8 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

They were 25th in defensive DVOA, which uses context.

The frustrating thing about this defense was the front four's inability to feast on inferior OLs.  We were 26th in adjusted sack rate on Football Outsiders.  We played against a lot of backups and didn't see all that much from Cox and Hargrave in the second half.  Contrast that with what Kerrigan did against the sub OT on the Bucs.  That type of winning should have been happening all season.

Back to Gannon...it was talent.  I pointed it out earlier.  Only 4 out of our last 17 first or second round picks have been on the defensive side of the ball.  Barnett, Jones, Rowe, Smith.  An embarrassment.  And I agree, there needs to be some continuity of scheme for a defense to success.  Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Rams, Buffalo, NO.

Talent is definitely part of it. I'd still like to see them do better than they did. They're not without any talent. Some of the QB numbers against us were pretty insane.

I have zero faith in the front office to make a smart move. We have three first round draft picks. They need to get talent in this team. But I see them trading it all for either an old QB that won’t work out or trading up for Pickett, which is a terrible idea. 
 

This is the same team that stuck with Hurts in a winnable playoff game for no good reason other than the fact they drafted him. And stuck with Reagor for the same reason. It’s pathetic. There’s no reason our backup QB shouldn’t have gotten a swing in the second half. 
 

I just don’t trust this team at all anymore.

4 minutes ago, blindside said:

I have zero faith in the front office to make a smart move. We have three first round draft picks. They need to get talent in this team. But I see them trading it all for either an old QB that won’t work out or trading up for Pickett, which is a terrible idea. 
 

This is the same team that stuck with Hurts in a winnable playoff game for no good reason other than the fact they drafted him. And stuck with Reagor for the same reason. It’s pathetic. There’s no reason our backup QB shouldn’t have gotten a swing in the second half. 
 

I just don’t trust this team at all anymore.

Your first statement is in conflict with your second statement 

34 minutes ago, blindside said:

I have zero faith in the front office to make a smart move. We have three first round draft picks. They need to get talent in this team. But I see them trading it all for either an old QB that won’t work out or trading up for Pickett, which is a terrible idea. 
 

This is the same team that stuck with Hurts in a winnable playoff game for no good reason other than the fact they drafted him. And stuck with Reagor for the same reason. It’s pathetic. There’s no reason our backup QB shouldn’t have gotten a swing in the second half. 
 

I just don’t trust this team at all anymore.

Ward was hurt, JJAW was out, not like there were a lot of options. Jackson was also out at TE.

10 hours ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

The presser was just FO speak.  Don't tip their hand.  I'm sure Siri was briefed on what the party line is.

Not saying that things won't happen as they suggested, but Howie has stated every year, he will always look for ways to improve the team.

Wilson at the right price would accomplish that.

I’m fully convinced Jalen Hurts will be the starter next season. They may draft a guy but I believe they the FO is going with Hurts. 
 

I hope I’m wrong but I doubt it. 

 It’s as if Aikman called the Bucs vs Eagles, and watched Monday Nights disaster, doesn’t he know young QB’s are robots now?  Especially those coming from Oklahoma under Riley since he’s QB wannabe, you can only throw to this WR on this play or run. The coaches are in the QB’s ear literally telling them who the primary receiver is and when to throw the ball.   Kellen Moore and Kingsbury have to be awful, both are failed NFL QB’s living through Murray and Prescott. 
 
When Siriani wanted Smith to get the Eagles rookie record, they moved the ball downfield by passing it to Smith, early in the first quarter, but against TB he waited till late 2nd quarter, below is Siriani’s answer and it’s a joke.

If you have several pass plays and Smith isn’t the primary receiver in most of them, then your plays suck!!!

5 hours ago, blindside said:

I have zero faith in the front office to make a smart move. We have three first round draft picks. They need to get talent in this team. But I see them trading it all for either an old QB that won’t work out or trading up for Pickett, which is a terrible idea. 
 

This is the same team that stuck with Hurts in a winnable playoff game for no good reason other than the fact they drafted him. And stuck with Reagor for the same reason. It’s pathetic. There’s no reason our backup QB shouldn’t have gotten a swing in the second half. 
 

I just don’t trust this team at all anymore.

A winnable playoff game?  Get serious.  The Eagles never had a shot in that game and that was obvious going in.  Your zero faith comes from your unreasonable expectation.

