What They’re Saying About The Eagles

Here’s a roundup of what the local and national media are saying about the Eagles after their Week 16 loss to Washington.

The Eagles appear in a number of spots on MMQB’s Peter King’s dislikes of Week 16, including rumination on the Birds’ defense, and Chip Kelly‘s control.

k. Hard to fathom how bad the Philadelphia defense is with so much talent in the front seven. That secondary is awful. I said it at the time of the signing and will repeat: Six years and $63 million for Byron Maxwell, a complementary corner but absolutely not a shutdown one, was a terrible contract.

l. Chip Kelly the GM. I realize I’m jumping on the pile here, but the Eagles have to either delegate personnel back to Howie Roseman or start a search for a real GM. Today.

Is Jeffrey Lurie still confident in Chip Kelly’s abilities as a coach and general manager? The Daily News’s Les Bowen wonders if a new direction might be wise.

Watching the Eagles get waxed Saturday night by a mediocre Washington team in a must-win game, it was SO obvious that SO much is wrong, and most of it traces back to decisions Kelly has made over the past three years.

Can Lurie convince himself that NOW Chip gets it, that this is the guy to rebuild the disaster-area offensive line, retool the wideout corps he already devoted first-, second- and third-round draft picks to over his first three seasons, and do God-knows-what to a defense that adds talent every year and every year gets worse? Is it not time to wonder if a defense can play far more snaps than any other unit in the league and still be any good at the end of the year, regardless of personnel?

This is not the kind of thing you can wave your hand at and say, “Well, so-and-so got hurt, and then we got some bad bounces, but building a team takes time . . . “

Should the Eagles bring Sam Bradford back next season? NJ.com’s Eliot Shorr-Parks makes arguments for both sides.

Here is a cold, hard fact — Bradford has been in the NFL for six seasons and has yet to play in a playoff game.

For all of the excuses people make for Bradford — the dropped passes, the poor offensive line play, the bad St. Louis Rams teams he was on — the reality is that Bradford has yet to show he can make a team better, an essential quality for a franchise quarterback.

Jason Peters‘ decision to remove himself from the Eagles’ loss to Washington is a damning sign that change is needed in Philadelphia, writes the New York Post’s Mark W. Sanchez.

The 33-year-old quitting on the team is not nearly the first blow against Kelly, but it may be the most damning. The one-time wunderkind from the University of Oregon, whose breakneck offense was revolutionary, has seen his demise over the past few years, experiments that blew up in his face.

After receiving player personnel duties last offseason, Kelly nearly completely overhauled the team, notably dealing its quarterback (Nick Foles) and star running back (LeSean McCoy), as well as ridding the team of several star wide receivers over the past few years (DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin) to mold a team in his image.

The blowback was immense, highlighted (lowlighted?) by McCoy leading charges of racism influencing Kelly’s decisions.

A complete makeover and unorthodox moves can be forgiven and accepted when winning. But when your team misses the playoffs and one of its stars won’t play anymore? That may be the most telling sign yet a change is needed in Philadelphia.

CSN Philadelphia’s Reuben Frank puts Chip Kelly’s first three years in context with the franchise’s past coaches, and the numbers are damning.

Let’s put some context on Kelly’s first three seasons as head coach of the Eagles: He is the first Eagles head coach since the Swamp Fox — Marion Campbell — who failed to advance a round in the playoffs in his first three years. And Campbell coached in the mid-1980s.

Buddy Ryan won the NFC East and got a first-round bye in his third year. Rich Kotite won a wild-card game in his second year. Ray Rhodes won a wild-card game in his first year. And Andy Reid got to the conference semifinals in his second year and an NFC Championship Game in his third year.

Kelly has less to show for his first three years than any Eagles head coach in 30 years. That’s pitiful.