Of course they caught lightning in a bottle, outside of a few dynasties, almost all Champions in all sports win because the stars align.

The next two years they had an unusual spate of injuries, which shows you luck goes both ways.

And I think we all agree that Howie went overboard trying for one more run, the same way Amaro did with the Phillies.

But when the window is closing, the choice is blow it up (which they probably should have done after 2018, but the temptation for one more run . . .) or try to keep the window open.

Howie's a smart guy, if he builds another team that's a SB contender, expect him to approach it a little different. More willing to take one step back.

His strength has always been rebuilding, and he's bringing in new blood, 10 picks, 9 picks and 4 picks in the first 50 next year (either Indy will be a 1st or a higher 2nd, no Wentz, no PO). He'll miss on most b/c most 3rd day picks are misses, but hit on Driscoll and Watkins, McPhearson, Gainwell, Stevens or Johnson and that's nice depth from the last two drafts.

Hurts is simple, once Wentz forced things (though I think Howie had soured on him in any case), the picks were more valuable than the player. Hurts will get a shot b/c they have nothing to lose, at worst they pick high the next two drafts and get a shot at a top QB, at best he's a solid QB with the ability to win games with his running as well.

4 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

FYI....

I'll open the Regular Season Blog after the roster settles down next week (cuts, waiver claims, trades, etc.).

We are better off keeping the Howie-Anon conspiracy theories within this opus of common sense and community.

Thanks for taking on this role.  With two weeks between cuts and the first game, I wonder if we deal with two weeks of Tuesdays churning the roster and practice squad.  

7 minutes ago, Mike030270 said:

@Iggles_Phan

@4for4EaglesNest why the confused reaction to this?

7 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Haha.  Yeah I have that blow hard on ignore.  I do that with morons.  I guess you didn’t like my response explaining my reasoning for not trusting Lowie post 2017.  But yeah. Guilty.  Far be it from me to have fun on a message board.  And it was a decade ago.  You can be offended and as crotchety as  that guy

I read it...  I understand it...  I'm not a Howie guy, as I said above...  my take was about giving Sirianni a fair shake...

I wasn't offended by that avatar, but I thought it was childish, if you don't mind my speaking plainly...  I'm sorta past the point of the "insult/name-calling" type posting, which seems to be your stock-in-trade...  I find it pretty tiresome...  really, I came back to the Blog to talk football, not trade barbs with other posters...  and, honestly, I don't need to "toughen up"...  I pretty well have that covered...  I'm just trying my best not to get sucked down into the muck...

7 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

On my bucket list.  I speak Canadian really well.  

I went with USAID.  So, we were treated very well by the people we were working with. 

When I went, 1 Egyptian pound = 16 cents.  For budget purposes... and a lot of things cost different things.  And, the peddlers expect haggling... never pay what they say the price "is".  Unless you go to a 'specialty' shop, this would be a spot where they are set up for tourists and rather than paying in Egyptian, they expect you to pay in US currency.  There they do not haggle... so I just chose not to purchase from there.

1 minute ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Well.  Because that’s what you and I do, to each other’s post.  First.  And second.  I just tagged him for the same reason on the same guys posts a few before yours.   That’s all.  

Strange. Haven't noticed that trend. Ok

When I scrolled it wasn't added to that post 🤷‍♂️

 

7 minutes ago, Veejer said:

.  I'm not a Howie guy, as I said above...  my take was about giving Sirianni a fair shake

I don’t think anybody said they’re not going to give him a fair shake, but to some of us it’s pretty clear that he’s already been set up to fail because of the meddling from Howie

Just now, downundermike said:

I don’t think anybody said they’re not going to give him a fair shake, but to some of us it’s pretty clear that he’s already been set up to fail because of the meddling from Howie

That's a fair shake?  You expect him to fail?  I know exactly how this works...  posters put all their opinions and speculations on the line, and then lo and behold, if they don't actually start edging toward hoping for them...

Saying in one breadth I'll give Sirianni a fair shake, and the next saying he's gonna fail, well, not my definition of a fair shake...

4 minutes ago, Veejer said:

That's a fair shake?  You expect him to fail?  I know exactly how this works...  posters put all their opinions and speculations on the line, and then lo and behold, if they don't actually start edging toward hoping for them...

Saying in one breadth I'll give Sirianni a fair shake, and the next saying he's gonna fail, well, not my definition of a fair shake...

I will say that he did say that he's been set up to fail, which isn't quite the same as expecting him to fail... but this conversation is making me want some popcorn.

