Philadelphia- August is almost over and normally fans are all juiced for the upcoming season. This year however, the fans in the City of Brotherly Love seem to be more concerned about Ben Simmons or the prospects that the Phillies have down on the farm. Here are five reasons why there is no “juice” going into the 2016 season.
- Doug Pederson He is a first year coach, who like it or not, is a nice guy. All that the fans know about Pederson’s play calling is what he did in Kansas City as the Chiefs Offensive Coordinator…mostly the horrible play calling in the AFC Playoffs last year. Once Chip was fired in December, the fans were look for a big name. Instead, they received a coach whose only Head Coaching job was was at a high school in Louisiana. Since joining the Eagles, there have been two players with off field incidents…Pederson has spoke to neither. How in the heck did he not talk to two of starters who had off the field issues?
- Lack of Offensive Stars Eagles fan can thank Chip Kelly for this. Chip either released or traded the big time playmakers in the last three years and received little in return. How can anyone get excited for Ryan Mathews, who will wind up missing some time this season with an injury. Lets not forget the receiving corp which dropped too many balls for a high school team. People will say that they brought in Dorial Green-Beckham but there has to reason the Titans let him go for a player that was most likely going to be cut.
- Lane Johnson’s expected Suspension This dope, yes he is a dope, is expected to get a 10 game suspension for failing his second drug test and then went on to blame everyone but himself. He has been touted as the heir apparent to Jason Peters, who might not make it injury free this season. The O-line is average at best even with Johnson and Peters being two of the best they have. The Eagles have to reshuffle the line and hope that they can open holes for the backs and provide the QB enough time to get a pass off.
- Sam Bradford He is back for at least one year after no one seemed to want him in free agency. He is, at best, an average quarterback but gets bitten by the injury bug way to often in his career. Opposing corner backs are looking forward to going against him. Bradford only had one game last year with a passer rating above 90 and also threw 14 interceptions. Bradford has yet to smell the playoffs and up short last year with the season on the line at home.
- Wentz’s Injury The town was juiced to see the future of the team in the preseason game. And what they saw was a lot of talent to look forward to in years to. even more impressive was that Wentz was playing with 2nd and 3rd teamers who were over matched. The city was buzzing. Then came the horrible news that he had a rib injury and probably won’t play again this preseason. Fans were hoping that, before the injury, he might replace Bradford during the second half of the season just like McNabb replaced Pederson in 1999.
While things might not look good, they are better than they appear. For those thinking this is 1999 Part 2, forget it, they have more talent than they did back then. If the Birds can get a break here and there, they could win the East. The record as I see it is 8-8.
Fly Eagles Fly
