Philadelphia Eagles' Recent Skid Tied to New York Jets' Futility
It may not be the best thing in the world for the Philadelphia Eagles to be tied to the New York Jets' history of futility.
Following the Eagles' 20-17 upset loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday - the third straight loss for the defending NFC Champions - the Eagles joined one team in league history for dropping to 10-4 after a fast 10-1 start.
© Malcolm Emmons, USA TODAY
In that year, Gang Green finished 10-6 (dropping their final five games), defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card, but eventually fell to the Cleveland Browns in the "Marathon by the Lake" game. Similarly to these Eagles, the Jets ran out of gas in the two-overtime finish.
Following that loss, New York did not return to the playoffs for another four years, and did not win a playoff game until 1998 - a 12-year winless drought.
Philadelphia is going to try to avoid that level of futility. It certainly hasn't helped that cracks have begun to show in the foundation of the organization in these last few weeks.
Whether it has been anonymous sources complaining about the simplicity of the offense, several star players responding on social media to frustrated fans, to the franchise quarterback questioning the franchise's "commitment," things are not alright for a team that, until last week, had held a share of the best record in football for 32 straight weeks.
"We all got to be critical on ourselves," Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said after the loss Monday night. "We have to get through the storm that we are in, fix the mistakes, and that starts with me."
Starting the blame game on the coaching staff has been a theme for fans and analysts over the last few weeks. Christian McCaffrey made headlines on the ManningCast during Philadelphia's loss to Seattle when he effectively called a play the Eagles' offense was running before they ran it.
That level of simplicity has not been lost on anyone both inside and outside of the Novacare Complex.
The trick is how to fix it.
“I’m disappointed but not discouraged," AJ Brown stated. "I personally know who I am, what type of football player, how special I am. I’ve just got to focus on my job and being ready to play, trying to get our guys in the room ready to play. Everything else is out of our control. We run routes. We catch the ball. We try to make plays. Other than that, we can’t control none of that stuff. As much as we don’t like it, there’s nothing we can do about it, bro.”
Perhaps in a year that saw the team end their unbeaten streak to the same Jets, it feels appropriate that the Eagles have matched that same organization in their recent stretch of poor play.
It'll be up to the leaders in the locker room, and the adjustments made by the coaching staff, to ensure it goes no further than this three-game slide.
