Blue: Man Out of Time

The Philadelphia Eagles are 3-8 now.

Yes, we’ve lost 7 in a row.

Yes, we’re worse than our record.

No, I don’t believe you if you say that we’re gonna win another game this year. As a matter of fact, I’ll tell you that the Eagles are destined for a top two pick this season.

According to this poll, there’s no need to go in-depth about the Eagles woes. The issue with the team this year? They’re not playing to their potential. No one on the roster seems to be playing to their potential. No one even plays with emotion. No one even coaches with emotion, as far as I can tell.

Actually, Juan Castillo coached with some emotion. But I digress. Veterans and fans have been calling out players all year long. This Eagles team is headed for 3-13, the worst record in franchise history (tied with their 3-13 season in 1998).

Last season, defensive end Jason Babin was brought into the team after a 12.5 sack season with the Tennessee Titans, and boy, was it no fluke. In 2011, Babin recorded 18 sacks with the Eagles, only a few sacks short of Reggie White’s franchise record of 21, set in 1987. The 2011 campaign was entirely different from Babin’s earlier 2009 campaign with the team–in 2009, Babin wore #94 and was useless as a player, being cut by the end of his one season.

In 2012, he would be cut again by the Philadelphia Eagles. But this time, with a little less dignity as he would be dismissed before the end of the season and after a 5 tackle, 1 sack performance in a loss against the Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football.

Game days have not been good to me, or any Eagles fan, this season. The Eagles haven’t won since September 30th and seeing the team take losses in the range of dramatic to disappointing has turned Sundays into the day we just struggle to get through on the way to another disappointing game the next week. Even through the team’s first three wins (and yes, even that version was entirely different from the current team), it was beyond stressful to get through the games.

Imagine my surprise to see a report about how one of my favorite Philadelphia Eagles–a man who I had affectionately dubbed “Captain America” prior to the season–was released from the team. Cut.

Don’t get me wrong now. Jason Babin, like everyone on the roster, has been underperforming this year. 12.5 sacks in 2011, 18 sacks in 2012, and 5.5 sacks this season through 11 games. He has only registered 26 tackles on the season and has been non-existent in stopping the run game week after week. Babin has surely left much to be desired. My issue with this move is the timing and the purpose.

To begin, I will say that I did not expect Jason Babin to return the Eagles in 2013 regardless of how this season went for him. The Eagles are wary of keeping players longer than need be, and a combination of Babin turning 33 over the summer and a $4.2mil salary he would be owed next season, it wouldn’t have surprised me at all if the team passed up on keeping him in midnight green before too long.

But why now? Is it because of his lack of production? Babin has 26 tackles and 5.5 sacks this season. For the ones supporting Babin’s release, his lack of run support is usually their primary defense But let’s look at the rest of the defensive line. Begin with Trent Cole, who is very close with Jason Babin (they often go hunting together during the offseason). Cole has been an Eagle since 2005 and is one of the most underrated linemen in the league, but this season he has totaled 24 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Brandon Graham, the breakout player earlier in this season who splits more time with Babin this year than last year? Fifteen tackles, 1.5 sacks. The interior line? Cullen Jenkins has 18 tackles on the season and 2 sacks. Rookie Fletcher Cox (a.k.a. Thor)? He currently seems to be the best lineman on the team, with just 29 tackles and 3 sacks.

The lack of production simply cannot be the answer, because no other lineman has outplayed Babin this season, with the exception of Fletcher Cox, who you could certainly put an argument up for. As a matter of fact, the Eagles rank 28th in the League in total sacks. I have never been one to single out players when the unit is the issue.

Babin started slow, but in the last few weeks he had been gaining consistency. His 3 sacks in the last four games compares favorably to his 2.5 sacks in his first seven games. A trivial move to release the man as he starts to get on a roll.

What if it was to send a message? What if the Eagles were simply trying to tell its players that “enough is enough”, and it’s time to kick it into high gear?

Not sure where to even begin with this. If you haven’t realized this, we haven’t been a good team at all this year. No one unit on this team has been playing well. The defensive line hasn’t been able to put pressure on anyone. Nnamdi Asomugha has been a pass interference magnet and an eye-rollingly frequent burn victim, while Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is the most penalized cornerback in the NFL. Rookie Mychal Kendricks is one of the least efficient linebackers in the League. The quarterback position, whoever is taking snaps, has been turnover-happy all year, Jeremy Maclin has been a non-factor the entire season while DeSean Jackson, though having a solid year (improving noticeably on his catch rate this season), has only caught two touchdown passes this season and was placed on IR promptly after the Monday night loss against the Panthers for injured ribs. The offensive line is beyond decimated and Andy Reid likes to let LeSean McCoy take unnecessary hits at the end of blowout victories.

