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The 2021 Eagles are the 2020 WFT


Burgold

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Looking back, I remember feeling really excited about our possibilities after the 2020 season. We had so much going for us:

 

First year coach in Rivera who took us to the playoffs.

Overcoming a slow start to come together as a team and made the playoffs by the skin of our teeth.

An impressive defense especially on the line.

A great young receiver.

A mobile QB with some accuracy issues.

Plus, a really strong showing against Tampa who turned out to crush all the other playoff competition in their way.

 

The 2021 Eagles have:

A first year coach who took them to the playoffs

A team that overcame a slow start to make it into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth

An defense that really improved over its last eight games and was dominant in limiting points, rushing yards, and a few other defensive categories

A great young receiver

A mobile QB with some accuracy issues

A better running game

A really awful showing against a depleted Tampa team.

 

The teams really are pretty similar when boiled down. It's strange though how yesterday's shellacking make me think that the 2021 Eagles have shown themselves to be imposters. Maybe it's because the 2021 WFT turned out to be imposters and that their launchpad never led to a spaceship that could get off the ground. Now Hurts is probably better than Heinike, but even with the game out of reach, the Eagles seemed deathly afraid to take him off the leash and throw a pass longer than a handoff. 2020 has made me think that the Eagles trajectory will be incredibly disappointing. In the end, they were a poor man's 2020 WFT with worse prospects.

 

Maybe this all goes back to QB. Washington has no real investment into Heinike whereas I'd imagine the Eagles are stuck with Hurts for a few years. For what it's worth, I think Hurts is fine as long as the running game works, but can't do it if the team needs to switch modes. Yesterday when the Eagles found themselves trailing big time, the Eagles were still reluctant to let Hurts try any pass longer than a handoff. And yet, I think they stick with him to see how he develops. Just like Washington in 2020, Eagles will think they are "almost there." Some will think they are one magical QB away from being a true contender. But I think that's a false narrative too because everything that I thought was great about our team I now question: I don't think we have a defense that's ready to be dominant for years, I don't know that I think the coaches have developed the culture or that they are good at developing players, and while I thought they were close in 2020, I look at them as a basement team with miles to go right now. I think that's where the Eagles are... except worse. After all, we were a team on the rise in the playoffs and they showed they absolutely didn't belong.

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I said this before in another thread, the Eagles were the biggest fraud in the NFL.  Not only did they play a last place schedule, but they benefited incredibly by playing teams with several injured starters.  In fact, they only beat 2 teams who had their starting QB’s (Atlanta and Detroit).  So that is another similarity between them and the 2020 WFT.  They should not have been in the playoffs and almost certainly would not have if not for our Covid outbreak. 

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The kind of offense that the Eagles run also kind of reminds me of recent WTF "success". Against undisciplined defenses, a run heavy attack with lots of presnap motion, misdirection, and boots can generate some yardage, even with a mediocre QB. Against playoff defenses armed with detailed gameplanning, not so much.

 

I hope the Eagles keep Hurts and their current coaching staff for years, personally. Mark Schlereth can keep talking about how amazing they are for beating poor teams hit with injuries or disease for the next decade :)

 

They may even get to lose a wildcard game every few seasons, with how diluted the talent pool is in the current NFL.

Edited by SpacePenguin
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15 minutes ago, Luca Brasi said:

I said this before in another thread, the Eagles were the biggest fraud in the NFL.  Not only did they play a last place schedule, but they benefited incredibly by playing teams with several injured starters.  In fact, they only beat 2 teams who had their starting QB’s (Atlanta and Detroit).  So that is another similarity between them and the 2020 WFT.  They should not have been in the playoffs and almost certainly would not have if not for our Covid outbreak. 

Agreed. They also benefitted from New Orleans having QB injuries. Had we stayed out of the way of COVID we would've at worst split with them. But, yesterday was a great day watching them and the Cowboys both lose. 

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Both teams benefitted from weak schedules. I think the Eagles will fall off HARD next year. Kinda reminds me of the Giants first year under McAdoo where they made the playoffs but then his schtick wore out and the team tuned him out. I still got Jimmy Zorn vibes from Nicky Sirianni. 

