I’m back at it with a new Eagles mailbag following my first in a little mini-series on Tuesday. I’m handling a stack of questions from our loyal BGN readers over on The Feed. I’ll tackle some more now and then make my way through them as this week goes on.
Let’s get after it…
mpsufan3: If the Eagles win the Super Bowl this upcoming season, will Nick Sirianni get any credit or does it all go to the new offensive staff and Uncle Vic? In your opinion, what does Nick have to do to get more respect or has that ship sailed?
I’m one of the most pro-Nick Sirianni people you’ll find across the Delaware Valley. The easy answer is that there’s nothing he can do at this point, inexplicably, to receive the credit he deserves for the Eagles being in the postseason
annually and winning a championship.
If the Eagles win this upcoming season’s Super Bowl, yes, Vic Fangio will receive his laurels for being one of the best defensive minds of the century while Sean Mannion will likely be out the door for a head coaching job elsewhere. The narrative will be about that duo thrived and how Sirianni got out of his own way. If the Eagles bail out early in the postseason like they did this past winter, however, the blame will be laid at Sirianni’s feet.
I remember that old adage that if you win in Philly, “You’ll never pay for a drink in this town again.” I’ve seen two Eagles head coaches win Super Bowls within the last decade. Doug Pederson was maligned often. Sirianni is frequently persona non grata here. That saying was ultimately nonsensical. That’s just not how it works here.
I always think that the two “smart” Eagles head coaches this century in Andy Reid and Chip Kelly never won the big one in Philly. The two “doofus” head coaches in Pederson and Sirianni actually brought home the hardware. Food for thought!
Hopkins48!!: If Jeff Lurie spends cash on an upgrade to franchise player-related facilities, should he completely overhaul the locker room, or buy a team plane with only first class seating?
Jeffrey Lurie is, unquestionably, the greatest modern-day Philadelphia sports owner. I’m not going to name names, but there are other owners across the Sports Complex who are certainly easy to hate. That’s never been the case with Lurie, who’s overseen an unprecedented quarter of a century of success for this franchise. He says all the right things. He’s kept the Birds in consistent contention for as long as I’ve had concrete memories. Philly has been lucky on that front.
That said, it is a little strange that the team always rates low and draws ire for the locker room status, travel, etc. in those NFLPA surveys given everything else we know about the team, right?
I’m all in favor of the Eagles being a first-class organization on every possible front. The Eagles aren’t the Bengals, for instance, but the locker rooms, both at the facility formerly known as the NovaCare Complex and Lincoln Financial Field, are probably on the small side. From afar, it’s baffling that any NFL franchise doesn’t have their own team plane as well.
I’m going to be pro-player when it comes to these matters. Investing in your players’ comfort and well-being should build morale and trickle down to a happier workplace setting, no?
Hopkins48!!: Will the Cowboys, as seems apparent, ruin their relationship with George Pickens, and then blame Pickens, like they did with Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence? (Not to mention many others.)
I couldn’t want anything more in this world of ours than for the Cowboys to drag out the George Pickens contract saga through the summer. On the simplest level, it’s bad for their on-field product. Pickens is the archetypal brash, but undeniably talented Dallas wideout. Alienating him, and possibly getting him out of Dallas already, would be lovely for Birds fans. Who wants their most bitter division rival to have a guy going into his age-25 campaign coming off a 1,400-yard, nine-touchdown season?
On a more neurotic level, I’d much rather another fiasco down in Dallas dominate the 24/7 NFL news cycle than anything dealing with Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown and the Eagles overall. Put the Cowboys under the microscope and let the Eagles cool off for a second!
TheGreatJB99: Will A.J. Brown be moved to a player/coach role?
My very real sources are telling me that A.J. Brown will be the first NFL player to be both a Pro Bowl wide receiver and Assistant to the Chief Security Officer!
