admit to himself that Howie needs to go.  It's going to take things like that happening where Howie and the organization look really incompetent/foolish for Lurie to fire his 'avatar'.

So for most Eagles fans:  Wentz and Colts do well = 1st Round pick plus possibly Howie getting fired. 

Guess I should word it like this:

Higher 1st Round Colts pick with Howie still making the picks

or

Lower 1st Round Colts pick with someone else making the picks

 

I see your case but Howie isn’t going anywhere. Lurie is blinded by this guy. The Eagles would have to be really bad the next 2 seasons. I dont/can’t wait for that. I hope Howie redeems himself and the Eagles win now. I don’t care who looks good or bad just get it done. 

19 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Perhaps. I certainly don't think Wentz going to Indy and balling out is going to help Howie. 

Maybe, if the following wasn't the case:

- Multiple sources stated that Wentz basically requested to be traded if he wasn't the starter.

- The Eagles let Pederson go and hired a new coaching staff but Wentz still apparently wanted "out".

 

The chances the Eagles would have traded Wentz on their own (with the massive dead cap hits involved) was next to zero, imo  Then add the fan backlash, etc....I highly doubt the Eagles were even thinking about trading Wentz until he (more than likely) let them know he wanted "out".  So I'm not sure how any level headed fan can put this trade on the Eagles.  

 

 

Just now, Ace Nova said:

Multiple sources stated that Wentz basically requested to be traded if he wasn't the starter.

- The Eagles let Pederson go and hired a new coaching staff but Wentz still apparently wanted "out".

Oh I don't dispute that. I think Wentz did want to go. The thing there is... Why did Wentz want to go? And the answer to that leads back to Howie. 

38 minutes ago, aptosbird said:

I think a lot has been noted about the intrigue of pick #6, but I am more interested in #37. I think it will be the telling piece of draft strategy. #6 should be BPA non-QB or a small trade back, if possible. #37 is about filling in the biggest needs...someone will fall out of the projected first round and be available. They must nail this pick.

If the Eagles go in anyother direction besides WR/TE at 6 the second pick needs to be a pass catcher. We have little to no talent with an Average RB and who knows what with Hurts. 
 

Tylan Wallace has my interest at 37...

1 minute ago, jwill2420 said:

I see your case but Howie isn’t going anywhere. Lurie is blinded by this guy. The Eagles would have to be really bad the next 2 seasons. I dont/can’t wait for that. I hope Howie redeems himself and the Eagles win now. I don’t care who looks good or bad just get it done. 

Many here would like to see Howie go, but one could say the reality is Lurie has become the biggest issue of his team/organization and Howie is his conduit and errand boy to do his bidding.  So, yeah, Howie isn't going anywhere unless things get that bad or Lurie decides it's better to be less hands-on.

We're going to see if Howie can turn it around for a 3rd time.  We can only hope they are all learning from their mistakes. 

 

 

6 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

 

Howie is doing the right thing. (Yes, there's a comment about clocks coming).

1 hour ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Oh I don't dispute that. I think Wentz did want to go. The thing there is... Why did Wentz want to go? And the answer to that leads back to Howie. 

I'm sure most in the Wentz camp would think that's the reason and it's easy to make Howie the scapegoat. 

The reality is that Wentz just wasn't "there" during the 2020 season and it resulted in his worst career year and him getting benched.  He then (supposedly) tells the team he wants "out".  

Had Wentz had a down but still "ok"  year, wasn't benched and the Eagle missed the playoffs, etc....and then he still requested a trade, then one could suspect that the reason is his relationship with the FO.  But that's not what happened.   If anything, Wentz being silent on the issue makes sense because there's no way he could point blame at the F.O. after the year he had and after the way everything played out.  

 

I'll be rooting for Colts and Wentz to do well and it's not because of the pick 🤷‍♂️

I'll never understand the hate

Meanwhile we'll probably be at the bottom again

The Colts have a real offense; the variable between getting the 1st round pick vs 2nd will be Wentz’s health, not ability.  I don’t see Reich or Ballard being stupid enough to waste their #53 pick to bring in another QB.  Wentz won’t be as accurate as Philip Rivers was, but he’ll be more prolific in the offense.

I’m curious to see if Howie will be able to get a 2022 1st round pick in exchange for #6.  Having three 1st round picks in the 2022 draft, where there will be a return to the full vesting and evaluation process for the draft class, would be really big toward a quicker turnaround.

9 minutes ago, Mike030270 said:

I'll be rooting for Colts and Wentz to do well and it's not because of the pick 🤷‍♂️

I'll never understand the hate

Meanwhile we'll probably be at the bottom again

You don’t quit on your brothers. I wouldn’t call it hate but he has pissed a lot of players and fans off. 

11 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

 

Makes sense. 

I wonder why some people assumed they would release him?   Other than this past season, Ertz was a top 3 NFL TE for the better part of the last 5+ years.  He's still under contract so the logical move would be a trade, imo.   And I'm sure the Eagles and Ertz will work something out in regards to possible trade destinations, etc.