🍿 

There's an in-between. It's not "blow it up the team is finished" or "invest all of your resources to try again". It's about making hard decisions, evaluating your roster clearly (ya know, trying to be ahead on the evaluation), having direction and a vision for the team and how they can win games. Teams like the Steelers are competitive almost every year because they're able to make hard decisions.

1 minute ago, schuy7 said:

There's an in-between. It's not "blow it up the team is finished" or "invest all of your resources to try again". It's about making hard decisions, evaluating your roster clearly (ya know, trying to be ahead on the evaluation), having direction and a vision for the team and how they can win games. Teams like the Steelers are competitive almost every year because they're able to make hard decisions.

Howie makes hard decisions. They’re often wrong or placed on someone else’s shoulders when they fail. 

That’s the problem. 

10 minutes ago, Veejer said:

That's a fair shake?  You expect him to fail?  I know exactly how this works...  posters put all their opinions and speculations on the line, and then lo and behold, if they don't actually start edging toward hoping for them...

Saying in one breadth I'll give Sirianni a fair shake, and the next saying he's gonna fail, well, not my definition of a fair shake...

I think he should succeed or fail because of what he does, the problem is is he’s not able to 100% do what he needs to do to succeed, which more than likely lead to him failing.

4 minutes ago, schuy7 said:

There's an in-between. It's not "blow it up the team is finished" or "invest all of your resources to try again". It's about making hard decisions, evaluating your roster clearly (ya know, trying to be ahead on the evaluation), having direction and a vision for the team and how they can win games. Teams like the Steelers are competitive almost every year because they're able to make hard decisions.

And because they had Big Ben for 16 years, the same way NE hasn't been the same without Brady.

He was injured two years ago and they were 27th in points scored.

They have a good organization, but they also got lucky.

6 minutes ago, schuy7 said:

There's an in-between. It's not "blow it up the team is finished" or "invest all of your resources to try again". It's about making hard decisions, evaluating your roster clearly (ya know, trying to be ahead on the evaluation), having direction and a vision for the team and how they can win games. Teams like the Steelers are competitive almost every year because they're able to make hard decisions.

The Bucs and Giants have the same number of Super Bowls in the past 20 years as the Ravens and Steelers. The goal at the end of the day is winning the Super Bowl, not going 11-5 (or 12-5, I guess) every year.

1 minute ago, downundermike said:

I think he should succeed or fail because of what he does, the problem is is he’s not able to 100% do what he needs to do to succeed, which more than likely lead to him failing.

Problem is you have no clue if that is true.

For one thing, Sirianni is in a unique situation, on the one hand his best players are linemen over 30 who he doesn't want to expose in preseason, on the other hand it's a new roster with a lot of decisions that need to be made in terms of depth, practice squad, picking up waiver wire people and so on. He's not fine tuning a playoff contender here. And a lot of teams around the league have limited starter snaps, it's not just the Eagles, if Hurts didn't have his stomach aliment, he'd be in the middle of the pack in QB snaps playing two series.

During scrimmages, 1st against 1st, 2nds against 2nds, so the back of the roster guys get more PT in exhibition games, but the starters get more snaps in scrimmages than playing in exhibition games. So you're balancing a bunch of things with a shortened preseason schedule.

This Friday may be a weather issue, if it's a muddy field, do you want your starters out there?

7 minutes ago, austinfan said:

And because they had Big Ben for 16 years, the same way NE hasn't been the same without Brady.

He was injured two years ago and they were 27th in points scored.

They have a good organization, but they also got lucky.

Very true.

They also have a front office that works together way better than Howie does.

Howie's a guy who actually needs those goofy team building exercises meetings. He could learn something from one of those.

40 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

FYI....

I'll open the Regular Season Blog after the roster settles down next week (cuts, waiver claims, trades, etc.).

We are better off keeping the Howie-Anon conspiracy theories within this opus of common sense and community.

You just cost me $40,000,000,000,000. 40. Trillion. Dollars. And one Cadillac. That’s right. What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it, A-hole.

12 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Problem is you have no clue if that is true.

And neither do you, yet you constantly come in here and state all of your opinions as fact and act like the rest of us are idiots who don’t know anything about football.

3 hours ago, downundermike said:

And as we have seen from the last few rosters and drafts, they have failed.  The only constant in all of it is Howie Roseman.

I don’t disagree that Roseman has been a problem.  I also don’t know whether Roseman is a bigger issue than Lurie. 

