“ThE NEw NOrM”

This post may come off as negative, but I wanted the Eagles to be successful this season just like all of you. Matter of fact, it was promised to me by Doug Pederson himself at the end of Parade Day. The New Norm, they said. The “New Norm” shouldn’t be struggling to win games and be close to mathematically eliminated after week 14. That was the old norm.

The first thing that needs to happen is Mike Groh has to go. I never wish for a coach to get caught filming himself doing a line of blow and then send it to a stripper, but god damn it may take a scandal like that for Groh to get the boot. His offense has been horrendous all year. Carson looks extremely uncomfortable when Zach Ertz isn’t open or when he needs to plant and throw. It may just be part of his recovery process, but the offensive scheme hasn’t helped. And, don’t even get me started on being unable to integrate Golden Tate. IT’S CALLED A FOOKIN BUBBLE SCREEN MIKE! Very simple play, line up a cluster of receivers, snap the ball, receivers block, Carson gets the ball out QUICKLY to Tate behind the screen. The play works in a powder puff football game, it shouldn’t be hard to execute with paid professionals. Hell, I would run it just for the sake of shutting us up about this issue!

Unfortunately, that brings me to the next change. Let Golden Tate walk. That’s bound to happen, but it’s very clear that this experiment did not work. Howie tried to grab Amari but after the Cowboys gave Oakland what they wanted, he settled for a bargain (a bargain compared to a first round pick). Luckily, if Tate walks the Eagles can grab a 2019 3rd round AND a 2020 fourth round compensatory pick. Tate costs too much plan and simple. While you have the door open for Tate make sure Ronald Darby, Chris Long, Brandon Graham, and Nick Foles follow. Life’s tough when there’s a franchise QB to sign after 2020. This isn’t the MLB where you can just throw money and long term deals around like candy.

I don’t give a shit how well the Eagles play for the rest of the season. Throw the done chain on and lose out. A higher draft pick would give me a bigger sports boner than beating Houston or L.A. Howie needs to do his thing this offseason and bring in a few role players on low salaries, preferably ones that can play defensive back. Joe Douglas needs to show he can draft players that make the starting lineup. So far the 2018 draft class has been a disappointment outside of Dallas ” YAC” Goedertt and Avonte Maddox. This year absolutely sucked, this was not the “new norm” I was promised. But I am still confident we can reach that point in the years to come.

This season was a harsh reality. Eagles fans might have needed it though. Now, we can understand how hard it is to be a viable contender year after year. I just hope the front office learns from this year and puts us in the right position to get back to the norm next year.