Eagles 2018-2019 Season

[Philsmania]

For anyone wondering if the Eagles may end up in contention for the worst Super Bowl title defense ever, the Broncos went 6-10 in 1999 after winning the Super Bowl in 1998. A few Super Bowl champions have gone either 8-8 or 7-9 the following season. It would be fittingly Philadelphia if this year's Eagles team ends up in that bunch. The Birds would have to completely blow a gasket from here on out to go 6-10.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/ranking-every-super-bowl-champions-title-defense/ss-BBMTy3n

[Purduke]

Let me try to find a silver lining. Both he and Ajayi should be affordable on one-year deals next year.

[phillychuck]

Darby's injury is about the worst news we could have gotten going into N.O. Or the rest of the season. He's been very solid for the most part.

[Lawman]

Pretty damning sentence in Bob Ford's column:

Bob Ford (bobfordsports)

[allentown]

Eagles in risk-taking mode again today. With both Johnson and Perers hobbled but scheduled to play, they deactivate all 3 of Maillata, Pryor and Warmack in order to activate, among others, a third tight end just off IR. What are the odds that both Peters and Johnson can play the whole game? I'd carry an extra active OL.

[zambonir]

At this point I'm just scared to see Wentz play the rest of the season.

[allentown]

Looking awful and another DB goes down with a knee injury. After a slow first 3 games of the season, Reich's offense has kicked butt, unlike ours.

[zambonir]

Wow. I mean, the fantasy of winning the division and getting lucky/better later already ended last week but this is brutal. Cowboys might take this thing now too.

[xogfog]

Figured on an L today, but that was ugly. Eagles still have a shot at winning the division mathematically, but it's hard to see the way they look right now and how much of the team is injured.

[Lawman]

So, when does Spring Training start?

[allentown]

Yes, this season is past the point of no-return. Baseball ST can't come soon enough; I dislike winter anyway. Looking at the current Eagles, it is hard to imagine a successful off-season -- they really have a lot of holes and are running out of financial flexibility. Trading the 3 looks a lot worse today and I didn't like it on the day they did it. The coaching staff lost its mojo from last season and the injuries have taken a much bigger toll, as has aging. Hate to say it but, although they have their franchise QB, TE, RT, one DT , the Eagles have otherwise crossed into to rebuild mode. We have really sprinted out of the Super Bowl glow. This team reminds me of the 1994/5 Phillies, in part because of the failed investment in re-upping Dykstra and Daulton and in part because 1993 quickly looked like a big bowl of magic which was not going to re-fill anytime soon. Doug went all conservative yesterday and the defense seems like it has been in a perpetual prevent D for months. Doug needs to rebuild his staff as a key part of the turnaround.

[Philsmania]

Yes, this season is past the point of no-return. Baseball ST can't come soon enough; I dislike winter anyway. Looking at the current Eagles, it is hard to imagine a successful off-season -- they really have a lot of holes and are running out of financial flexibility. Trading the 3 looks a lot worse today and I didn't like it on the day they did it. The coaching staff lost its mojo from last season and the injuries have taken a much bigger toll, as has aging. Hate to say it but, although they have their franchise QB, TE, RT, one DT , the Eagles have otherwise crossed into to rebuild mode. We have really sprinted out of the Super Bowl glow. This team reminds me of the 1994/5 Phillies, in part because of the failed investment in re-upping Dykstra and Daulton and in part because 1993 quickly looked like a big bowl of magic which was not going to re-fill anytime soon. Doug went all conservative yesterday and the defense seems like it has been in a perpetual prevent D for months. Doug needs to rebuild his staff as a key part of the turnaround.

The 2019 season will determine which is the real Eagles team of the Doug Pederson Era--the 2017 Super Bowl Champions or the 2016 and 2018 versions. If it turns out to be that it's the latter and not the former, yes, it may be time to enter rebuild mode and trade those above-mentioned assets for as many good draft picks as possible and start over again with a new coaching regime.

