One of the many “guarantees” in my life is that my co-hosting partner of the “RCN SportsTalk” show, Joseph Lynnwood Craig, is constantly harassing me about things he wants…more airtime, bigger coffee mugs, softer cushions for his chair, etc. One of his regular complaints each summer is that he doesn’t get many opportunities to write an entry on the “SportsTalk Shop” blog, especially, when I go on vacation.
Each year, I give him an opportunity to do this, with the following specifications:
- Please type it
- Please keep it to 8-12 paragraphs
- Please have it ready to go a few days before I leave for my vacation
Each year, he fails to follow all three requests.
Instead, he recently handed me a rolled-up stack of penmanship paper, with his long, hand-written and ink-stained rants about a broad and an incredibly vague topic. His commentary, he insists, will flood my mailbox with positive support for his point of view. Then, he promises, the public will demand he scribes even more entries during the year.
Well, now’s your chance to prove him right!
This week, we bring you a taste of Joe’s sports psyche and his thoughts on the recent transactions of his beloved Philadelphia Eagles. We hope you enjoy the opportunity to hear Mr. Craig’s observations and opinions. And now, from the “Scrolls of Craig” (and I do literally mean scrolls), here are Joe’s thoughts (with a literary assist from former sports writer Jack Logic) on the recent actions, missteps and future predictions of the Philadelphia Eagles (abridged version).
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The four major professional sports teams in Philadelphia have each taken many different routes in different season. While the Eagles have had some success in recent years, there have been more disappointments than happy moments surrounding this team over the last few seasons.
After sticking with Head Coach Andy Reid from 1999-2012, (some would argue that was too long a tenure), Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie went in a completely different direction. Reid was a life-long NFL-er, while studying under the coaching tenure and “Old School” mentality of Mike Holmgren. Reid was very conservative in many ways and would try not to rock the boat very often. He was like his successor, Chip Kelly, in that he was quite stubborn, but he would rarely try to make a giant splash.
Instead, usually made “safer” player personnel changes to his lineup. Terrell Owens was, of course, a major exception to this theory, and his time in Philly was cut short.
With Kelly, Lurie went in completely opposite direction. Kelly had no experience in the NFL as a coach or a player. He had a radically different approach to many things and was a very polarizing person in the city of Philadelphia. We would find out later that he seemed to relish developing an “us-versus-them” community and, as time when on, more people found themselves as an outsider in the “Kelly World.”
The Eagles thought they were on the right track when Kelly was hired in 2013. His Eagles had a 10-6 record and went to the playoffs in Kelly’s first year. Not many coaches in NFL history had the kind of success Chip had in his first experience as an NFL head coach.
In his second season, Kelly’s team repeated that level of success by once again winning ten games but failed to make the playoffs in an all-out power struggle in the NFC East.
That offseason was a time for change.
Between Kelly, team General Manager Howie Roseman and Owner Jeffrey Lurie, there was a front office shake-up. Lurie handed the keys to his organization over to Kelly and put long-time front office man Roseman was put on the back burner.
As the Eagles new “GM,” Kelly made a number of controversial moves. His first and only year as the man in charge of player personnel for the Eagles ended up being one of the worst front office men in Philadelphia pro sports history. Kelly traded popular and proven players—and some that he clearly did not see eye-to-eye with along with the controversial decision to unload this year’s second round draft pick and, in return, received injured players or players who were not successful for a long period of time.
The two moves that angered Eagles fans (and probably the owner) the most, was the trading of Shady McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for Kiko Alonzo. They also let the popular wide receiver Jeremy Maclin leave to go join former Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid and received nothing in return for him.
These off-season moves prompted Lurie to fire Chip Kelly before the 2015 season had ended. Kelly was let go after a 6-9 record and had his office cleared out before the Birds played their final game of that year.
Going forward, the Eagles brought back the former GM Roseman to retake the position he previously had, in charge of the player personnel decisions. Roseman, by all accounts, has had a good offseason, in my opinion. Through free agency, trades and the draft, Roseman has plugged many of the holes that Kelly had left behind.
In 2016, the Eagles should challenge for the NFC East division title. With a veteran cast and the hiring of new Head Coach Doug Peterson (who was mentored by Reid), the team will return to the playoffs. They also have two new coordinators. Jim Schwartz will head-up the defense and Frank Reich will oversee the offense.
As for 2017, the Eagles will have started the Carson Wentz Era as he was selected with the second overall pick in this past summer’s draft. The team will once again return to glory.
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Don’t forget, Joe would love to get some responses for this week’s blog entry, so please send us your thoughts via email (RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com) and let us know if you’d like Mr. Craig’s to participate more often on our weekly blogs. Also, be sure to hear Joe’s opinions each week on the live edition of “SportsTalk” every Thursday at 7 pm and on our podcasts.
