Twitter Mailbag: On QBs, Leadership And Reid

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From @Ryeboat: what is your take on the QB situation for this year and beyond. The eagles have to draft one of the top guys in 2014 right?

First off, sounds like Michael Vick will be ready for the Giants game.

That’s good news for the short-term, assuming the hamstring holds up and he can make it through.

Long-term remains a giant question mark for this franchise. Nick Foles came up small in the biggest opportunity of his young career. It’s not enough to write him off, but it has stripped away a lot of the optimism that surrounded the quarterback after 1 1/2 weeks of quality play.

I do think the Eagles will target a quarterback in the upcoming draft. I thought that before Foles struggled and certainly still feel that way now. As I’ve stated before, the team is looking at the Seattle and San Francisco models: build a sound team largely through the draft and continue to take shots at the quarterback position until a franchise guy is identified. If it’s Vick, Foles, Matt Barkley or someone still playing college ball, the job is open for whoever wants to run away with it.

And yes, I believe Chip Kelly would like to get his hands on Marcus Mariota. But who knows if they can pull that off.

From @sumpnclehvuh: I know Chip is not a bulletin board guy, but any chance they use a vid of Andy Reid’s dance for motivation?

No. But this question does give us the opportunity to post the .gif!

I demand that Kelly mimics this scene if the Eagles beat the Giants Sunday.

Pretty unbelievable that Reid’s Chiefs are the last undefeated team remaining, though, huh? Hard to believe, Harry.

From @DanAngelo1123: are the Eagles plagued by poisinous leaders AKA DeSean Jackson and Shady McCoy? #armflail #growup

The term “poisonous leaders” is much too strong.

I will say, though, that I did not agree with the way DeSean Jackson in particular carried himself in the Dallas loss. He was frustrated and had every right to be. He was getting open and Foles couldn’t deliver the ball. He’s not the first receiver (or even the only receiver in that game) to show his emotions by clapping his hands together or raising his arms in the air. Or even by stewing on the bench like he did at the end of the first half.

My only point is: what good does that do your team or quarterback? Foles was clearly off. He was indecisive and wasn’t showing the type of confidence that he had in the Bucs and Giants games. It would be more productive to put your own frustrations aside and encourage your quarterback, try to pick him up.

“I think everybody gets frustrated out there,” said Kelly when asked about the body language. “The biggest thing when you get frustrated is do something about it.  Make it happen and continue.  I think we talked about it after the game.  We’ve got to stick together as a group.  It’s always us against the other team.  It can’t be us against us.  I’m confident this team will stick together.”

Were there examples of “us against us” in that game at all?

“No, I was just answering his question on when you see body language or whatever.  That is a general statement that we’d always make.”

Though it’s interesting Kelly talked about it to his team after the game.

Guys like Jackson and LeSean McCoy are at the points in their career where they have to be tone-setters. Generally I think they’ve done a pretty good job in that respect, but not so much this past week.