I listened to and read the Howie/Sirianni press conference- the following is the only quote from Howie that matters:

"Our job is to look at everything, evaluate every position, every player.  We do that not only for right now in this moment, but we also do it so we have information when players become available at any position."

Make no mistake, they will be trying to get a new QB.

5 hours ago, jwill2420 said:

I’m fully convinced Jalen Hurts will be the starter next season. They may draft a guy but I believe they the FO is going with Hurts. 
 

I hope I’m wrong but I doubt it. 

I think they know that while there will be plenty of options to make a QB change, almost none of them will make sense (age, cost, salary cap hogs, character issues, or too much risk of simply not being long term upgrades). 
 

rogers/Wilson - window doesn’t match, salary cap hogs

Watson - boatload of issues, salary cap hog

jimmy G/Carr - better than Hurts but enough better to make it worth it?  These guys will be frustrating too for the same reason their teams are willing to ship them off  

draft - maybe they grab one but with no expectation that they will start next year. They will basically be lottery tickets. Not to mention the chaos that would cause with fans or the team. 

hurts will probably be the guy simply because, as gross as it sounds, it Will probably make the most sense. 

11 hours ago, downundermike said:

Tell me about the power back offenses in KC, LA, TB, Buf, Cin, SF, TEN ( who didnt have Henry clinching the one seed ) and GB.

Fournette is a power back , runs over players every game . Bucs love putting him in late in the game to bleed the clock .

13 minutes ago, purplefiggy said:

I think they know that while there will be plenty of options to make a QB change, almost none of them will make sense (age, cost, salary cap hogs, character issues, or too much risk of simply not being long term upgrades). 
 

rogers/Wilson - window doesn’t match, salary cap hogs

Watson - boatload of issues, salary cap hog

jimmy G/Carr - better than Hurts but enough better to make it worth it?  These guys will be frustrating too for the same reason their teams are willing to ship them off  

draft - maybe they grab one but with no expectation that they will start next year. They will basically be lottery tickets. Not to mention the chaos that would cause with fans or the team. 

hurts will probably be the guy simply because, as gross as it sounds, it Will probably make the most sense. 

I think Watson is the X factor.  That is who I could see them targeting, especially if they can mitigate some of the risks and also buy lower.  The argument would be getting a bona fide franchise QB in his prime.

Rodgers wouldn’t have any interest.  Wilson already stated he doesn’t have interest (ironically, would play in NY for the Giants).  Cost in trade and salary cap for each would make it a difficult move in some respects.

The others, I agree, they won’t present the right value or opportunity.

Some have mentioned Jordan Love in a trade, if Rodgers re-signs.  I could see it, but creates a backlog in work in progress at the Factory.

My prediction is they will aggressively explore the Watson possibility and will also closely evaluate the draft eligible QBs, with a mind to move up if they like someone. 

5 minutes ago, Original Sin said:

Fournette is a power back , runs over players every game . Bucs love putting him in late in the game to bleed the clock .

Not only that but...

Packers  have AJ Dillon. 

Elijah Mitchell might not be a traditional power back but he sure runs hard despite being 200 lbs for the 49ers.

Joe Mixon is a 6-1 220 lb RB who can 100% run you over.

These teams run the ball very well.

 

 

 

6 hours ago, austinfan said:

Ward was hurt, JJAW was out, not like there were a lot of options. Jackson was also out at TE.

Make Hurts return punts and put Minshew and qb.

3 minutes ago, Original Sin said:

 

He finally beat Ohio State and now he's ready to leave.

6 hours ago, blindside said:

I have zero faith in the front office to make a smart move. We have three first round draft picks. They need to get talent in this team. But I see them trading it all for either an old QB that won’t work out or trading up for Pickett, which is a terrible idea. 
 

This is the same team that stuck with Hurts in a winnable playoff game for no good reason other than the fact they drafted him. And stuck with Reagor for the same reason. It’s pathetic. There’s no reason our backup QB shouldn’t have gotten a swing in the second half. 
 

I just don’t trust this team at all anymore.

This team just hit on our first 4 of 5 picks, with only McPhearson being a ???

18 minutes ago, John_C said:

I think Watson is the X factor.  That is who I could see them targeting, especially if they can mitigate some of the risks and also buy lower.  The argument would be getting a bona fide franchise QB in his prime.

