Roob's 25 Random Points: Chip Kelly, Philly airport and more

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What happened to the defense? What happened to DeMarco Murray? What happened to Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson? What happened to Kiko? What happened to Kurt Vile? What happened to the Philly Airport? And why are you in my way don't stand there move now please OMG!

All that and more in 25 Random Points as a miserable Thanksgiving weekend comes to a close and we all eagerly await the Eagles’ fate in Foxboro.

1. When I look at where the Eagles’ defense is now and try to come to terms with it, I can’t help look at the first nine games of the season. Yes, they’ve been unspeakably brutal the last two weeks. But this was a very good defense much of the year. It really was. Going into the Tampa game, the Eagles’ defense was allowing 19.7 points per game, and that was eighth-best in the NFL. Through more than half the season. That’s why I’m just not buying the “Bill Davis doesn’t know what he’s doing narrative.” I don’t think Bill is having a very good stretch here obviously, but I think the issues with the defense are much more complicated than just Bill making bad calls or putting guys in poor position. This was a top-10 defense 14 days ago. Going into the Tampa game, the Eagles’ defense had allowed only nine more points than the Panthers’ defense. Think about that. Something happened. Obviously, the Eagles miss Jordan Hicks and his playmaking and run defense. But this team won games without Donovan McNabb for crying out loud and they fall to pieces without Jordan Hicks? It has to be more than that. Did the defense play too many plays the first half of the season? Easy answer, but the Panthers actually played seven more snaps than the Eagles (629 to 622), and they’re only getting stronger. The lack of takeaways is huge. The Eagles were No. 1 in the NFL in takeaways through eight games but haven’t forced one since Hicks’ pick-six vs. the Cowboys. But the lack of turnovers doesn’t explain 83 points in two games. I’ve seen bad defenses before, but I’ve never seen a defense play as well as this one did for nine weeks and then just turn to garbage.

2. My theory is that all those things above — losing Hicks, the absence of turnovers, playing too many snaps — combined with Sam Bradford’s injury and the offense’s year-long inconsistency created a hopelessness on the defense that the unit was just not strong enough to mentally overcome. They lost their confidence as a group. And the people they generally look to for leadership — Connor Barwin, Fletcher Cox, Malcolm Jenkins — were so wrapped up in their own personal struggles on the field that they were hardly in a position to provide support to anybody else. When any unit in any sport loses its confidence as a group, you’re going to have a disaster, and that’s what we’ve seen the last two weeks. A unit with no direction, no leader. And no way to recapture the form that made it a top-10 defense in the first place.

3. I also think the Miami game really killed this team’s spirit. Think about it. The Eagles were a play away from getting to 5-4 with a win at home over a last-place team that just fired its head coach a few weeks early. But that play never happened. They led 16-3 with a 1st–and-10 on the Dolphins' 12-yard line early in the second and a chance to go up 23-3 and have a winning record. Then stuff started to happen. Bradford got sacked. Caleb Sturgis missed a short field goal. And the Eagles got nothing out of that drive. Then the Dolphins blocked a punt and got an easy touchdown. Then Bradford got sacked and fumbled for a 24-yard loss. Jason Kelce snapped a ball over Bradford’s head for a 20-yard loss. Bradford got hurt. Then Barwin tipped a pass in the air and with a bunch of Eagles standing there watching, Jarvis Landry caught it for the go-ahead touchdown. I just feel like blowing that early double-digit lead and having all those weird things go against them sucked the life out of this team. At least they’ve been playing like it. Through the first quarter of the Miami game, the Eagles had outscored their opponents by 42 points this year (209 to 167). But the Eagles’ inability to finish off the lowly Dolphins seems to have sapped the team of its will. Since then, the Eagles have been outscored, 107-34. When we look back at this season — maybe even when we look back at Chip Kelly’s tenure as Eagles head coach — I think we’ll all eventually look back at the last 45 minutes of the Miami game as the point where it all started to go bad.

4. Before Thursday, I couldn’t imagine any scenario where Kelly wasn’t back next year. But what the Eagles did in the span of five days is simply unprecedented. They became the first NFL team in 47 years to lose back-to-back games to teams with losing records by 28 or more points. They became the second team in NFL history to allow five touchdown passes in consecutive games. They became the first Eagles team to give up 45 points back-to-back. It’s no longer whether Kelly can do anything to get himself fired. It’s now, can he do anything to save his job?

5. Anybody who makes a U-turn in the middle of a busy road instead of taking an extra 45 seconds and turning around in a nearby parking lot or going down a side street should lose their license for a year. Do it again, you lose your license for life. I’m not messing around here. This is not an intelligent thing to do. You could kill people. Stop doing it.

6. Tom Brady has put up 45 points 18 times in his career. Why did I look that up? Because the Eagles have allowed 45 points in two straight games for the first time in franchise history and it’s off to Foxboro to face Brady and the Patriots a week from Sunday. And if Brady does what the Buccaneers and Lions did, the Eagles would become the first team in NFL history to allow 45 points three games in a row. The most points that any team has allowed three straight games? That would be 41 by the 1981 Baltimore Colts. So the Eagles don’t have to allow 45 points next Sunday. They can still make history just by allowing 42. Hey, something to shoot for.

7. OK, this one is almost impossible to believe. I know the game has changed, but are you kidding me? Here you go: The Eagles have allowed 45 points under Chip five times. They allowed 45 points four times under Dick Vermeil, Marion Campbell, Buddy Ryan, Rich Kotite, Ray Rhodes and Andy Reid … combined.