4 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

I don’t disagree that Roseman has been a problem.  I also don’t know whether Roseman is a bigger issue than Lurie. 

They are an extension of each other

30 minutes ago, schuy7 said:

There's an in-between. It's not "blow it up the team is finished" or "invest all of your resources to try again". It's about making hard decisions, evaluating your roster clearly (ya know, trying to be ahead on the evaluation), having direction and a vision for the team and how they can win games. Teams like the Steelers are competitive almost every year because they're able to make hard decisions.

Steelers have been able to benefit from a weak division for awhile though. For years it's been either Steelers or Ravens. Browns are finally competitive. Bengals are trying to turn things around

What team has been constantly on top or near the top with a strong division?

1 minute ago, Mike030270 said:

Steelers have been able to benefit from a weak division for awhile though. For years it's been either Steelers or Ravens. Browns are finally competitive. Bengals are trying to turn things around

What team has been constantly on top or near the top with a strong division?

You don't maintain 20 years of success from a weak division alone. It helps, but a team less consistent would still have a lot of bad seasons sprinkled in.

Just now, schuy7 said:

You don't maintain 20 years of success from a weak division alone. It helps, but a team less consistent would still have a lot of bad seasons sprinkled in.

True but look at Pats. They've benefited greatly from a weak division IMO

4 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Of course they caught lightning in a bottle, outside of a few dynasties, almost all Champions in all sports win because the stars align.

The next two years they had an unusual spate of injuries, which shows you luck goes both ways.

And I think we all agree that Howie went overboard trying for one more run, the same way Amaro did with the Phillies.

But when the window is closing, the choice is blow it up (which they probably should have done after 2018, but the temptation for one more run . . .) or try to keep the window open.

Howie's a smart guy, if he builds another team that's a SB contender, expect him to approach it a little different. More willing to take one step back.

His strength has always been rebuilding, and he's bringing in new blood, 10 picks, 9 picks and 4 picks in the first 50 next year (either Indy will be a 1st or a higher 2nd, no Wentz, no PO). He'll miss on most b/c most 3rd day picks are misses, but hit on Driscoll and Watkins, McPhearson, Gainwell, Stevens or Johnson and that's nice depth from the last two drafts.

Hurts is simple, once Wentz forced things (though I think Howie had soured on him in any case), the picks were more valuable than the player. Hurts will get a shot b/c they have nothing to lose, at worst they pick high the next two drafts and get a shot at a top QB, at best he's a solid QB with the ability to win games with his running as well.

But you have to admit that Howie wastes and fails to hit on second day hits and too many of his first round picks are more mediocre than most other GMs and he has bombed on some trades for players, especially up against the trade deadline.  I am scared of his choices or uses of those first four picks.   Rebuilding relies on hits with the first three picks and his record is pretty dismal.  I like the reasoning you bring on many topics but the myopia on his failure on picks hurts your credibility in evaluating his performance.   I will admit, I liked the Jones pick. That one is on Jones.  But Taylor was a reach.  Dickerson is a gamble. If Arcega-Whiteside was influenced by Lurie, Howie had an obligation to push back.  If Reagor over Jefferson was influenced by Doug, Howie had a duty to push back.  How Howie decided to extend Wentz and have his wheels come off within months requires scrutiny.  You have to admit his failures stand large.

As to 2017, Howie struck gold in signing Chris Long and his personality, Nick’s like ability and Celek’s will to go out on top are every bit as responsible for the success as Howie.  But he failed to see that it wasn’t just the band, it was the rhythm of that song and he has performed subpar since then.  You point to rebuilding after Chip as justifying his performance going forward.  I point to the Dream Team and his failure post 2017 as a reason to reevaluate and move on.  

1 hour ago, Iggles_Phan said:

I went with USAID.  So, we were treated very well by the people we were working with. 

When I went, 1 Egyptian pound = 16 cents.  For budget purposes... and a lot of things cost different things.  And, the peddlers expect haggling... never pay what they say the price "is".  Unless you go to a 'specialty' shop, this would be a spot where they are set up for tourists and rather than paying in Egyptian, they expect you to pay in US currency.  There they do not haggle... so I just chose not to purchase from there.

Nice to hear. Such an awesome history.  Of all the places in Africa, Egypt is tops on my list. 

But as we celebrate our service members service, USAID is pretty impressive too.  That is truly a relationship building effort.  Thanks for doing that for us.