In what way does “sending a message” through Jason Babin making any sense? If this was Nnamdi Asomugha we were discussing, a guy who has been the poster boy for the Eagles’ shortcoming since his first game repping Philadelphia, I would understand. If this was Andy Reid, the head coach of the team whose head people have been calling for this entire season, I would understand. If this was even Michael Vick (check out his fresh outfit, by the way!), this would be a moot point. However, I don’t see the effectiveness in sending a message by cutting Jason Babin when simply, there are a lot more options and significant players to choose from.

Please note that I want none of these players cut. Not before the end of the season, anyway.

The final suggestion for Babin being cut is to make room for the younger players, to give them more time in the rotation and show their stuff on the field. Vinny Curry, in his first start of the season, totaled five tackles against the Carolina Panthers. The Philly faithful have been waiting patiently for him to get his turn, especially with the defensive line looking nothing like their 2011 incarnation.

In that regard, I understand the move. The season is lost, and one would have to be in-denial to see the playoffs at the end of the regular season. The team may as well get young guys in, such as Vinny Curry, to show what they’ve got to finish out the season. Call it an extended preseason.

I would agree with that move, but why not bench Babin, or at least cut his time in the rotation? While keeping Babin in if the Eagles truly are out of any type of playoff contention seems pointless, it’s the timing of the matter that gets to me. In a point in the season where the team is in complete disarray, does releasing Jason Babin inspire any type of hope or assurance that the team knows what needs to happen for next season? I’m not sure. The entire act seems as if the Eagles are looking for a scapegoat, notable to the firing of Juan Castillo earlier in the year which has done nothing but backfire heavily. That firing was similar–showing up in the news almost randomly with no one being completely sure if it was a winning or even positive news. At the time, Castillo’s firing was dismissed as a jumpstart to the Eagles season. This move hasn’t been met with the same reception, but the similarities are too eerie.

To me, Merrill Reese (the voice of the Philadelphia Eagles, the team’s radio announcer since 1977) yelling out “and a sack by Jason Babin!” is the second-sweetest sound to hear, trailing only the “TOUCHDOWN!” exclamation by the same man. I’m going to miss it on Sundays, and I’m going to miss Jason Babin and his million-dollar smile even more.

If Babin truly is a scapegoat, and the Eagles do have a plan, it needs to show, quickly. The team is having trouble doing anything right, and this move doesn’t sit with me well enough to make me feel like this puts us on any road to get better.

BONUS: Jason Babin, Top 100 Players of 2012

Monday Night Football Recap: Week 12

Monday, November 26

Carolina Panthers (3-8) defeat the Philadelphia Eagles (3-8), 30-22

Early breakdowns in the Philadelphia Eagles defense lead to a swift start for the Carolina Panthers and an even faster end to the game. Cam Newton, in his very first Monday Night Football appearance, threw for 306 yards and had two touchdown throws in his first four completions.

The Panthers had been having troubles of their own. They are out of the playoff race, but a good performance from Cam Newton–who also ran for 56 yards–is what Carolina has been looking for all season long. It was his third multi-game touchdown this season.

The Eagles seemed to be dismal as ever on defense. There was one point in the game where the Eagles were called offsides on three consecutive plays. The Eagles, who are worse than their 3-8 record, showed it again on Monday night.

The bright spot for Philly was rookie and seventh-round pick Bryce Brown, who set a new franchise record for 174 yards rushing for a rookie, scoring two touchdowns. However, as has been the norm with the Eagles all season, Brown’s positives were outshined by his two lost fumbles (a total of three turnovers on the day for Philadelphia), both of which were critical in an otherwise competitive game.

Nick Foles was 16-21 for 118 yards.

Blue: How to Lose in a Win

“We were trying to catch up and win the game,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said, when asked why LeSean McCoy was still in the game with under two minutes to go in a 34-6 blowout loss to the Washington Redskins.

“Football players play football” says Bill Belichick, commenting on the broken forearm that Rob Gronkowski suffered on special teams with 59 seconds left to go in a 59-24 win over the Colts. “You tell me which guys are going to get hurt and I’ll get them out of there.”