Rodgers wouldn’t have any interest.  Wilson already stated he doesn’t have interest (ironically, would play in NY for the Giants).  Cost in trade and salary cap for each would make it a difficult move in some respects.

The others, I agree, they won’t present the right value or opportunity.

Some have mentioned Jordan Love in a trade, if Rodgers re-signs.  I could see it, but creates a backlog in work in progress at the Factory.

My prediction is they will aggressively explore the Watson possibility and will also closely evaluate the draft eligible QBs, with a mind to move up if they like someone. 

Assuming the courts and league clears him, I think it will ultimately come down to cost. That and a real character assessment but from Vick we already know that part is more about the man moving forward and not as much of the past actions. 
 

I think he is off the table if he is suspended or if the lawsuits linger. 

15 minutes ago, RLC said:

This team just hit on our first 4 of 5 picks, with only McPhearson being a ???

I suppose the threshold to deliver a "hit” verdict is a hell of a lot more decisive and premature than to call a pick a miss.

28 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

Make Hurts return punts and put Minshew and qb.

Very seriously, Hurts would actually be a pretty good RB. 

7 hours ago, austinfan said:

That was Schwartz - he didn't like rookies, he wanted veterans, we brought in Bradham, Jenkins, McLeod, Robinson, C Graham, Darby, Long, Jernigan, then Bennett, Ngata, Sendejo, M Jackson, Slay, Robey-Coleman, Hargrave. Schwartz was given a say on defensive personnel as a condition of hiring.

Let’s not forget Schwartz wanted to draft Kenneth Murray in the first round two years ago (and was correctly vetoed). I think blaming Schwartz for the lack of highly drafted defensive players is just more spin. The GM has to choose how to allocate resources, and he decided to spend big on the DL and to band-aid the role players for cost-effectiveness. 

18 minutes ago, Dweedlebug said:

He finally beat Ohio State and now he's ready to leave.

That's a great spot for him.  I'll only have to watch him on the sidelines against the Eagles every 4 years...  And since the Eagles just played them this year, he may not even be their coach by that time.

 

 

6 hours ago, austinfan said:

Ward was hurt, JJAW was out, not like there were a lot of options. Jackson was also out at TE.

Yes, JJAW would have turned the tide into an Eagles' victory.

The question is who are the veteran defensive players who might be available for trade this offseason if the Eagles dangle one of those first round picks out there. 

20 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I suppose the threshold to deliver a "hit” verdict is a hell of a lot more decisive and premature than to call a pick a miss.

It all depends on the narrative, I suppose.  

If Howie is doing a bad job... you focus on the fact that from 2016 - 2019 (the time that Howie was undeniably 'in charge'), it is likely that only 6 players remain from those drafts going into 2022... Seumalo, Mailata, Sweat, Goedert, Maddux, and Sanders.  The others that are hanging on by a thread should be gone... Barnett, JJAW, Dillard will all likely be gone by the start of TC, though Dillard might stick around. 

The 2020 draft is one that can start to be analyzed now, and that one really hinges on Hurts.  If Hurts is the long term answer at QB... then that draft starts to look a lot better.  If not... it starts to look even worse. 

• Reagor - fast track to bustville at this point. 
• Hurts - ??? (though many on both sides have taken a definitive stand, myself included). 
• Taylor can't stay healthy, and struggled until the very last game or so that he was playing. 
• Wallace is MIA. 
• Driscoll looks like a really nice depth piece, but also struggles to stay healthy. 
• Watkins is doing nicely, and might be a low end #2 WR.  With a better QB, we'd know more than we currently do. 
• Bradley looks like a nice ST player, but nothing more.
• Hightower, Wanogho and Toohill are already gone.

Is that a good draft?  Definitely not... unless Hurts is more than a backup QB.  If he's only a backup, its a bad draft... backup QBs don't cost 2nd round picks or $10M/year, despite what some would have you believe.

 

But, if you want to find someone else to blame for Howie's poor drafting record, then you just focus only on 2021...  early returns are definitely positive, but it's still in the 'too soon to call' column.  But, it is a lot more promising than 2019 for sure.  The other drafts weren't Howie's fault.  

11 hours ago, austinfan said:

And if you end up with Goff? Or Leaf? Or . .

Thats the risk you take on any pick. Its just amplified at qb because of the peak cost.

and if you end up there its an indictment of the talent evaluators, gm coaches and/or owner