[allentown]

I'm not in a hurry to change the 'coaching regime' if that means replacing Pederson. I thought he did a good job building his initial staff and establishing a plan to improve the team -- a plan which, as in the case of 1993 and 2008 Phillies had luck carry them further than they should have gone in 2017-18. We know the Foles we saw in 2017-18 was more than a bit of a mirage. The big problems Pederson faces, in my mind, are 1) he didn't do an adequate job of replacing the coaches who left after the championship season and 2) the league has adjusted to his offense and he hasn't counter-adjusted. Part of this is on Howie. He kept older, expensive players and lost some of those gambles. He also was lucky at how well his deals/signings turned out last season. I guess in part other teams viewed trading with the not-so-elevated Eagles a lot differently than trading with the Super Bowl champions. The problems, largely injuries, in the defensive backfield are really bad luck, but the problems at RB and on the O-line are equally self-inflicted. We just don't have reliable OL reserves and Peters is showing is age. We've had to play two hobbling OTs. The Jernigan injury was awful luck and really messed up the D-line, leaving us vulnerable to rushes.

[Philsmania]

I'm not in a hurry to change the 'coaching regime' if that means replacing Pederson. I thought he did a good job building his initial staff and establishing a plan to improve the team -- a plan which, as in the case of 1993 and 2008 Phillies had luck carry them further than they should have gone in 2017-18. We know the Foles we saw in 2017-18 was more than a bit of a mirage. The big problems Pederson faces, in my mind, are 1) he didn't do an adequate job of replacing the coaches who left after the championship season and 2) the league has adjusted to his offense and he hasn't counter-adjusted. Part of this is on Howie. He kept older, expensive players and lost some of those gambles. He also was lucky at how well his deals/signings turned out last season. I guess in part other teams viewed trading with the not-so-elevated Eagles a lot differently than trading Super Bowl Chamion Eagles.

Wouldn't that then make Roseman and Pedersen the Eagles' Thomas and Fregosi?

[zambonir]

Was it unreasonable for Pederson to promote from within compared to hiring some other OC or QB coach? Weren't the guys they are missing (and Pederson himself) perceived as underwhelming at the time they were first hired?

We'll also just never know how the season might have gone differently - the first 5 games - if not for the QB situation. Wentz was probably not going to have an MVP-caliber campaign this year no matter what.

[allentown]

There certainly are similarities. Both Thomas and Roseman had an uncanny, lucky, off-season in which everything they touched turned to gold. Both had a problem with deficient pipeline going forward -- Roseman was missing a lot of draft picks from the trades which landed Wentz, while Thomas had inherited both a truly deficient farm and a limited budget, which quickly became impossible with the Daulton/Dykstra contracts. Both Pedersen and Fregosi did well with a lot of vets. Both sort of innovated, with what were established methodologies: the run-pass option and heavy use of platoons. Both managed to inspire their teams to do the seemingly impossible. After Wentz went down, Pedersen won the championship with the untouted journeyman QB.

I've always seen Thomas as a good GM emasculated and then fired by Giles. The Eagles big advantage over the 1993 Phillies is the owner. And to Zambonir: yes it certainly appears that Pederson erred in staying within the org to replace Reich and Diphilippo. The playcalling on offense this year hasn't been up to last season's level and the scripted plays at the start of the game have been a particular negative.

[Lawman]

On the other hand, while it didn't seem to work, if Pederson had gone outside the organization and it didn't work we'd probably be criticizing him for that decision. I don;t fault him for installing Groh as OC. I will fault him if that doesn't change for next year, assuming that he thinks Groh is the issue.

I'm also quite scared of allowing Roseman to handle the draft. His record in that regards is not that impressive.

[Lawman]

Ben Livingston (bliv94)

[allentown]

Seriously, I'm not sure that the Eagles beating anybody in their current condition is likely, let alone beating two teams.

[EastFallowfield]

It would be fun for the Giants to pull out the division and then get a much worse draft pick after their playoff defeat.