1 minute ago, Ace Nova said:

 

Duh that’s what makes them the most complete team in the nfc

2 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Seattle?

Yeah second half of the year they began reverting to what they have always done which is not trusting Wilson with his arm for whatever reason. First 8 games they were pass happy when Wilson looked like an mvp. 

i guess shouldn’t have said at all cost they want to run the ball 

23 minutes ago, bbabraham said:

You're jumping in the middle of a discussion that goes back and forth a few times. Again... I completely disagree with the strategy. The "they" is whoever decided on it. Knowing the Eagles, it was probably collective. Judging by Doug's decisions on playing older players throughout the season, it sure looks like he was on board with it.

Look I wanted Howie fired as GM as my number 1 change for the season. But I disagreed with the premise (or at least insinuation) that he didn't know what he was doing with the cap. He knew exactly what he was doing. I can want a guy fired from his current role but still acknowledge the things he does well. People tend to lose that objectivity and suddenly become blind to what someone is actually good at because it doesn't fit their narrative of wanting him removed. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

No, they are 100% connected.  Executing a terrible strategy that Howie came up with means he's not great with the cap.  There are ways to rely on older players, without hamstringing the organization for the entire future.  He thought that he could kick the can indefinitely, because the cap would just go up and up and up.  He was spending over his means, he was pushing his credit card balance onto other CCs, he was doing everything that a bad economist would do to get out of debt.  He needed to sit Doug down and tell him that he couldn't afford to keep all these vets... or better yet, identify GOOD YOUNG TALENT in the draft.

 

But, I will remind you (since you apparently weren't here when I laid this out before...) there is more than one way to rely on older players... pre-2017, Howie brought in vets to fill in holes on the roster. Patrick Robinson - 1 year, $1M salary.  Chris Long - 2 years, $6M total.  Torry Holt - 1 year $5M.  Alshon Jeffery - 1 year $9M.  LaGarrette Blount 1 year,$1.2M.  That was 'prudent', because if they failed, there was minimal impact in the future years.   But, post-2017, they have hitched their wagon to the likes of Malik Jackson ($13M next year, on the team, over $12M off it), Brandon Graham (whom I love, but whom they needed to approach with a MODEST contract, not what he has now, which is a $17M cap hit on the team, with $12M dead in 2022)... Alshon's restructure (not necessary), Desean's renegotiation after the trade (not necessary).  See, you said he was handling the cap well, when the reality is he was spending like a drunk sailor in port... rather than a frugal businessman that recognized that he had to LOWER cap hits for more fragile players that were likely on their downside.  

 

Had Howie continued to bring in cheap vets, leveraging the Super Bowl status, chance for a repeat, chance to be part of something special here... he wouldn't have dug this huge hole.  But, he gave out huge contract after huge contract.  And he didn't play hardball with any of these guys.  Brandon Graham was in tears after 2018, thinking he'd played his last game here.  And likely he should have... but Howie swept in with big money.  That was stupid... let Graham sweat it out a little, tell him you'd like to hear what his best offer is, and you will see what you can do... but he didn't.  He signed him BEFORE free agency even started.  Just foolish.  Howie gave out a HUGE extension to Brandon Brooks, while he was still very much under contract... but made him the highest paid OG in the NFL.  But, there was no reason for him to do that.  He did the same thing with Lane Johnson at the end of the 2019 season... Johnson's contract wouldn't have ended until after 2021.  But, he needed the money for those two pushed into the future to pay for vets like Jackson and Jackson who have offered nearly nothing to this team.

 

Oh well... Howie executed a great plan.  But, he should have been executed as a result of this job he's done.  He dug this whole.  And as the GM, the buck stops with him.  He can try to put it all on Doug, but that's a cop out.  If he's the GM, then he needs to take responsibility for the decisions that HE made.  He was the contract negotiator, and he painted this team into this corner.  Bad player identification, bad contract structures, bad drafting, bad help in building a coaching staff.  Sadly, he's really good at aligning himself with Lurie, and so he seems to be untouchable.  