If there are a million ways to lose in a football game, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots re-discovered one in Week 11. Two extremely important pieces to each team’s offenses went down this week, late in meaningless parts of the game.s

Reid’s remarks may come off as smug to some, but the loss of LeSean McCoy has surely humbled him, if not other coaches around the League. McCoy, who is still being tested for the severity of his concussion (he looked pretty “out of there” when the video was shown of him on the sidelines, similar to the look Michael Vick had before it was revealed that his concussion would rule him out for an indefinite amount of time), is now part of a long list of disappointments by the 2012 Eagles, a team streaking for a top three pick in the upcoming draft who will surely see new faces all across the board next season.

As redundant as the loss of LeSean McCoy may seem in a season that had been lost weeks ago, the real story is the loss of Rob Gronkowski for the 7-3 Patriots, who have the AFC East in a chokehold once again and will likely make the playoffs regardless of the loss of Gronk. After all, the next best team in the division is 4-6 and only the Patriots, of the four teams, have a winning record in divisional play.

Robert Gronkowski is literally a freak of nature, a LeBron James of the NFL. At six-foot-seven, 275 pounds, Gronk is the most dangerous weapon in the NFL right now, and has limitless potential that is on track to send him galaxies past even the greatest tight ends, eclipsing the Kellen Winslows, the Tony Gonzalezes, the Shannon Sharpes with ease.

Don’t believe me? ESPN recently posted an article highlighting the sheer value of Rob Gronkowski.

– Gronkowski’s two touchdown on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts gave him 37 for his career, the third-most by any player in his first three seasons in NFL history. Only Randy Moss (43) and Jerry Rice (40) had more.

Gronkowski’s scores on Sunday extended his current streak of consecutive games with a touchdown to four.

– Grownkowski is the first tight end in NFL history to have at least 10 touchdown receptions in each of his first three NFL seasons.

– Gronkowski is one of three players in Patriots history to have three consecutive seasons with at least 10 touchdowns scored. The other two are Corey Dillon (2004 to 2006) and Randy Moss (2007 to 2009).

– Tom Brady was 7-for-7 for 137 yards and two touchdowns when targeting Gronkowski in Sunday’s rout.

– Gronkowski caught his only end-zone target Sunday, his fourth straight game with a touchdown on a pass into the end zone.

– Brady is 5-for-7 targeting Gronkowski in the end zone in his last four games after starting the season 2-for-6 on those throws in New England’s first six games.

On top of that, since last season, Gronkowski has been targeted in the end zone 29 times (ranks fourth in the NFL), caught 19 passes (ranks first in the NFL), dropped only one pass (tied for twelfth in the NFL), and dropped no passes (tied for first in the NFL). And this is without mentioning the numerous tight end and NFL records he holds at only 23 years old.

He is simply invaluable.

So invaluable, I’m guessing, that the Patriots decide game after game to keep him on the field goal unit on the last score of a merciless blowout victory over the Colts. Now while it is well-known that Belichick expects his players to play a full sixty-minutes, even in blowout victories or rare losses, and though it is not uncommon to see first-stringers on special teams, one thing will always remain unquestioned: winning masks everything, and although the Patriots won the game, the loss brings about a lot of questions and doubts about keeping Gronkowski in the game that late.

As a matter of fact, is there any reason why it has to be Gronkowski on special teams? The Patriots, more than anyone, have depth at tight end, packing four or five tight ends on their roster, and that may still be true if you do not include either Gronk or Aaron Hernandez. Gronk hasn’t necessarily been a force on special teams like Kellen Winslow (or LeBron James), so I would assume he hasn’t done much of anything on special teams besides stand there and be viable for injury.

As an Eagles fan, I had no idea why LeSean McCoy had been running the ball that late in the game, especially when backup Bryce Brown seemed to be carrying the majority of the load from beginning of the game anyway, especially in the second half. And I’m sure Patriots fans aren’t very pleased with the dark humor of Week 11, if that’s what you want to call it.

Gronkowski, having surgery today, is slated to miss four to six weeks, and luckily for the Patriots, he should be back in time for the playoffs. The Patriots, provided the path to the postseason is as easy as we expect it to be for them, may have dodged a bullet with the incredible timing of the injury, but if Super Bowl XLVI didn’t let them know before, they will soon find out that there is only one Rob Gronkowski, and the last thing you want is for him to be injured. And while everyone knows his value, it would be a sad story if the Patriots found out the importance of their tight end only after he’s on the sidelines.

Blue: What is Andy Reid playing for?

The Dallas Cowboys may have pushed a quarterback off of the Philadelphia Eagles for the second time in twice as many seasons. 