8. And this: The Eagles have lost by 28 points or more twice in the last week. From 1988 through 2007, the span of 20 years, the Eagles lost only five times by at least 28 points. In two decades. Reid didn’t lose a game by 28 points until his seventh year. Chip has already lost four times by 28 or more.

9. Whoever invented the traffic patterns around the Wells Fargo Center is completely and utterly insane.

10. Let’s talk about DeMarco Murray for a minute. He's on pace to finish the season with a 3.5 rushing average. I looked up starting running backs over the years who averaged just 3.5 yards per carry, and the list includes guys like Maurice Jones-Drew, Jamal Lewis, Edgerrin James — guys who like Murray were all former NFL rushing champs when they did it. So unless Murray improves that average, four of five starting running backs since 2005 to average 3.5 or worse will have been one-time NFL rushing champs. That’s incredible. It’s just almost impossible for almost any back to maintain a high level of performance under the weight of a huge number of carries. I was big on that when the Eagles signed Murray and wrote this piece. Naturally, I was roundly blasted in the comments section because my piece didn’t fit some readers’ agenda that every move Chip was making was a smart one. But the piece is worth re-reading now, as Murray continues to struggle picking up yards.

11. Did you guys catch that Big Sean halftime show Thursday? I mean, somewhere somebody in some office really thought that was a good idea? Seriously?

12. Weird thing about 4th-and-26: Donovan threw it, Freddie Mitchell caught it, Darren Sharper defended it. And as of Monday, they’ll all be in prison.

13. Philly has the worst airport in the United States. Seriously, how can you have a major airport where it is virtually impossible for a passenger that checks a bag to get from Terminal F to Terminal A? Every other major airport in the U.S. has a monorail or an underground tram connecting the terminals. At the very least, there’s a shuttle. Some way to get around the place. Philly not only lacks an intelligent way to move people around the airport, but the signage is also pathetic, the layout is convoluted, and good luck finding your way around if you’re from out of town or unfamiliar with the place. Time to move into the 21st century, guys.

14. This is the second time in the last 40 years the Eagles’ defense has failed to force a turnover in three straight games.

15. It’s a sad state of affairs when I get emails and tweets from people who want to see Thad Lewis at quarterback. Most of them don’t even know who Thad Lewis is.

16. OK, you have to name Eagles offensive and defensive MVPs. Who are you picking? I guess you have to go Hicks on defense, even though he played only half a season. If he’s not eligible? Fletcher Cox? He’s been OK but certainly not having a special season. But I don’t know who else. Barwin? Nah. Walter Thurmond or Malcolm Jenkins? After the last two weeks can you really pick a defensive back? What about offense? That’s even harder. Jordan Matthews? He had all the drops, but he’s the only wide receiver who’s done anything. Lane Johnson? Ryan Mathews hasn’t done enough. Bradford? If push came to shove and I had to name one of each? I’d go Hicks and Matthews. But really, both categories should be vacant at this point.

17. This seems impossible, because I feel like Matthews has underachieved this year, but he already has 125 catches and with 20 more in the last five games will break Keith Jackson’s Eagles record of 144 catches in a player’s first two seasons. At his current pace, Matthews will have 84 catches this year, which will give him 151 in his first two seasons. That would be ninth-most in NFL history.

18. Last time the Eagles went seven straight years without a playoff win: 1981 through 1991.

19. Is it physically possible to open a hotel room door without the "Do Not Disturb" sign falling to the floor?

20. I don’t know how this is possible, but Brett Brown does not have the worst win-loss record of any head coach in NBA history. Brown is now 37-144 with the Sixers (.204 winning percentage). That ranks him 206th of 207 coaches in NBA history to coach at least 100 games. The guy behind him is Brian Winters, who went 36-148 with the Grizzlies in 1996 and 1997 and Warriors in 2002 (.196 winning percentage). If the Sixers lose their next nine games, Brown will pass Winters.

21. Note to Kurt Vile: 65 minutes isn’t a set.

22. Barring something crazy, this will be the third time in three years Kelly has failed to advance in the playoffs. Reid failed to advance in the playoffs three times in his first 10 years. The last Eagles head coach that failed to reach the second round of the playoffs in his first three years was Marion Campbell.

23. One thought about Kelly. It may not be his decision whether he returns to Philly. Owner Jeff Lurie could very well fire him if the bottom continues to fall out. But I just don’t feel like Chip will want to leave on his own accord and run to the nearest college job. One thing about Chip — he’s a fierce competitor and I don’t see him as a guy who is going to run from adversity. As someone who’s going to jump ship because things aren’t going the way he wants. I think he came to the NFL to prove he could win on this level, and I don’t think one awful season is going to change that. If anything, I have a hunch this year will make him even hungrier to show he can succeed in the National Football League. Whether he gets that opportunity here is another question.

24. People drive me crazy sometimes. I just don’t get people who step out of an elevator or get to the bottom of an escalator or walk through a door and just stand there. Usually staring blankly into space and often with a family of at least 12. I guess it never occurs to them that more people are coming and there won't be anywhere for them to go.

25. Wonder what Chip thinks when he sees Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson making plays down the field and then he looks in the hallway and sees Miles Austin walking by.

Bonus point: Will Kiko Alonso ever make a play?

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