This is good news...

 

17 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Comes from an organization that wants to run the ball at all costs 

Except for when it could win you a Super Bowl...

7 minutes ago, Ace Nova said:

 

Let’s see if his arm holds up long enough to shake Drew Brees’ hand, because I seriously doubt they’re winning in New Orleans this weekend 

17 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

I guess.  But I wouldn’t say they were ever a "run at all costs”.  We even had more runs than they did.   And our HC was pass happy.  

Yeah i edited shouldn’t have said at all cost. But they want to run the ball. The first 8 games wilson was averaging 40 pass attempts per game. Second half of the season 33 passing attempts. And really the second half is skewed due to the giants game where he had 50 passing plays cause they were down double digits in the 4th. otherwise it’s down around 31 

15 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Except for when it could win you a Super Bowl...

Right? like the one time they should give it to lynch they don’t. 

The most exciting news of the offseason is the Cowboys hiring one of the league’s worst defensive coordinators who runs a scheme that has been solved.

16 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

"They can’t all be pro bowlers” has been echoed around Eagles messages boards for years.

They can’t all not be pro bowlers either.  

Yup... it would be nice if 1 was.  Maybe even 2.. that would be nuts.

1 minute ago, Alphagrand said:

Let’s see if his arm holds up long enough to shake Drew Brees’ hand, because I seriously doubt they’re winning in New Orleans this weekend 

Idk.  New Orleans hasn't looked that "great" imo.  We shall see.

4 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

The life blood of a good organization is the draft.  Plain and simple.  You suck at that, all other aspects will suffer eventually.  

Absolutely.   And when you couple that with not having a clue which players to fill in the gaps where you've failed in the draft... then you sink even faster. 

24 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I am looking forward to Howie's post-draft PC more than the draft.

I mean the first night will be over so quickly unless they trade down a bunch.  The smugness in the press conference will be so endearing that maybe I’ll even fantasize a few minutes that he picked good players. 

14 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Well that’s been proven to be false lol

Howie and Jeff are having an affair

My favorite post player leaving rumor was in the early 2000s when Clarke traded Brindamour for Primeau.  The rumor was that it was because Lindros had an affair with Brindamour’s wife. 
 

6 minutes ago, Ace Nova said:

Idk.  New Orleans hasn't looked that "great" imo.  We shall see.

I think New Orleans offense’s problem is that they haven’t had brees, Thomas, sanders and kamara all out there this year for more than 6-7 games and really it none have been recent until last week. Add on brees isn’t what he once was. 

1 minute ago, NCiggles said:

I mean the first night will be over so quickly unless they trade down a bunch.  The smugness in the press conference will be so endearing that maybe I’ll even fantasize a few minutes that he picked good players. 

My favorite post player leaving rumor was in the early 2000s when Clarke traded Brindamour for Primeau.  The rumor was that it was because Lindros had an affair with Brindamour’s wife. 
 

Wasnt there a rumor that lindros was also gay like way later?

2 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

I think New Orleans offense’s problem is that they haven’t had brees, Thomas, sanders and kamara all out there this year for more than 6-7 games and really it none have been recent until last week. Add on brees isn’t what he once was. 

The last meeting was 31-0 Saints at the half.  I don’t trust Arians or Bowles to make the necessary adjustments.  Just a bad matchup for them.

Just now, Alphagrand said:

The last meeting was 31-0 Saints at the half.  I don’t trust Arians or Bowles to make the necessary adjustments.  Just a bad matchup for them.

I think it’s likely closer this week. I still take the Saints. I think top to bottom they are the better team. I just think their offensive struggles stem from lack of continuity with all those guys on the field together. Felt like last week was the first time they had Thomas, brees, sanders and kamara on the field together since like week 10

8 hours ago, schuy7 said:

Applies to the Eagles as well of course:

 

Guess we have to hope the Bills lose this Sunday so we can get our man Brian in for an interview sooner rather then later. 

