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[time2rock]

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Posted: June 26th, 2022 | Author: Tommy Lawlor 

With all the moves the Eagles made this offseason, many feel the Eagles are loading up to be a Super Bowl contender. The team has done this in the past, with mixed results.

Let’s take a look at some of those years.

1992

The 1991 team featured one of the great defenses in league history. Sadly, that went to waste due to erratic QB play. The team finished 10-6, but missed the playoffs.

The return of Randall Cunningham was supposed to get the offense back to the elite level it played at back in 1990 (3rd in yards and points). The Eagles added Herschel Walker to give a boost to a running game that had struggled for several years. A couple of key veterans were added to bolster the O-line. Vai Sikahema was signed to improve the return game and make the Eagles dangerous in all three phases. Things looked good.

Jerome Brown died in the summer in a car accident and that was the first sign things would not be easy or anywhere close to normal. TE Keith Jackson left in free agency, in a groundbreaking move.

The team did finish 5th in scoring and the running game really came alive, finishing second in the league. The passing game was wildly inconsistent despite the return of Cunningham. The defense remained one of the best in the league, finishing 6th in yards and points allowed. The Eagles did make the postseason and won their first playoff game in more than a decade. Still, the season fell short of the preseason hype.

I remember picking up The Football News in the summer of ’92 and seeing the Eagles as their Super Bowl pick. I certainly had high hopes, but a national publication picking them to win it all? That was like Christmas in August. Then the team started off 4-0 and looked dominant. They were going to the Super Bowl. There was just no question about it.

Oops.

They were only 7-5 the rest of the way, partially due to injuries. There was a near mutiny against Rich Kotite and Cunningham went from The Ultimate NFL Weapon to benched for Jim McMahon. The postseason win over the Saints was a great day, but overall the season was disappointing.

2004

The Eagles were so close in 2001, 2002 and 2003. They just didn’t have an elite receiver to put the passing game over the top. That all changed when the team traded for Terrell Owens. He and Donovan McNabb were like "peanut butter and jelly”, on and off the field.

The team didn’t stop with TO. They signed Jevon Kearse to help the pass rush that had struggled in 2003. The best offensive and defensive players available both came to Philly. I remember refreshing ESPN’s site and seeing Philly Phreak and a picture of Kearse. My heart leapt with joy. TO took more time because of a complicated situation, but joined a bit later.

Dorsey Levens was signed to backup Brian Westbrook. The team made a great move in the summer, when they re-signed Jeremiah Trotter. Washington cut him and the Eagles were able to scoop him up at a bargain rate. This team was going to the Super Bowl.

And they did just that. The team started 13-1 and life was good. In that 13th win, TO broke his ankle and that injury changed the fate of the franchise. We just didn’t know it at the time.

The Eagles were good enough to get through the NFC without TO. The title game win over Atlanta was a magical day. The Eagles exorcised the demons of recent playoff failures. TO did return for the Super Bowl, but he wasn’t enough. The Eagles fell to Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

Great season, bad ending.

And then things really went downhill in the offseason.

2011

The 2010 season started the Kevin Kolb era. That didn’t even last a full game before Michael Vick replaced him (due to injury). Vick was so good that he never gave the job back. The Eagles looked great at times. They went 8-2 in one stretch and scored a ton of points. With Vick, Shady McCoy, DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, the Eagles had a dynamic group of skill players.

They did need help on defense and that was the focus of the offseason. There was a lockout that pushed offseason moves into the summer. Once the lockout ended, the Eagles exploded into action. They acquired:

DE Jason Babin
DT Cullen Jenkins
CB Nnamdi Asomugha
CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
DT Derek Landri

That’s a lot of firepower for a defense that had finished 12th in yards allowed.

The offense got one starter and some key role players in OG Evan Mathis, RB Ronnie Brown, QB Vince Young and WR Steve Smith (not the elite one). It was Young who said the Eagles had put together a Dream Team. Ugh. That moniker has haunted the franchise ever since.

A lot of things went wrong. The compressed offseason didn’t give the players much chance to build chemistry. Andy Reid, normally a brilliant coach, made the highly questionable decision to move OL coach Juan Castillo to defensive coordinator. The players all came to Philly with a variety of agendas and attitudes. Asomugha ate lunch in his car. That’s simply not normal in the NFL.

The team started 1-4. They were 4-8 heading into December. A 4-0 finish got them to .500 and convinced Jeff Lurie to bring all the key people back. That resulted in the disastrous 4-12 season of 2012.

The Dream Team truly was a nightmare. Take away two dominant wins over Dallas and you have one of the more miserable seasons I can remember.

We did get the best season in Derek Landri’s career. That was glorious.

2017

Doug Pederson took over as coach of the Eagles in 2016. The team started 3-1 before falling apart. A lot of that had to do with the 10-game suspension of Lane Johnson. With him in the lineup, the Eagles were 5-1. Without him, 2-8.

Young QB Carson Wentz showed enough as a rookie in 2016 that the team thought they could be contenders in 2017. They approached the offseason that way, constantly looking to upgrade the roster and doing so with a lot of veterans.

QB Nick Foles
WR Alshon Jeffery
WR Torrey Smith
RB LeGarrette Blount
RB Jay Ajayi
DE Chris Long
DT Tim Jernigan
CB Patrick Robinson
CB Ronald Darby
CB Corey Graham

Every one of those acquisitions played a part in the Eagles winning the Super Bowl, some more obvious than others. Howie Roseman deserves a lot of criticism for the bad moves he’s made, but he nailed the 2017 offseason in a big way. It wasn’t perfect (Sidney Jones for example), but he brought in a lot of key people that helped the team win its first Lombardi Trophy.

Great offseason.

Great season.

Great postseason.

And maybe the greatest Super Bowl parade ever.

2022

The Eagles had a great offseason…we think. Moves that look good in the spring don’t always work out (see 2011).

It will be interesting to see how things play out. It sure feels like this team is loaded. The big question is QB. Is Jalen Hurts good enough to take this team where it wants to go?

http://igglesblitz.com/2022/06/loading-up/

[PoconoDon]

QB is the question mark. The answer for good or ill will be coming relatively soon.