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I was hoping Hurts would show a little more but he was wildly inaccurate. His flop game increases the likelihood they go after a QB in the offseason and they are armed to the teeth compared to us. Or they could go the other route and improve roster around Hurts. I think the Jury is still out on him. He is one heck of a fantasy QB. If it wasnt for covid that may well have been us in there but we would have lost too.

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3 minutes ago, Florgon79 said:

right.

We ended up with the 19th pick.

 

They have 15, 16 and 19. That's a way better place to be then us last year. 

If I'm Jacksonville, I'd call them to trade 1st pick for their 3 first round.

 

And btw, we own 11th, not 19th :P

Edited by Wildbunny
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19 minutes ago, Florgon79 said:

right.

We ended up with the 19th pick.

 

They have 15, 16 and 19. That's a way better place to be then us last year. 

Don't worry. Mara is already working to strip them of their picks. Something about how having too many first rounders is in violation of the spirit of the draft.

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44 minutes ago, Burgold said:

Don't worry. Mara is already working to strip them of their picks. Something about how having too many first rounders is in violation of the spirit of the draft.

Yeah, it's not like the Giants owned two picks in the Top 7 as well 🤣

58 minutes ago, Florgon79 said:

I mean from last years draft. This thread is about how our last year mirrors their current year. 

OK didn't understood this part sorry :)

Edited by Wildbunny
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It’ll be interesting to see what the Eagles do in the draft with those 3 1sts. If they want to upgrade over Hurts, they have more capital than anyone outside of the Giants. If they want to let it ride with Hurts and hoard capital for 2023, they will try to move at least one of those 1sts for a future first.

 

If they keep the 1sts, I expect Jameson Williams and Devin Lloyd to be Eagles next season :(

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15 minutes ago, Cooleyfan1993 said:

Somehow, i think the eagles will be able to build off of this year, in 2022. Their D Line won’t be freelancing, their QB is going into his 3rd season, their owner isn’t as stupid as ours. 

The Eagles have the picks to improve their roster. They also would fare better in getting one of those vets than us.

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14 minutes ago, method man said:

It’ll be interesting to see what the Eagles do in the draft with those 3 1sts. If they want to upgrade over Hurts, they have more capital than anyone outside of the Giants. If they want to let it ride with Hurts and hoard capital for 2023, they will try to move at least one of those 1sts for a future first.

 

If they keep the 1sts, I expect Jameson Williams and Devin Lloyd to be Eagles next season :(

 

It would pure idiocy to take WR in the first round 3 years in a row.  We got lucky they didn't take Parsons last year (unfortunately Dallas did).  Their organization doesn't value LBs.  I expect them to target Watson in a trade.  If they can't do it, I figure they do edge (Barnett is a FA), DT (Cox is aging), and CB.

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The flip side to the Eagles advantage of having three first round draft picks might also be found in the WTF story. 
 

Sometimes, improvements worsen the team. On paper, Jackson was a big upgrade to Darby, but in terms of fit and play the D suffered. Likewise, subbing out Kurl for Collins. In fact, many of our additions seemed to be subtractions. 
 

So while an infusion of three first round talents sounds great it does carry a risk. First, you need to pick right and second you have to get the player up to speed and endure growing pains. 

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7 hours ago, Luca Brasi said:

I said this before in another thread, the Eagles were the biggest fraud in the NFL.  Not only did they play a last place schedule, but they benefited incredibly by playing teams with several injured starters.  In fact, they only beat 2 teams who had their starting QB’s (Atlanta and Detroit).  So that is another similarity between them and the 2020 WFT.  They should not have been in the playoffs and almost certainly would not have if not for our Covid outbreak. 

Have to wonder if thats going to be a thing every single year moving forward with the 7 playoff teams. Some trash team that had everything go right for them and they sneak in because some one did. Same thing happened on both confrences this year. 

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40 minutes ago, Zim489 said:

Have to wonder if thats going to be a thing every single year moving forward with the 7 playoff teams. Some trash team that had everything go right for them and they sneak in because some one did. Same thing happened on both confrences this year. 

And in the process lose a few draft spots that could have helped them improve as a team more then a one and done in the playoffs. May end up just hurting boarder-line teams in the long run.

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