3 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

I never heard that.  But I have a story about Kordell Stewart.   Back when I was the Exec Chef/Food and Bev Dir at a Country Club in Maryland.  There were times that some athletes would show up at the club.  Mostly Capitals.  Actually Eric Lindros and his brother played a round there one day.  Anyway, Alvin Harper was sitting in the bar with some friends telling the story about when he was with the Redskins.  It was the year Stephen Davis and Michael Westbrook got in a fight in training camp.  The story is that Kordell and Michael Westbrook were a little too close......while they were at teammates at University of Colorado.  Stephen Davis called Westbrook the F word and Westbrook beat his arse.  Apparently Michael Westbrook was not to be messed with.  And apparently he and Slash were ........”buddies”.  

Didn’t he do MMA after his NFL career fizzled out? 

TWIW... Interesting listen on Adam schefter’s interview on 975. Says he would guess that doug doesn’t get a job this cycle. He might not want to coach this year part of his answer. Other part of his answer that building up QBs was supposed to be Doug’s forte and wentz regressed so it was a failure so some teams might be a little hesitant right now. 
 

3 hours ago, Ace Nova said:

Who's claiming fact?  Just about every post in this blog is people's opinions.  Just because "imo" isn't posted after every post, doesn't mean it's not an opinion. 

As far as the Andy Reid coaching tree goes, if a coach from the Andy Reid tree ends up here, we can then dismiss the rumor as being false.  If no one from the Andy Reid coaching tree comes here, then it will be one more piece of evidence. Simple, really. 

Go back and read your post, you said it was a fact.  

7 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

I never heard that.  But I have a story about Kordell Stewart.   Back when I was the Exec Chef/Food and Bev Dir at a Country Club in Maryland.  There were times that some athletes would show up at the club.  Mostly Capitals.  Actually Eric Lindros and his brother played a round there one day.  Anyway, Alvin Harper was sitting in the bar with some friends telling the story about when he was with the Redskins.  It was the year Stephen Davis and Michael Westbrook got in a fight in training camp.  The story is that Kordell and Michael Westbrook were a little too close......while they were at teammates at University of Colorado.  Stephen Davis called Westbrook the F word and Westbrook beat his arse.  Apparently Michael Westbrook was not to be messed with.  And apparently he and Slash were ........”buddies”.  

We need to make a gossip thread about things we’ve heard about athletes that’s not reported. I have some on mcnabb and Marcellus Wiley lol 

4 hours ago, Ace Nova said:

The fact that even Andy Reid is upset with the way things have been handled is eye opening.  

Right here

I don’t know what the earlier argument was but I wouldn’t say Howie is good at managing the cap. In all honesty, I don’t think managing the salary cap even takes all that much skill besides evaluating players correctly and allocating appropriate money to them which isn’t even a requirement all the time for whoever manages it. 

29 minutes ago, SBorBust said:

The most exciting news of the offseason is the Cowboys hiring one of the league’s worst defensive coordinators who runs a scheme that has been solved.

I wonder if Jerry and Jr. made the hire or McCarthy interviewed and hired him?

1 minute ago, LeanMeanGM said:

I don’t know what the earlier argument was but I wouldn’t say Howie is good at managing the cap. In all honesty, I don’t think managing the salary cap even takes all that much skill besides evaluating players correctly and allocating appropriate money to them. 

Understanding contracts and all the little stipulations, workarounds and loopholes in the CBA is more than most of us can do. 

And,  that's just the most basic part of the job.  The plan is multifactoral, and requires a lot of foresight with constantly fluid parts.

There's a reason... many reasons, why some GMs are better than others. 

 

10 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Understanding contracts and all the little stipulations, workarounds and loopholes in the CBA is more than most of us can do. 

And,  that's just the most basic part of the job.  The plan is multifactoral, and requires a lot of foresight with constantly fluid parts.

There's a reason... many reasons, why some GMs are better than others. 

 

He knows how to manipulate the cap. It also got him in trouble with doing it too much. I think player evaluation/draftng/free agent signings is far more important which separates GMs. From a pure salary cap only viewpoint I’m not sure he does anything better than anyone else.