It's time for another edition of Roob's 25 Random Points! Let's get started:
1. We can debate all week whether Chip Kelly should replace Sam Bradford with Mark Sanchez at some point soon if Bradford is unable to turn things around. But to me, that really avoids the biggest question facing the Eagles right now. I like Sanchez, and I think he’s one of the best backups in the league right now. But will he be appreciably better than Bradford? Based on his history, he’d be a bit more productive but hardly enough to make a real difference in terms of taking this football team to a Super Bowl. Let’s be honest. Bradford isn’t the answer. He isn’t winning a championship. He’s a 21-34-1 career quarterback who turns 28 next week, has had two ACLs, and has never been to the playoffs. He’s talented enough that once in a while he’ll get hot enough to win a few games. But the Super Bowl? The Eagles aren’t going to contend for a Super Bowl until they draft a young quarterback and build around him. Who wins Super Bowls? Guys like Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco. Drafted and groomed. Occasionally, you might do it with a Drew Brees, Kurt Warner or if you have a historically great defense, a Trent Dilfer or Brad Johnson. But to really become a team that can make a deep playoff run year after year, you better draft a quarterback and coach him into an elite player and surround him with talent. You’re not going to do it with Michael Vick, Sam Bradford and the other guys who’ve come and gone since the Donovan McNabb Era ended. Let’s face it. In the last 30 years, only one Eagles QB has won more than one playoff game, and that’s McNabb, who won nine. Now, this is a tricky thing because the Eagles have enough talent that they’re rarely going to pick at the top of the draft. The one top-10 pick they’ve had in the last 15 years came in 2013, when the top quarterbacks were E.J. Manuel, Geno Smith and Mike Glennon. So you try to be creative and that’s how you end up with Bradford. Which brings us full circle. The Eagles are stuck right now. Stuck without an elite quarterback and stuck without a clear path toward getting one.
2. Here’s a scary notion: The Eagles over the last two years have drafted wide receivers in the first, second and third rounds. It’s the first time in modern history they’ve taken three wideouts in the first three rounds in a two-year span. And those three guys? Jordan Matthews, Josh Huff and Nelson Agholor? Not one of them is playing well right now. Agholor caught just eight passes for an ineffective 105 yards in five games before getting hurt. Huff has surpassed 20 receiving yards once this year. And Matthews has regressed dramatically from his terrific second half last year. There hasn’t been a more disappointing position group on the Eagles this year. And that includes offensive line, running back and quarterback. The wide receivers have been terrible, and it’s the one area the Eagles have focused on the most in the draft. The Eagles really miss Jeremy Maclin.
3. Stat you just can’t ignore: Chip Kelly was 14-4 with Nick Foles at quarterback, and he’s 9-12 with every other quarterback combined. Foles has played fair in St. Louis, where the Rams are 4-3. But that's irrelevant. A lot of fans don't want to acknowledge it, but Foles won here. Nobody else consistently has under Chip.
4. Two thoughts that came to mind while watching the Giants-Saints game: No. 1) Eli Manning and Drew Brees combined for 13 touchdowns and one interception. But against the Eagles, they combined for three touchdowns and three interceptions. That says a lot about the Eagles’ pass defense. And No. 2) Sam Bradford threw three touchdown passes and five interceptions against the defenses that allowed 13 touchdowns and one interception on Sunday. That says a lot about Bradford.
5. Sam Bradford already has four multiple-interception games this year. The last Eagles QB with more than four multiple-INT games in an entire season was Randall Cunningham in 1988. And Sam has nine games to go.
6. Who’s the Eagles’ Offensive MVP up through this bye week? It’s an impossible question. They don’t have one. But if you had to pick somebody … who would it be? Ryan Mathews? A guy who’s more than nine carries just once all year? Guess it has to be, just by default. And that’s a sad statement about where this offense is right now.
