Why the Eagles Make me Want to Cry
October 23rd, 2007, 7:11 am · Post a Comment · posted by patrickdonohue
Rich Kotite, Ray Rhodes, Todd Pederson, Bobby Hoying, Ricky Watters, Bubby Brister. I’ve been through all of it. But nothing hurts like this does. Nothing hurts worse than being a Phildelphia Eagles fan at this moment in history.
When you have the expectation that your team is bad and won’t perform well week-to-week then it’s something you can live with. I remember telling friends that after Week 1, I always looked ahead to the next season after being rightly trounced by a team far more deserving of the win than my beloved Iggles. And then they got my hopes up and strung me along.
I remember getting misty when Donovan McNabb hoisted the NFC Championship Trophy above his head in 2004 and then watched in disappointment as they floundered their chance to make me and thousands of others of equally suffering Eagles fans happy for a lifetime.
But nothing compares to this.
After riding Jeff Garcia’s back all the way into the playoffs last year, we came into the season thinking that we would be back in the playoffs like it was divine right. We should have known better. Any off-season where your major acquisition is Kevin Curtis, formerly the St. Louis Rams’ third best receiver, you know you’re in trouble.
And then there’s the McNabb saga. Twice, the Eagles have had their season ruined, and nearly ruined last year if not for Jeff Garcia, by McNabb’s inability to stay healthy. I know that some will say that the Eagles have never given him a marquee receiver, save He Who Shall Not Be Named, and I agree with that whole-heartedly except that McNabb won with far less earlier in his career. Lest we forget, Donovan took the Eagles to the NFC Championship with Todd “Crocodile Arms” Pinkston and James Thrash on the outside. McNabb may very well be a victim of his own success but the team’s inability to score this season has to fall on his shoulders. I have always been a McNabb supporter. I thought it would have been foolish for the Eagles to take Ricky Williams ahead of him in 1999 given that the Eagles had a solid back in Duce Staley. I have rooted for McNabb and wanted him to succeed but I have also understood that he’s a far from perfect quarterback. He displays little to no touch at times, rifling fastballs into the arms of tight ends on 5-yard hook routes, is not a terrifically accurate quarterback and seems to have abandoned his ability to scramble and improvise. As great as it’s been since he took over the starting job from Todd Pederson his rookie year, it may very well be the end of number 5 in Philly.
And then there’s Andy Reid. I am not going to get into the ongoing legal saga that is the lives of his two sons and I’m certainly not going to speculate how much that has or hasn’t affected his ability to coach and lead the Eagles this season. At the end of the day, as much as I love the Eagles, a man’s family is more important than anything. What I have to judge as a fan is the product on the field. For the better part of this century, we haven’t questioned Reid’s decision making as coach and GM because we were winning. But this is different. With a team that nearly made it to the NFC Championship last season circling the drain, blame has to fall somewhere.
Forget that Sunday, the Eagles’ once-vaunted defense managed to make Brian Griese look like John Elway. The problems with the Birds started on April 29 at Radio City Music Hall.
This year’s draft, like many others recently, was an unmistakable failure. With so many holes, particularly at receiver and linebacker, the fact that they traded out of the first round (with a team in their own division) to take Kevin Kolb with their first pick of the draft is inexcusable, particularly considering that Kolb was rated by some as the fifth best quarterback in the draft behind Drew Stanton and Trent Edwards, not to mention JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn. At such a critical juncture in team history, to screw up such an important draft pick that spectacularly is a particularly condemning act.
So where do we go from here? It appears that this team needs a facelift and it needs leadership. So who goes? Is it Andy Reid or Donovan McNabb or both? Make no mistake, this could be the most important off-season in franchise history.
