17 replies to this topic

[romeisburning]

Dave, if you owned a football team which hadn't seen much success in recent years, would you trust the job of turning around that team to someone who has no football background and has not demonstrated any ability to either draft or sign quality football players or would you turn to someone like Bill Polian who has demonstrated the ability to identify talent and put together a winning program?

[PoconoDon]

All I want is for the owner to do this the right way for the Eagles...for the first time since before my time.....To me, it's a 5 step process....the same one every other multiple championship team in NFL history has followed.

Step 1 - Lurie exhausts all possible options and uses everything at his disposal, to ensure that a fully connected, top shelf GM is hired (and given the title of V.P. of Football Operations, because of Howie).
Step 2 - Howie Roseman is put in charge of player contract negotiations only and answers to the newly hired V.P.....see.....smart contract lawyers doing contracts.
Step 3 - The new V.P. hires the Head Coach and restructures the entire player personnel department (scouts through directors), on both pro and college sides, as he see fit.
Step 4 - The new V.P., after conferring with the new head coach, runs the drafts and has final say on FA signings....yeah, a top shelf football guy runs the football stuff..imagine that!!!
Step 5 - The team gets built the right way for the first time in 2 full generations (1940's)...........and the Lombardi trophy rests in south Philadelphia a few times along the way.

Step 6 - I concede that Jeffrey Lurie actually cares about the Eagles, and is not just the transplanted Patriots fan that happens to own this ball club, which I think he is now.

[CT Eagle]

[DaveSpadaro]

I just want to win and, having known Howie and having known how things have worked here, yeah, I trust him. But I'd like to play out this season and see what happens before we talk about the future, OK? We have the entire offseason to talk about next year.

[mjkvol]

DaveSpadaro, on 14 November 2012 - 10:31 AM, said:

I just want to win and, having known Howie and having known how things have worked here, yeah, I trust him. But I'd like to play out this season and see what happens before we talk about the future, OK? We have the entire offseason to talk about next year.

Seriously, Dave - based on what, exactly, other than the fact that he was extended, and therefore having him here is automatically the right move?

[PoconoDon]

CT Eagle, on 14 November 2012 - 10:27 AM, said:

That was a funny response....

[Schlob]

DaveSpadaro, on 14 November 2012 - 10:31 AM, said:

I just want to win and, having known Howie and having known how things have worked here, yeah, I trust him. But I'd like to play out this season and see what happens before we talk about the future, OK? We have the entire offseason to talk about next year.

Yea, his first two drafts have been so incredibly wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!! This team is in for a decade of horror. Gold Standard has become Manure Standard.

[patpikunas]

mjkvol, on 14 November 2012 - 10:33 AM, said:

Seriously, Dave - based on what, exactly, other than the fact that he was extended, and therefore having him here is automatically the right move?

Based on that is what he is being told to say!

[mjkvol]

patpikunas, on 14 November 2012 - 11:42 AM, said:

Based on that is what he is being told to say!

We know that, but I'd love to hear an attempt at rationalization, you know?  

[patpikunas]

mjkvol, on 14 November 2012 - 11:59 AM, said:

We know that, but I'd love to hear an attempt at rationalization, you know?  

It will all come out from his mouth/keyboard on 12-31-12, at least about Reid....
Of course Howie being the only holdover to hold Lurie's hand, will be the savior to rebuild the franchise.

[mjkvol]

patpikunas, on 14 November 2012 - 12:06 PM, said:

It will all come out from his mouth/keyboard on 12-31-12, at least about Reid....
Of course Howie being the only holdover to hold Lurie's hand, will be the savior to rebuild the franchise.

Heaven forbid!

[PoconoDon]

The names of men who have been trained and performed with excellence, in the specialized area of scouting football players are, IMO, the only names that should be on the list of candidates for V.P. of Football Operations.....period.

I have no problem if the guy is a younger (yet proven to this point), rising star, and player personnel expert, as long as he is sufficiently respected to garner other young stars wanting to join him so that they can, collectively, set a standard of performance that will be the envy of the league.

For me, this is the first, and most important step in the rebuilding process, and I do not have confidence, based on the last two drafts, in which he played a large role, that Howie Roseman is that guy.

If Jeffrey Lurie doesn't get this first step right, I think everything else done after that will be for naught.

[patpikunas]

mjkvol, on 14 November 2012 - 12:18 PM, said:

Heaven forbid!

That will be the Spadoro spin come January if Howie is running football side as expected

[mjkvol]

PoconoDon, on 14 November 2012 - 12:24 PM, said:

The names of men who have been trained and performed with excellence, in the specialized area of scouting football players are, IMO, the only names that should be on the list of candidates for V.P. of Football Operations.....period.

I have no problem if the guy is a younger (yet proven to this point), rising star, and player personnel expert, as long as he is sufficiently respected to garner other young stars wanting to join him so that they can, collectively, set a standard of performance that will be the envy of the league.

For me, this is the first, and most important step in the rebuilding process, and I do not have confidence, based on the last two drafts, in which he played a large role, that Howie Roseman is that guy.

If Jeffrey Lurie doesn't get this first step right, I think everything else done after that will be for naught.