7. With the Cowboys and Giants both losing close games Sunday, the bye week turned into one of the Eagles’ best weekends of the year. If they could only get four more weeks off, they might clinch the NFC East. But seriously, I still think the Eagles win the division, and the main reason is I think they’re the only team in the NFC East that isn’t awful on one side of the ball. In fact, they’re the only team in the division ranked among the top 17 in the NFL in both scoring offense and defense. The Giants are now 24th in the NFL in points allowed per game, the Cowboys are 29th in offense with Tony Romo not due back until after this weekend’s Eagles-Cowboys game, and the Redskins aren’t particularly good on either side of the ball. The Eagles’ defense is No. 11 in points allowed, and the offense is middle of the pack at No. 17 but capable of much more. If 9-7 is going to win the division, the Eagles need six wins in their final nine, and they can see themselves through to six with wins over the Buccaneers, Dolphins, Lions and Bills and then two of their remaining division games. They still have yet to play a complete game, and they’re 3-4. If they can just play 60 minutes of solid football each week, they’ll win the division.
8. I get a lot of e-mails and Tweets asking if the Eagles will make a move to address their offensive line issues, and as much as I feel like they need to upgrade the O-line, I think it’s almost impossible to move a guy into the lineup at this point in the season. Especially since the Eagles run tempo, and it could take the guy a few weeks just to get into the kind of physical conditioning he needs to stay on the field. To get something you have to give something up, and a starting-caliber offensive lineman doesn’t come cheaply. Do you really want to give up a draft pick for a guy who might not even be an upgrade? If the right guy came available and the cost wasn’t prohibitive, I would definitely consider it. But I doubt that’ll happen. There aren’t many teams that aren’t in contention. And the few who aren’t most likely don’t have a whole lot of talent. I’d feel much better keeping the pick and using to draft an offensive lineman this spring.
9. And I do think the one thing this offensive line really needs is time playing together. An effective offensive line doesn’t have to be the most talented five guys but it does have to be five guys who can play together as a unit and function as a group, and the Eagles’ linemen have done that only in bits and pieces. And when guys are coming and going it doesn’t help the process. We’ve seen Jason Peters leave several games, which means Matt Tobin changes position and Dennis Kelly enters the game. Until the Eagles are able to get five healthy guys out there and keep them out there, the O-line isn’t going to be at its best.
10. That Sam Smith dude can’t sing. Sobbing into a microphone ain’t singing.
11. Which move was worse … the Eagles choosing Rich Kotite as their head coach instead of Jeff Fisher after Buddy Ryan was fired in 1991 or the Phillies choosing Ruben Amaro Jr. as their general manager in 2008 over Mike Arbuckle when Pat Gillick stepped down? In both cases, the guy that didn’t get the job — who was clearly far more qualified — left the franchise within days of not getting the promotion.The easy answer is Arbuckle over Amaro, especially since Arbuckle just won a World Series with the Royals. But so much would have been different with the Eagles if Norman Braman hired Fisher instead of Kotite. You can make a case that the historic free agency exodus of Reggie White, Seth Joyner, Eric Allen and Clyde Simmons never would have happened if the Eagles made Fisher their head coach, since those guys were all loyal to Fisher, who had played for Buddy in Chicago. Interesting comparison. But I’ll go with Fisher over Kotite just because it could have changed the entire course of the franchise.
12. I saw where Tiger Woods’ caddy wrote a book where he claims, “It was like I was his slave.” So then I looked up how much Williams earned while carrying Woods’ golf clubs, and it was 10 percent of Woods’ total earnings, which during the years he worked for Woods — 1999 through 2011 — was $88,346,324. So Williams earned $8,834,632.40 over that 13-year span, which averages out to $689,587. Four of those years, Williams earned over $1 million. In all, he earned close to $9 million. For carrying golf clubs around a country club. So I was thinking maybe it really wasn’t like he was his slave.
13. Has anybody actually ever taken the Broad-Ridge Spur?
14. I have a theory: Nobody ever has.
15. My top-10 concerts of 2015 so far: 1) Conor Oberst, 2) Luna, 3) The Feelies, 4) Calexico, 5) Old 97s, 6) Replacements, 7) Superchunk, 8) Titus Andronicus, 9) Travel Lanes, 10) Houndmouth.
16. Inexcusable for Terry Collins to leave Matt Harvey in to face Eric Hosmer after walking Lorenzo Cain to lead off the ninth in Game 5 Sunday night. I get letting Harvey talk you into coming out for the ninth. Especially after all the drama with his pitch counts and inning counts earlier in the season. But once Harvey lost Cain, Collins had no choice but to bring in Jeurys Familia. The Royals were definitely the better team, but it would have been interesting to see how it played out if Familia closed out Game 5, since the Mets had Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom lined up for Games 6 and 7. The Mets had plenty of goats, but Game 5 is squarely on Collins.
