Now It's Confirmed

It's strange, last week's tough, close loss to a very good Giants team sent me into at least a three day funk. 

What happened yesterday -- while it was a terrible result that set offensive football back at least 10 years -- is not having the same effect.  Yesterday was tough, but today I'm honestly dreading the celebrations of the TAMBC more than I'm really feeling all that crappy about the loss mightaswellhavebeenaloss.

I think that's because we learned something last week that was only confirmed yesterday.  This just isn't a very good team. 

That's the biggest reason all the gnashing of teeth last week about the two plays at the end of the game kind of missed the point.  The problem wasn't that they couldn't execute at the end.  It's that the Giants were simply a far better team.

Other than the one big call at the end there, what is there to really criticize the coaches about in yesterday's result?  Not the roster assemblers.  Not the salary cap managers.  Not the back specialists.  Look at the team that took the field yesterday and tell me what you think should have been done differently. 

The defense played a fine game.  Just as you can't really fault the offense for the New York or Dallas losses, it's hard to fault the defense for giving up only 13 points, even against a team that isn't all that good, especially because if not for a great defensive stand, the Eagles would have lost 17-13. 

Some will say that JJ screwed up his matchups on T.J. Houshmandzadeh, but really, the Bengals did a nice job using formations to get him moved around to different guys.  And a couple of those big plays were just really nice throws.  I actually thought Joselio Hanson put together a pretty nice game yesterday.  

Beyond that, Gocong was a minimal part of the gameplan, so I can't fault JJ for that either.

On the offensive side, this team can't run the ball.  They just can't.  They also can't run screens.  Nor are they much for yards-after-catch (combination of receiver types and QB) unless it's "everyone run off and we'll drag DeSean underneath."  There wasn't much of an available backup option here other than putting it in McNabb's hands and seeing what he does.  

Unfortunately, McNabb didn't have it yesterday.

So, sure, complain about some of the play calls.  And definitely ask why they ran the flea flicker into the wind and the fancy reverse to the guy everyone is spying.  But really, all that stuff was on the margins.  Maybe it makes a big enough difference that the Eagles even manage to pull out an ugly win.

Which wouldn't change the fact that this team just isn't that good.

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The problem with taking blame from the coaches, of course, is that some of them aren't just coaches.  So while it's hard to blame Johnson or Marty (I guess) for most of what happened yesterday, Andy Reid isn't as lucky.

Unfortunately for us, there's zero transparency at the top of the Eagles front office.  We know Banner writes the checks and Lurie signs them, but we don't have a great handle on how they decide which players to hand them to.

If you look at the "football operations" section on PE.com, you'll see Andy's name listed first, then Tom Heckert.  That seems to tell us something, but does anyone outside the NovaCare know how that arrangement works?

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Let's be overly generous for a moment and say that there's almost no way the Eagles should have known they wouldn't be able to run the ball this year.  They could certainly run it last year.  And they didn't know last winter that they wouldn't have Shawn Andrews available this year to be his usual Pro Bowl self (and by the way, the question of whether or not Andrews should try to rush back this season has now been answered).

So let's look at the other issues this team has:

• Poor fullback play (we still love you Klecko, don't take it personally, keep getting better)
• Little contribution from the tight end position
• Poor play from the strongside linebacker position
• Inability -- at times -- to stop the run
• Short yardage impotence

Now look at the Eagles draft:

1 (19) Traded to Carolina
2 (43) Acquired from CAR, traded to MIN
2 (47) Via MIN, DT Trevor Laws, N.D.
2 (49) WR DeSean Jackson, Cal
3 (80) DE Bryan Smith, McNeese State
4 (109) Via CAR, G Mike McGlynn, Pitt
4 (115) To MIA for RB Lorenzo Booker
4 (117) Via MIN, FS Quintin Demps, UTEP
4 (131) CB Jack Ikegwuonu, Wisconsin (Compensatory Pick)
5 (152) Traded to Minnesota
6 (184) G Mike Gibson, Cal
6 (191) Via CLE, Traded Back to CLE
6 (200) LB Joe Mays, North Dakota St. (Compensatory Pick)
6 (203) LB Andy Studebaker, Wheaton (Compensatory Pick)
7 (224) Traded to Buffalo
7 (230) Via SEA, T King Dunlap, Auburn

First of all, remember how keen the Eagles were about making sure everyone considered Lorenzo Booker part of this draft?  They even went so far as to include him in their draft page.  Yeah, guys, he really saved that one.

Secondly, I've bolded the five guys from this draft (including Booker) who have appeared in games this year.  No one faults the Jackson pick.  And Laws is playing more and more as a rotation DT and seems to be earning his keep.  You could argue that he would be more helpful to this team if he weighed about 30 more pounds, but honestly, the DT position has not been the problem this year.  Bunkley is getting better and better and Patterson is already a fine player.

But match that list to the problems above and you won't see any connection.  Basically, right now, the Eagles draft consists of a very good wide receiver, a return man, a depth guy, a ragdoll 20th-string running back, and a special teamer who has appeared in two games with zero production points, according to stats from our guy shlynch.

No fullback.  No tight end (it was a bad year for tight ends).  The potential strongside "linebacker" we drafted (Studebaker) is a Chris Gocong clone.  Dominant, small school defensive end who doesn't know the LB position. 

And there's not a guy on that list who could help the short yardage blues. 

With free agents, the team brought in Asante, Klecko, Chris Clemons, and a bunch of other guys who didn't make the team.  Since Klecko immediately got moved to DT, it's safe to say none of these three guys helps any of those problems either.

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Now of course, you could argue that if the Eagles had brought in guys to help with the problems we now have, we wouldn't have those problems.  Like how punt returning isn't really an issue this year because we brought in Jackson.

The problem there is that those problems were only rectified after they became such a huge issue last year. 

So basically our roster assemblers are playing whack a mole.  Rather than anticipating future issues and ensuring there's a pipeline in place, they're rushing from problem to problem to patch the holes. 

Ok, that's one terribly jumbled metaphor, but the point remains that the Eagles just don't seem to have a great understanding of their roster these days.  I can think of three possible explanations off the top of my head:

1)  They're bad talent evaluators. 

2)  The guys responsible for bringing in the players who haven't worked out are more worried about rescuing those flawed decisions than they are about putting the best team on the field.

3)  The current regime has lost perspective on these guys.  They don't see "Chris Gocong, terrible SAM."  They see, "Chris Gocong, heck of a guy, has a good head on his shoulders, busts his butt trying to get better, really just needs more reps to turn things around." 

They don't see "Jon Runyan, not even close to the drive blocker he used to be."  They see "Jon Runyan, consummate pro, career warrior, not a guy we'd even think about pulling from the lineup to see what his backup can do for us in the future." 

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The problem is that no matter which explanation you find most convincing, the solution is the same.