Mr. Scot

I honestly wouldn't take it to mean much.

Here's Florio's summary of the full article... The Eagles reportedly treated former coach Doug Pederson like “a baby,” according to unnamed sources who claim that Pederson was beaten down by relentless second guessing. In 2019, for example, after a Thursday night win at Green Bay, Pederson was grilled by owner Jeffrey Lurie (an analytics aficionado) over the fact that Pederson hadn’t called more passes. “[Pederson] was ridiculed and criticized for every decision,” an unnamed source told TheAthletic.com. “If you won by three, it wasn’t enough. If you lost on a last-second field goal, you’re the worst coach in history.” Said another unnamed source, “The fact that Doug had the success he did with all the poo going on in the building, sometimes I look at our Super Bowl rings, and I’m like, ‘Holy cow, I don’t know how we did it.'” Per the report, the undermining of Pederson began in only his second season, which ended with a Super Bowl victory. Prior to the start of the 2017 campaign, word spread through the organization of a three-hour meeting between Lurie and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. Multiple unnamed sources told TheAthletic.com that “there was a feeling around the team that Lurie was vetting an in-house replacement for Pederson in the event the Eagles got off to a slow start.” The article points to tensions between football and analytics, a dynamic hardly unique to the Eagles. One unnamed source described the team’s analytics department to TheAthletic.com as a “clandestine, Black Ops department that doesn’t answer to anybody except the owner.” That’s how it currently works in plenty of NFL front offices. And it’s why so many coaches have embraced analytics. If they don’t, the analytics employees tell ownership that, if the coach had done what the analytics called for, the team would have won. Complicating matters in Philly is that owner Jeffrey Lurie is very involved in the draft preparations, and he always has been. But that’s his right, as the owner of the team, to be as involved or uninvolved as he wants. With most if not all owners finding a way to state preferences when it comes to huge decisions, it’s better if those owners actually have put in the work. In Philadephia, enough work was put in to win a Super Bowl. That’s the good news. The bad news is that things have collapsed quickly. Chances are that the failures in Philadelphia bear plenty of fingerprints.

According to Florio, the part about tension between football people and analytics people is a common thing (link) The article points to tensions between football and analytics, a dynamic hardly unique to the Eagles. One unnamed source described the team’s analytics department to TheAthletic.com as a “clandestine, Black Ops department that doesn’t answer to anybody except the owner.” That’s how it currently works in plenty of NFL front offices. And it’s why so many coaches have embraced analytics. If they don’t, the analytics employees tell ownership that, if the coach had done what the analytics called for, the team would have won.

I get that. I'd just like more validation.

Lot of people actually gave him credit for not taking the bait on some of the questions he was asked. He was given plenty of opportunities to talk sh-t about the Jets, but declined them all.

It's possible, but I'm gonna need a better source.

That'd be the last question he'd ask on that job.

I'm fine with using analytics as a supplement, but it's no replacement for people who actually know what they're watching. And yes, there are flukes and lucky breaks. That's why I respect sustained success over a flash in the pan (hell, even Marty had that).

I see a lot of fans get their heart set on one player, and then when we don't get that player they basically throw a tantrum and say everybody and everything sucks. The reality is there's not just one answer to a given question.

Tampa won one with Gruden. From what I've read, it sounds like a combination of Doug Peterson (and Jim Schwartz) doing an amazing job, Nick Foles getting hot at the right time and in some cases just plain luck. And then they basically dismantled everything they'd built.

I definitely see some parallels.

Delhomme was great. Beuerlein and Peete were good. Everybody else? Oy. But as others have said, they're not hired to do PR. As long as they can perform on the field, I don't care if they look like awkward sixth graders in front of a mic.

Word it is that both days are going to include some things specific to how Kyle Shanahan runs his offense. Honestly, regardless of how you feel about either guy, you could make a pretty good case for skipping these two pro days. They're not doing these to impress us.

Have said it before: One of the worst things you can have in any organization is a situation where the guy in charge who believes he's the smartest person in the room...is anything but. The Eagles have that squared.

Lurie is a very hands-on owner who doesn't know what he's doing but thinks he does. Roseman is a colossal ass kisser who's better at selling himself to Lurie than he is at making any actual football decisions. Pederson was grilled, questioned and criticized weekly (even after the games they won) by Lurie, Roseman and their head analytics guy And to top it all off, they're letting their analytics department override the coaching staff and personnel people on football decisions. Honestly, it's probably pretty close to what we would have gotten here if Tepper had won the argument to hire a "non-traditional" GM. We really dodged a bullet there.

Inside the Eagles downfall under Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman (subscription required) You might think to yourself that this story isn't Panthers related, and directly speaking, it isn't. But truth be told, it paints a pretty disturbing portrait of what could have been if we were still under Jerry Richardson and Marty Hurney. And besides that, it's compelling reading. Hell, you might even find yourself feeling sorry for Eagle fans.

11.5

They can restructure the contract to spread the hit evenly. Speculation has been that this is the plan.

It affects roster decisions. Lord knows it did with Ron.

I see "this guy is such a physically insane matchup nightmare that whichever team drafts him is guaranteed a Super Bowl" players on pretty much an annual basis. Some years later I see those same guys retire with no rings.

I kind of doubt we traded away a second round pick just for a one year tryout. That'd be pretty dumb, honestly.

By the way, Moss is now a Bengal. Cincinnati claimed him on waivers. (this is not clickbait)

We've heard more than one person say that when it comes to standards, Rhule is kind of a hard ass to both work and play for.

Also word that the Patriots are releasing Julian Edelman with a failed physical designation. Expectations are Edelman is going to retire.

Former UNC and Bengals RB Gio Bernard signing a one year deal with the Bucs. Doesn't sound like we pursued him.