Posted July 12, 20223 yr Good or Bad? Posted: July 6th, 2022 | Author: Tommy Lawlor The Dream Team of 2011 proved to be anything but a dream. It was a nightmare of egos, dysfunctional personalities and just plain bad football. The hype of fans, players and media made the bad results even more painful. It was like eating a crap sandwich from a restaurant that got nothing but great reviews. The 2017 team actually was a dream. They were good and they were fun. DT Beau Allen was a backup on that team. He recently retired from the NFL and won’t be going to the Hall of Fame, but guys like him helped make that team what it was. Just flash back to this memory. How do you not love that guy? Expectations were not sky high for the 2017 Eagles, but there was some hype. Coach Doug Pederson talked about the Eagles having more talent on their roster than the 1996 Packers, who won the Super Bowl. I had forgotten about that. How did Doug respond when asked about his comment putting extra pressure on him? "I hope so. I love the pressure. I didn’t get into this business not to have pressure. I’ve got a great coaching staff around me. I’m confident in the things that we can get accomplished.” Is that confident or cocky? In a way, it doesn’t matter. The team backed up his comment by having a great season and winning the Super Bowl. Why look back at these teams? There is a lot of hype starting to build on the current Eagles. It will be interesting to see how that affects them and if they live up to the hype. Things sure have changed in the past year. There was no hype last year and that helped the Eagles to fly under the radar. This season will be very different. There will be expectations. There will be hype. Thankfully there are smart veterans on the roster to help keep things under control. I don’t have a problem with teams being confident. I think that’s a good thing. You don’t want a team being delusional or overly cocky. That’s when things can go sideways. This team doesn’t feel delusional. Nick Sirianni played at a small school. He worked his way up the coaching ladder, grinding away to earn better jobs. He wasn’t an assistant on a great team that is used to winning big and having the world kiss his butt. Jalen Hurts got benched at Alabama and then was a second round pick. He’s not a guy who has been showered with praise every single year. There are high character guys on the team…Jason Kelce, Brandon Graham, Lane Johnson, etc. They should be able to keep this team pointed in the right direction. My guess is that the expectations and hype will end up being a good thing for this team. Howie Roseman didn’t go after a bunch of big names in free agency like he did back in 2011. That team added older players that were chasing a ring. They brought a lot of baggage with them. Howie brought in AJ Brown, Hasson Reddick and James Bradberry this year. All three are in their prime. Brown and Reddick can be difference-makers. Bradberry is a solid starting corner. Beyond them, there were a mixture of draft picks and role players. All of the acquisitions fit the schemes. This isn’t a case of signing a big name and forcing him to do things he’s not good at. This just feels different. I’m both curious and excited to see what this team does. ***** Jimmy Bama did his dumpster fire series last week. Make sure you go check those pieces out. They are always highly entertaining. My favorite was the Giants piece. Jimmy ripped them hard, and deservedly so. Then some Giants blogger did a video to rip Jimmy’s piece and ended up agreeing with most of what he said. The truth can be painful. Today he did something new. The key word of course is…”could”. Still, fun speculation. In case you missed it, make sure to read this. http://igglesblitz.com/2022/07/good-or-bad/
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