At the end of the 2009 NFL regular season, the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Eagles in rather dramatic fashion, shutting the birds out 24-0 to end the season. It had been another disappointing game for the Eagles that season, although the embarrassing loss in which quarterback Donovan McNabb could not move an offense which had otherwise been fluent all year long; their 28.6 points per game up until that point ranked third in the League, but the Cowboys had become a brick wall on that day. They would also be a brick wall the next week–the NFC Wildcard Round–where they would go on to defeat the Eagles 34-14 and eliminate them from the playoffs. Two losses in a row and being unable to move the offense was the last straw for the Eagles and McNabb, who had been becoming less and less of a fan-favorite since the Terrell Owens incident in 2004, and McNabb was later shipped to the Washington Redskins.

And again, it seems as if the Cowboys have ended an era in Philadelphia.

The 2009 playoff game versus the Dallas Cowboys would be one of two playoff games that Michael Vick would play in for the team, even hitting Jeremy Maclin on a long, beautiful touchdown throw. And after suffering an apparently severe concussion against the Cowboys on Sunday, he may have played his last regular season game for the team with rookie quarterback Nick Foles finally getting the chance to show his stuff after a year of clamoring from the fans to make a quarterback change. 

The 3-6 Philadelphia Eagles have gone through a season that can only be described as disappointing, and Michael Vick has been a headline for this team each week. A combination of a mass of turnovers by Vick (he has ranked at the top or near the top of the individual turnover list for most of the season now) as well as an offensive line that some are claiming are not even NFL-caliber, along with a red-zone-fearing and mistake-prone offense and a family member who took the liberty of tweeting some controversial comments will likely not be enough to sway the Eagles to retain Vick’s contract for 2013, as $3 million of the $15 million he is owed next year is guaranteed. The Eagles, true to their “in the shadows” demeanor when it comes to business transactions, have not made any comments on the situation, but no comments also means there has been no support from the organization. There must be an uneasy feeling behind those midnight green doors, as Andy Reid’s frequent uses of the word and phrases such as “today” and “right “now” regarding his answers regarding Michael Vick imply much less than stable job security.

Of course, the final decision of what to do with Michael Vick and Nick Foles lies with head coach Andy Reid. Then again, maybe it doesn’t, as Andy Reid is in a similar position to Vick. Full of capable players and individual talent, the Eagles have failed to translate their talent into wins, and have posted a record of 11-14 since Week 1 of 2011. In 2011, the team finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs. Team owner Jeffrey Lurie, furious at his team, vindictively stated that 8-8 was entirely unacceptable for the Eagles franchise and “big changes” will come to the team after the 2012 if 8-8 befalls the team once again. Most feel that these comments are directed towards Andy Reid, the longest-tenured coach in the NFL at 14 years–and Michael Vick. And here we are, the team bee-lining for less than five wins, far from the bare minimum of eight wins set by Lurie. 

The season is all but lost; a slim chance to make the playoffs still exists, but then what? How far into the playoffs would the team have to go to satisfy Lurie? Could making the playoffs save Vick, save Reid, and save other Eagles players who, quietly, could be gone next year? Nnamdi Asomugha, Jason Babin, Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie–the same names who were brought in to improve the team in the 2010-2011 offseason. 

So what does Reid do next? The choice of starting Vick versus Foles next week against the 3-6 Washington Redskins is not up to anyone on the team–Vick’s concussion is reported as serious and he will at least be held out for next week’s game. So now that Foles is all but starting in Washington this week, what about the week after? Reid’s job is on the line, and he hasn’t had a more disappointing season and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Is it worth it to try and compete for what’s left of the season? In 2009, Donovan McNabb suffered injuries as well and was replaced by then backup quarterback Kevin Kolb and came back into the lineup later that year. However, the Eagles then were in a much better position now, even if their situation wasn’t all that desirable. Reid is consistent in saying that the Eagles issues are fixable, but in two years and 25 games, they have not been fixed. 

Does Foles at QB change the season? Does Reid stick with his guy in Michael Vick if he’s healthy? But how important is it for Reid to develop Foles if he won’t be around to see his career unfold? 

These are the questions Reid will have to face, provided Vick is healthy enough for these questions to stay legitimate. Ask an Eagles fan, and the season is all but lost. Ask the players, and they’ll tell you that if there’s a will, there’s a way. Ask the coach, and he’ll tell assert that the necessary corrections will be made by the following week. But by the season’s end, the Foles era will have begun, with or without some of the key components of this current Michael Vick era. The question is “what’s next?” but the eeriest feeling in Philadelphia is that we all know where we’re going as we move forward, and the quarterback position isn’t even the biggest variable.