You can bet that well run franchises like the Pats, Steelers, Giants, Ravens, and Packers have some young, sharp guys who are waiting for their chance to be the next front office stars.      Lurie's charge is to identify and bring in one of those people.        

As you say, then and only then will we know we at least have a chance to start the climb back up the ladder - Lord knows this group knocked us down a whole lot of rungs.

[CT Eagle]

mjkvol, on 14 November 2012 - 01:38 PM, said:

You can bet that well run franchises like the Pats, Steelers, Giants, Ravens, and Packers have some young, sharp guys who are waiting for their chance to be the next front office stars.   Lurie's charge is to identify and bring in one of those people.

We had Phil Savage here for a short time and that didn't work out too well despite having a hand drafting some HofF type players while with the Ravens.  We have Rick Mueller on staff now who had a good track record with the Saints and his first draft here looks good.

[mjkvol]

CT Eagle, on 14 November 2012 - 02:39 PM, said:

We had Phil Savage here for a short time and that didn't work out too well despite having a hand drafting some HofF type players while with the Ravens.  We have Rick Mueller on staff now who had a good track record with the Saints and his first draft here looks good.

Savage had the disadvantage here of working for a guy with a wacked out football philosophy, especially after he lost any semblance of consistency after 2004.

Better to judge someone drafting for a coach with a sane plan.

[NOTW]

PoconoDon, on 12 November 2012 - 10:35 PM, said:

All I want is for the owner to do this the right way for the Eagles...for the first time since before my time.....To me, it's a 5 step process....the same one every other multiple championship team in NFL history has followed.

Step 1 - Lurie exhausts all possible options and uses everything at his disposal, to ensure that a fully connected, top shelf GM is hired (and given the title of V.P. of Football Operations, because of Howie).
Step 2 - Howie Roseman is put in charge of player contract negotiations only and answers to the newly hired V.P.....see.....smart contract lawyers doing contracts.
Step 3 - The new V.P. hires the Head Coach and restructures the entire player personnel department (scouts through directors), on both pro and college sides, as he see fit.
Step 4 - The new V.P., after conferring with the new head coach, runs the drafts and has final say on FA signings....yeah, a top shelf football guy runs the football stuff..imagine that!!!
Step 5 - The team gets built the right way for the first time in 2 full generations (1940's)...........and the Lombardi trophy rests in south Philadelphia a few times along the way.

Step 6 - I concede that Jeffrey Lurie actually cares about the Eagles, and is not just the transplanted Patriots fan that happens to own this ball club, which I think he is now.

All excellent.  I don't know why the paid NFL execs don't see the common sense that fans like you do when you post these logical points.  That is definitely where it starts with the front office.

I think in addition what is needed is a commitment to excelling at the basics and fundamentals of the game, discipline and focus, giving 100% and focusing on crisp execution.  If they want to take bold risks in the draft, or on a free agent, or in a style of play calling then it should come out of a base of strong fundamentals first and the risks should be calculated.  Some characteristics I'd like to see:

-Proper building through the draft.  No reaching for players, play it smart and take the best players available to try and get quality players.  If you have an extra pick from a trade, use that pick to take a risk/reward reach or trade up but make sure you're taking advantage of the draft to get quality and don't trade picks away unless you are confident it's worth it.  this also includes drafting a year or two before you need the player if you know a guy's contract is expiring (Lito and Sheldon to replace Bobby and Troy was a good example).

-Executing fundamentals.  This should seem obvious for any team but we've seen teams that don't have as much talent, but are disciplined and execute well.  Finish your route all the way, be sure to hold the ball and prevent a fumble, follow through on your tackle to be sure to bring the guy down, don't take a play off and be lazy, follow through on your blocks til the whistle is blown, don't take a block on special teams for granted it could make a difference, etc.

-Low amount of penalties, turnovers, mental mistakes.  Be sharp and don't beat yourselves with mistakes.

-Discipline and accountability.  Team oriented and not me-first.  Not afraid to bench a player or cut dead weight.

-Players of high character who lead and hold each other accountable.  Guys like we've seen in the past who get in teammates faces and handle business.

-Adjustments and adversity: when the game is on the line, coaches know how to adjust to what's happening and call the right plays, manage timeouts, etc.  Players dig deep and make a play.  This is part of getting high character people who put team first.

If the coaches and players get those things right then you build on that foundation.  If you're running a fairly balanced offense, have a tough defense, execute fundamentals well and are mentally tough and disciplined then you have a solid foundation to build on.  Instead of big play, gimmick offenses or defenses that are predicated on a fancy blitz schemes but can't stop the run or fold in the 4th quarter, just play sound football.  Give Philadelphia fans tough football they appreciate.  Then add some flash in a diva WR or a free agent mercenary but they know they're joining a team that has a certain philosophy and the veteran locker room leaders would never let their team chemistry be harmed by a knucklehead.

[KOJO]

mjkvol, on 14 November 2012 - 02:45 PM, said:

Savage had the disadvantage here of working for a guy with a wacked out football philosophy, especially after he lost any semblance of consistency after 2004.

And as soon as he got a taste of what that was like he was out of here.