Did this team's upper brass get big-headed after 2017?

[UK_EaglesFan89]

6 hours ago, NOTW said:

No I think they got a HUGE ego about it.  They erected a statue, Doug wrote a book, Carson told Foles it would be him next year, and they kept starting the season and games slow and having to come back.  They were hyping themselves up, dancing and practicing celebrations.  If you remember, Lane Johnson called out guys for not being focused in practice and working hard enough leading to mistakes and penalties.  I don't like what Orlando Scandrick did, it was a lot of sour grapes but he did say that they had such big heads about winning the Super Bowl and weren't open to ideas because they thought they had arrived.  Then a player on twitter proved that point by saying he should shut up because he didn't win a Super Bowl.

 

You are right. The players, or at least some of them, did buy their own hype. But did the upper brass? They tried to repeat sure, they went all in for the short term but they were trying to seize the opportunity. 

[Talonblood]

Yep. They thought they were the new Patriots, but they weren't even close. They should shut up and study them and learn how to keep a good thing going yer after year. You can't just proclaim it... you actually have to make the moves to STAY legit good.

[EazyEaglez]

23 hours ago, Talonblood said:

Yep. They thought they were the new Patriots, but they weren't even close. They should shut up and study them and learn how to keep a good thing going yer after year. You can't just proclaim it... you actually have to make the moves to STAY legit good.

Man it sure does feel like they still think they’re smarter than everyone else. 

[wyote]

You bet they did. I actually complimented Howie on something and he got prissy about my compliment not being effusive enough. It's that kind of attitude that leads to not having anyone to hang out with on Saturdays. 

[Procus]

On 1/21/2021 at 5:25 PM, LA_Eagle_Fan said:

Nobody would trade the end result of 2017 for anything, but as is the case with many teams, success sometimes makes key figures develop an ego that's too big for their own good. Remember, entering that Super Bowl, we were touted as a team that was built to stay atop our division for the next half decade, and now we find ourselves stuck in quicksand three seasons removed.

With Doug now gone, if we look back, he showed a ton of signs that his ego started inflating. It started with the book he wrote (can't blame him for capitalizing on his chance, but still), then it felt like he stopped adjusting mid-game and turned back into Andy Reid pre-Mahomes. The team was poorly prepared to play in too many games to count and threw away a ton that they were supposed to win. Then, after a terrible season in which we didn't have an OC, he decides he'd promote from within rather than bring in an outside voice.

As for Howie, it feels as though winning it all convinced him that he's been "right" all along (especially after the lone year of Chip Kelly being in charge of personnel). Never mind that his drafts have produced so few Pro Bowlers or how often he'd taken disappointments over studs even before Chip Kelly's interruption; Howie stuck to his guns. The Patriots flat out exposed our defense in that Super Bowl, but because we won, it seems as though he didn't feel a need to fix it, and QBs continue to tear us up.

I maintain that Jeffrey is still a good owner, but winning it all may have also convinced him that his loyalty to Howie is warranted, even in the face of evidence that suggests otherwise.

I didn't expect a duplication of 2017, because the stars can't align for us like that every year, but to fall off like we've done...how much of it is because of ego?

I don't know that they got big headed as much as they were in over their head.

People like Bill Walsh who ran organizations that sustained success long term usually got rid of good players a year or two before their play began to decline.  The Eagles instead extended the players with bloated contracts that hamstrung the team during this capped era.

That, in a nutshell, was the problem with post-SB winning player personnel management along with some really crappy drafting.

[Devaster]

6 hours ago, Procus said:

I don't know that they got big headed as much as they were in over their head.

People like Bill Walsh who ran organizations that sustained success long term usually got rid of good players a year or two before their play began to decline.  The Eagles instead extended the players with bloated contracts that hamstrung the team during this capped era.

That, in a nutshell, was the problem with post-SB winning player personnel management along with some really crappy drafting.

This is such a lazy answer. Sure, in general that is true, but it is more complex than just that statement. Otherwise teams would have tons of cap room and not know what to do with it. Teams still need to maintain their core nucleus of talent and pay them as long as they aren't old and on the decline. One of the Eagles' biggest issues has been the lack of young home grown talent through the draft. The draft is where teams can find 4-5 year cheap labor talent that extends and opens windows of contention. It is a combination of paying the right players, unloading the right players, and drafting well (including finding starters/depth and trading down if necessary). The Eagles haven't really been doing much, if any of that, successfully under Howie. And I don't expect that to change any time soon.

[Procus]

1 hour ago, Devaster said:

This is such a lazy answer.

Sorry I didn't put the requisite time and effort into the response to meet your standards.

[EazyEaglez]

On 1/28/2021 at 4:59 PM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

You are right. The players, or at least some of them, did buy their own hype. But did the upper brass? They tried to repeat sure, they went all in for the short term but they were trying to seize the opportunity. 

Hindsight is always 20/20, but both the staff and the players thought they could just turn it on whenever they needed to. Howie winning executive of the year just made his ego explode. Players got late surgeries, the coach and backup quarterback wrote books. It all went to their heads.