Sports

[gardenman]

I won't say Dan Quinn is on the hottest seat, but he's also not the most secure of coaches. He's a defensive coach with a kid QB in an offensive league. The team owners want a new stadium deal and need the team to look improved. Kliff Kingsbury might want the head job and work to sabotage Quinn. It's not unheard of for coordinators to work to get the head coach fired while they suck up to the owners to get the job.

I think the Lions OC Ben Johnson was supposed to be the head coach, then backed out. If things don't go well this year and Ben Johnson's available, they could make the move next year. Teams will often be quick to give up on the coach they settled for when the coach they coveted becomes available.

If Kliff and his QB develop issues, and the team decides Kliff has to go, then replacing both Kliff and Quinn with Ben Johnson might be the easy solution for the new owners. 

[Spurt]

@gardenman 

Well how do you feel about Nick being on the hot seat???....It was strange how the Eagles unraveled last season. Afterall you got the proclaimed GREAT MASTERMIND GM in Howie Roseman, who keeps getting these top free agents and draft picks to fill the roster. I heard the problem came from a variety of sources from the coordinators, to the secondary, to the pass rush, or Jalen was injured more than anyone cared to admit and Sirianni was clueless on how to fix the problems.....Yes, there were some injuries, but supposedly Howie made sure to have adequate depth available, or perhaps the roster wasn't as good as people thought.....????

If the Eagles dont get to the Super Bowl I think Nick will be GONE, and it will be the EAGLES who will go after the Lion's Ben Johnson...JMHO

Harris himself has preached patience in turning the team around. With as careful as Washington has been with all the hirings at both the Staff and Coaching positions to make sure they hire people willing to collaborate, I don't think there's any conspiracy in place, by Kingsbury to wrestle away the Head Coach job, or others to supplant Quinn and figure out a way to bring in Ben Johnson.....JMHO

[gardenman]

@Spurt 

With the Eagles' collapse last year, Nick is on the hot seat and needs to avoid a repeat. If they get off to a bad start or start to flounder again, he needs to right things quickly. The NFLPA did grade Nick as an "A" coach last year, so the players still are behind him.

What happened last year? A lot. It started with losing the Super Bowl in February of 2023. When you play in the Super Bowl you're five to six weeks behind most of the rest of the league in preparing for the upcoming season. Players are weeks behind others in getting their clean-up surgeries, and everyone is playing catchup to the rest of the league.

Then losing both coordinators hurt. Shane Steichen went to the Colts and then Jon Gannon left for Arizona. The Eagles had expected Gannon to leave and had Vic Fangio on standby. Then Gannon swore he was never going to leave (even though he'd already privately committed to the Cards) so Fangio went to Miami. Then Gannon left.

Nick's original staff were friends of his that he'd known and coached with for years. Now his two top deputies were gone and the best options to replace them had already been snagged by other teams. When you're the last team looking to hire coaches/coordinators, you're pretty much just picking from what's left. And that's not a good thing. Very rarely are the best possible coaches the leftovers.

Nick ended up promoting from within on offense moving Brian Johnson from QB coach to OC. Then he went outside to get a DC in Sean Desai. And hoped for the best. They then had to build a staff of assistant coaches from whatever leftovers remained unhired. 

Now with the staff established, a new situation developed where Matt Patricia joined the staff in a defensive assistant role. My suspicion is that Patricia was imposed on Nick more than hired by Nick. Jeff Lurie is from New England and tried to buy the Patriots way back in 1994. He's been close to Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick for years. I suspect one or the other, maybe both, pushed him to hire Patricia as his eyes and ears into what was happening in and around the locker room and with the new staff.

Then the injuries started. Jalen Hurts was obviously playing dinged. He was far from one hundred percent. He ran at about half his normal speed. Brian Johnson's offense had essentially two passing plays. You had four verticals, designed to extend the defense and give room for Hurts to run if a receiver didn't break open, and the wide receiver screen. With a dinged Hurts at less than full speed, the four verticals was largely a useless play. Defenses could tell quickly if the WR screen or four verticals were called and played accordingly. 

The Eagles got off to a 10-1 record, but if you look back at my postgame comments for each week they were something along the line of: "We won. I don't know how. The team's not right this year." And they weren't. There was a problem or problems. Hurts being dinged was a big part of it. The players just weren't having fun playing like they did in the past. I think they may have realized they had a spy in their midst (Patricia) and that affected them.

Then the front office (presumably Jeffrey Lurie) decided that Sean Desai needed to be removed from the DC role and replaced with Patricia. My guess is that he was advised to make that move by Belichick and Kraft. It didn't work. The defense got worse and the players were confused as Patricia tried to install his system with new language and new stuff in midseason. There was a notable sideline confrontation between Nick and Haason Reddick and that's probably part of the reason Reddick is no longer an Eagles.

