Following the Eagles 28-22 loss to the defending Super Bowl Champion Buccaneers, everyone is rightfully upset.
“Why aren’t they running the ball more”
“Why has Jalen Hurts looked so bad in the pass game”
“Why do Nick Sirianni and Jonathan Gannon look so outmatched every week”.
It’s all fair criticism. The Eagles, sitting at 2-4 now, have a lot of problems all throughout the roster.
In reality though, the real solution is that every single problem we have seen through six weeks can be traced back to Howie Roseman. Let’s take a closer look at how the person who gets pushed aside after losses is actually the REAL problem for this franchise.
Coaching
Pop quiz!
How many General Managers survive the hiring, and firing of four different Head Coaches and still keep their job?
Answer: Only Howie Roseman.
The one constant in an offseason that saw the Eagles let go their Super Bowl winning Head Coach, QB, and a 4-11-1 roster, was the GM. The man in charge of all roster decisions.
Eagle fans have been begging for creativity on the offensive side of the football for a few years now. They interviewed Eric Bienemy, Joe Brady and many other bright offensive minds in the NFL.
They then decided on Nick Sirianni from Indianapolis even though he was clearly one of the least qualified candidates they interviewed. The glass half-full mentality is “hey it worked with Doug Pederson, it could work with Nick Sirianni”.
In reality it comes down to this. Howie wants a Head Coach who listens to him, and Jeffrey Lurie. Doug Pederson literally stepped down because he was tired of being told what to do by Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Lurie.
You don’t think they hired Sirianni because he was clearly an inexperienced coach who had no choice BUT to listen to Howie? It’s not a Sirianni problem. It’s a Howie Problem.
Quarterback
A while back I wrote an article explaining how the QB position has become so overvalued that we basically demand young QB’s to dominate every facet of the game even if the team around him is bad.
It doesn’t matter how good the team is around him. If the QB doesn’t elevate everyone around him, he’s not worth it. And if he does, he must be completely overpaid which then diminishes the chance of the team making other positions better.
Through six games we need to ask ourselves whether the Eagles have helped Hurts develop into a good starting QB. The answer is an unequivocal no.
Hurts hasn’t been very good. But the coaching staff has done nothing to help him.
Meanwhile, Carson Wentz threw for 400 yards and carried the Colts offense on Sunday. He will help the Eagles get a third first-round pick this year.
But tell me, do you think it was a wise decision to trade Carson Wentz without giving him the opportunity to work with a new coaching staff?
Better yet, everyone complains about how Carson Wentz “wanted out” but in reality, it’s reported that he no longer wanted to play with Howie Roseman as GM. Whether you believe the reports or not, Howie has had several issues having relationships with players.
The QB is no different.
Analytics
You can debate who really is in charge of the Eagles analytical department. Whether it’s Lurie listening to it, or Howie pushing it, it’s clear the Eagles have gone all in on the analytics side of the game.
Alec Halaby is the VP of Football Operations and Strategy. His literal bio on the team’s website reads “Halaby focuses on player evaluation, roster management and resource allocation, with a particular emphasis on integrating traditional and analytical methods in football decision-making.”
Roseman and Lurie are dictating coaching decisions on whether or not they’ll listen to them on everything including analytics. It’s money ball in the NFL.
Howie Roseman has gone all-in on the analytical side of football. It’s why the team has ignored the LB position, invested heavily in backup QB’s, and run the RPO as if it’s the only play in the playbook.
Tell me, how many playoff teams in the NFL have bad LB’s on their roster.
The Cowboys embarrassing Philadelphia isn’t because the Cowboys “do analytics better” than the Eagles. It’s because Dallas realizes that to consistently win in the NFL, you need to have physical speed on the defensive side and not rely on defensive tackles stopping the run every single play.
Analytics is a tool that is continued to be pushed throughout the NFL.
It’s one thing to say the analytics work.
But the team hasn’t posted a 10 win season since 2017, has hired four different Head coaches since 2010, and went 4-11-1 last year. That’s not a Sirianni thing. That’s not a Jalen Hurts thing. The problem in Philly isn’t the fans.
It’s a Howie thing.
And until Howie Roseman (and to an extension the whole analytics department) get removed, the Eagles are going to be the doormat of the NFL for a long time.
Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire
