What if Our Coaches Just Stink?
Is our team any good? Is it all a lie? Are we human? Are we dancer?
Entering Week 6, 231 players have been targeted at least 8 times by quarterbacks. Of those qualified players, only one still holds a perfect passer rating (158.3) when targeted.
Nelson Agholor
The Jacksonville Jaguars heralded defense from 2017 is clearly a thing of the past, but a recent addition has been the ballhawk in the secondary that could vault the 2020 unit back to relevance.
Sidney Jones
The Carolina Panthers deploy one of the worst units in the league on both sides of the ball. Despite that, they at least have the 9th best corner in the league in solo tackles.
Rasul Douglas
Since 2018 the Eagles have been one of the most injury-ridden teams in the NFL, despite from 2013 to 2015 being the LEAST injury-ridden team in the NFL. Their coach in that span? No one is claiming Chip Kelly is a good coach. But for every ounce of anger you currently feel at the current medical staff, the coaches, and/or the front office for the myriad of injuries plaguing the team, he had an answer.
Chip Kelly
Photo: Michael Bryant/Philadelphia Inquirer
The important takeaway is a trend of players leaving Philadelphia and immediately balling out. Surely after one or two instances there can be explanations that justify the trend, but too many people have left the team since 2017 and experienced a career renaissance. You can bang your gosh darn head against the wall a million times, but eventually the team needs to reflect on its coaching staff.
Take for instance last week’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers: Chase Claypool quintupled his touchdown total en route to a career-best in total yards. ROOKIE CHASE CLAYPOOL. QUINTIPLED his touchdown total. En. Route. A. Career. Day.
The one time the offense shows up, Jim Schwartz finds a way to ruin it.
And call it what you want, but the two-point conversion decision against San Francisco was a heinous call. Paired with an array of trick plays utilizing Jalen Hurts as some broken swiss army knife with a dull blade, Doug Pederson has shown an immense amount of faith in his offense. The offense went out for a pack of smokes, and Doug is sitting, waiting, wishing for them to come home.
Photo: Ryan Gosling/PFF
Maybe our coaches just suck.
Maybe Frank Reich convinced us our team was an elite offense, our quarterback was prolific, and our team had truly found the new norm. Maybe when players leave and crush it, they are just being coached better. Dare we say, coached well.
Doug Pederson brought in an army of offensive strategists in the hopes of creating a hivemind of sorts, one capable of deconstructing even the greatest defensive front. Yet instead we have played witness to a one-dimensional, predictable clusterDUCK (I see you, editor) of disappointment, a carousel of clowns set on reminding Philadelphia that we are not champions.
Howie Roseman and the entire front office have found a way, year in year out, to screw up the draft. Clearly, a lack of harmony between the higher-ups and coaching staff have also lead to a clash of contradictions on the field. Yet ultimately it is the coaches who have failed. Too many dull knives have become Excaliburs in greener pastures, leaving fans scratching their heads.
Doug Pederson does not need to go. Yet. But he needs to be held accountable as the true captain of a ship he is steering in all the wrong directions.
Feature Image: AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn
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