The Eagles had a very predictable offense, essentially two primary passing plays, just dressed up differently. Dissension in the ranks with the front office getting a little too handsy with the coaching hires and oversight. They had to make do with whatever coaches were left over when they hired the new staff.  Their best player was dinged and playing at less than a hundred percent. His backup (Mariota) had looked horrible in the OTAs, preseason, and in the limited game action, so replacing the QB wasn't possible. Darius Slay played most of the year with a bad knee (now scoped and cleaned out). James Bradberry just forgot how to play football. He couldn't cover or tackle. (He's rumored to be on his way to Arizona in one of those "We'll give you Bradberry and a fourth-round pick for a fifth-round pick if you'll take him off our hands." If the trade falls through, he'll likely get cut in June.) We went through something like 18 defensive backs (safeties and corners) last year due to injuries. Linebackers were dropping due to injuries each week. The whole vibe of the team was just off.

What have they done to fix the issues? Losing in the playoffs as early as they did gave them a better pick of coordinators and assistant coaches. They got back Vic Fangio and hired Kellen Moore. Both brought in coaches they knew and trusted. Hurts is back being healthy and they brought in Kenny Pickett, who's a better option than Mariota at this point in their careers. (The media without an exception remarked on how quick Hurts looked in practice the other day, so he's back healthy.) The players who had "issues" last year (Reddick primarily) but others were also flushed when they could have been re-signed. The team is focused on team building this year. Getting and keeping everyone on the same page. You see a change in the practices and glimpses we get. You see guys cheering one another on. You see the players having fun playing football again. 

Is it a Super Bowl or bust year? Probably not. Stuff happens. The Eagles need to make the playoffs and win a round or two, but if they lose to a better team later in the playoffs, they likely won't fire Nick.

Each year you want your team to be better than it was the year before. We've got better coordinators, better assistant coaches, and arguably a better roster than we had last year. God willing, we should get a better result. But we won't know for sure until the season starts. Once the real games begin you can get a feel for the team. Last year's team just had a bad vibe from week one on. They won a lot of games but never looked "right" doing so. It was more a case of a few talented players willing the team to win with a play here or there than a real case of them being the best team in the league. They were just never "right" last year. You kept hoping they could figure it out and turn it on, but no.

The roster is getting younger, faster, and hopefully better. The offense should be solid. Vic Fangio pretty much always turns out a top-ten defense. (Despite the grumblings from disgruntled players in Miami, they were a top-ten defense under Vic.) Kellen Moore consistently had the Cowboys as a top-ten offense. And he might have better players to work with in Phily than he had in Dallas. Optimism is high right now. We'll see what happens when the games start. It won't take long to get a feel if the team is "right" this year or not. Last year, they were not "right." Many changes have been made and so far, so good. We'll find out more in September.

[teganslaw]

SPURT, I know you don't follow the UFL, but I have to give a shout out to the San Antonio Brahmas. They ended the Birmingham Stallions' 15 game winning streak! The Stallions hadn't lost a game since May of 2023, won the Championship finals and averaged at least 30 points a game. The Brahmas won 18-9. 

If San Antonio wins next week (they face St. Louis Battlehawks-another good team) they will have home advantage in the playoffs. Wade Phillips has done a good job coaching the Brahmas. 

All eyes are on the Bears and Caleb Williams. High expectations out of Chicago. If things don't work out it could get ugly. 

[gardenman]

Yeah, it's a tough situation for Caleb Williams. The Bears have been lost in the QB desert since the Jim McMahon days. They keep trying to find a way out, but keep coming up short. He's their newest hope, but the pressure on him will be enormous.

[Spurt]

• @gardenman @teganslaw 

GARDENMAN, Thanks for the explanation and your thoughts on the matter....Currently Washington and the Giants have much work to do to make them contenders, so GO GET EM EAGLES, TAKE THE DIVISION!, don't let Dallas get it!

I listen to a Podcast orginating from the UK comprised of Washington fans, oh and one American......These fans are extremely knowledgeable.....I chuckled when they made fun of Americans who made "mock NFL schedules"....they said the mock draft thing was enough, and even then some take it too far they said....but come on a mock schedule...LOL...I think they're right.  They're also a realistic group, and realize it will take time to rebuild the team.....

One thing they discussed was the rumor that the NFL Draft would be moved overseas.....one thing they said to dispell that rumor was that the NFL Draft takes place at the same time as the Premier League Playoffs..Putting the NFL Draft against the #1 sport wouldn't be productive. And with the time difference more likely would have to be moved back to Saturday/Sunday broadcasts ....Just doesn't appear to be a good idea!

.

[Spurt]

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@teganslaw wrote:

SPURT, I know you don't follow the UFL, but I have to give a shout out to the San Antonio Brahmas. They ended the Birmingham Stallions' 15 game winning streak! The Stallions hadn't lost a game since May of 2023, won the Championship finals and averaged at least 30 points a game. The Brahmas won 18-9. 

If San Antonio wins next week (they face St. Louis Battlehawks-another good team) they will have home advantage in the playoffs. Wade Phillips has done a good job coaching the Brahmas. 