17. It’s been amazing watching Dion Lewis flourish with the Patriots. Lewis, the Eagles’ fifth-round pick in 2011, spent two years with the Eagles and had just 171 rushing yards and 21 receiving yards backing up former Pitt teammate LeSean McCoy. Seems like Bill Belichick can turn any ambulatory running back into a star, and so far this year in New England, Lewis has rushed for 220 yards with a 4.9 average and has 32 catches for 349 yards. He's one of only two NFL players with at least 200 rushing yards and 300 receiving yards. Lewis averaged 8.0 yards of offense as an Eagle. He’s averaging 95 as a Patriot. Unreal.
18. What a remarkable day Saturday was in Philly. We had the ESPN College GameDay Live Broadcast and general Temple bedlam at Independence Mall in the morning, we had 25,000 people running the Philly Half-Marathon and then a free Gin Blossoms concert at Eakins Oval later in the morning, and it was amazing seeing how many costumed runners who had just gone 13.1 miles were dancing around during the concert. Then we had a full day of world-class tailgating at the sports complex, and then a frenzied Lincoln Financial Field in the evening for the biggest college football game the city has ever hosted. There was so much energy in the city all day Saturday, so much life. Nobody does these sort of days better than we do. I can’t imagine living anywhere else in the world.
19. One of the most disappointing concerts I’ve ever been to was Mark Knopfler at the Academy of Music a couple weeks ago. I’ve always been a huge Dire Straits fan, and I count Making Movies on my list of favorite albums of all-time. I saw Dire Straits at the Mann in 1985, and they were absolutely astonishing. But now? Knopfler is just going through the motions, and it’s sad to see. I think he’s one of the most brilliantly inventive guitar players ever, but you couldn’t tell at the Academy of Music. He simply aped the familiar guitar lines he recorded years ago and showed no inclination to stretch out and explore the music or bring it to life. This was a guy mailing it in. The whole thing came across as completely scripted, with no room to deviate from the exact same notes this group played the night before and the night before that and every night of the tour. Same songs, same arrangements, even played in the same order. Knopfler’s solo catalogue is totally under-rated, but even those tracks came across lifelessly. It sounded good. But it was hollow, void of any true musical spark. Time for ol’ Mark to hang ‘em up.
20. On the opposite end of the spectrum: Caught a local band called Shark Tape open for Old 97s at Union Transfer two weeks ago. It was by far the largest venue Shark Tape has played, but they won over a ton of people with their edgy high-voltage melodic guitar pop. There are so many great bands from Philly these days, but Shark Tape may be my favorite. When they began their set, there were maybe a dozen people at the stage, and most of them seemed to be family members. By the time they finished, there were a couple hundred people bopping along, and judging by the line at the merch table, they had a bunch of new fans. This is an amazing for bands in Philly, and Shark Tape is at the top of the heap.
21. Add Ryan Madson to the list of former Philly athletes who’ve won championships in the past year. Quite a list. Andre Iguodala, Maurice Speights, Kimmo Timonen, Patrick Chung … Who’s next? Dion Lewis with the Patriots? Matt Barkley with the Cards? Kurt Coleman with the Panthers? Crazy.
22. Just wondering at what point it’s no longer “tanking” and it becomes just a really bad team playing really bad basketball year after year after year.
23. The 5th Street tunnel under the Ben Franklin entrance ramp is the most under-rated tunnel in the city. It’s also closed indefinitely, which is a tragedy.
24. You haven’t lived until you’ve heard Sixers pregame and postgame radio host Brian Seltzer sing “What’s Going On,” by 4 Non Blondes.
25. There have been 173 coaches in NBA history who have coached into a third season. Of those 173 coaches, Brett Brown ranks 172nd with a .223 winning percentage. That’s 37 wins in 166 games. The only guy below him is Brian Winters, who was 36-148 with the Grizzlies and Warriors for a .196 winning percentage. The Sixers need to go 12-70 this year for Brown to avoid catching Winters and having the worst winning percentage by any coach in NBA history. So there’s that.