All eyes are on the Bears and Caleb Williams. High expectations out of Chicago. If things don't work out it could get ugly. 

---

@teganslaw 

Thanks for the heads up on the Brahmas, yep that Wade Phillips is still a darn good coach......

[gardenman]

I think the Eagles have an advantage this year over the Cowboys in headspace if nothing else. The three best players of the Cowboys aren't happy with their contracts, or lack thereof. They let some trusted veterans wander off in free agency and didn't make a big effort to replace them, trusting backups and rookies to fill those slots. They brought back Zeke but are largely paying him near the league minimum ($2 million, and for just one year.) Will he be happy just getting that? 

The Eagles went out and brought in veteran players to fill voids in safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, linebacker Devin White, edge rusher Bryce Huff, RB Saquon Barkley, WR Parris Campbell, and others.

It's hard to find a single roster spot on the Cowboys where they've improved and pretty easy to find a few where they've downgraded. The Eagles should be better at linebacker, running back, safety, and cornerback. The big talk in Philly now is if they've done enough to upgrade WR 3. When that's your biggest issue, things are going pretty well.

The Cowboys will have two new starters on the o-line, and that's not always an easy transition. CeeDee needs to get paid. If he doesn't get a new deal they'll likely tag him in the offseason and he won't be happy about that. The floor for his new contract is now $32+ million (AJ Brown money) and will only go up when Justin Jefferson signs his new deal. Micah Parsons needs a new deal soon. They can stall for another year if they want to, but it's better to pay the guys early. There was a lot of chatter earlier in the offseason that they weren't happy with Parsons. I'm sure he's heard that also and I suspect he's not thrilled with the front office as a result. Dak is still playing on the last year of his deal and despite him saying he doesn't play for the money, his actions say otherwise.

There's a lot more that goes into building a winning team than just plugging players into roles. A lot of football gets played between the earholes and I'm not sure the Cowboys are in the best headspace at this time. It's hard to look at their roster and say it's better than it was last year. More than a few of their players are a tad disgruntled. Despite being "all-in" they haven't done a lot to improve. The Eagles, Commanders, and even the Giants can say they're better now than they were last year. Are the Cowboys? Are they even as good as they were last year? They need three or four rookies to step up and be good starters and that's asking a lot of a rookie class. Especially for kids picked later in each round.

I don't see the NFL moving the draft overseas for a multitude of issues. Just flying everyone overseas for the draft and getting the communications down right would be a challenge. A lot of stuff changes minute by minute in the draft and relying on international phone lines might be asking a lot. You've got 32 US cities with teams that would all want it first. It's a hassle getting everything set up and organized in the US. Overseas would just add an extra level of chaos to an already chaotic event for those running the draft.

[Spurt]

Well here we go AGAIN! 

 Statement from a Commanders spokesperson on the sexual assault allegations against kicker Brandon McManus: "Earlier today, we were made aware of the civil lawsuit filed on May 24 against Brandon McManus. We take allegations of this nature very seriously and are looking into the situation.

Didn't the team just get thru 24 yrs of this same kinda qwap!  Looks like Washington didn't do their due diligence on this guy......JUST RELEASE THE JERK!..They shouldve kept Tucker Addington from New Braunfels and Canyon High School (He's from around where I live)

HERE'S THE SCOOP:

Two women have filed a lawsuit accusing kicker Brandon McManus of sexually assaulting them on a Jaguars team flight last year.

Michael DiRocco of ESPN reports that the Jaguars are also being sued by the two flight attendants for failing to supervise McManus, who now plays for the Commanders, and failing to create a safe environment for staff serving the team. They are seeking a jury trial and more than $1 million in damages.

McManus is accused of trying to kiss one woman while she was seated during a turbulent period of the September flight and “grinding up against her” during one of the flight’s meal services. The second woman also accuses McManus of grinding against her and then “smirked and walked away” when confronted about it. The lawsuit also claims that McManus offered money to other flight attendants to “drink and dance inappropriately.”

McManus started his career with the Colts, he spent nine seasons with the Broncos before joining the Jaguars last year. He signed a one-year contract with Washington in March.

PS He's married so he will catch 💩 that way....or may be involved in a divorce soon....

[gardenman]

I think the Jags should be okay in that suit. How can they be responsible for failing to supervise a 33-year-old man? He's an adult (or is supposed to be) so it's not like the team had a leash on him. If he was a child or teenager, yeah they're liable for not supervising him, but he's an adult, just not a very mature one. I always look at claims like this suspiciously, but in this case, it feels legit. If you're targeting an athlete for money, you don't go after the kicker, who's among the lowest-paid players on the team. You target the QB, WR, DE, LB, CB, or other higher-paid guy. This complaint sounds legit. Kickers are very expendable and he's making himself even more expendable. 

Week two of the more intense OTA practices kick off this week. We should get more news on who is and who isn't in attendance. The majority of the Eagles were at the practice open to the media. A few guys were absent but no real hint of any contract issues with them. Most just had something else going on and had been there earlier and will be there later.