What They’re Saying About The Eagles


 

Photo By Jeff Fusco

Photo By Jeff Fusco

Here’s what the media are saying about the Eagles this week:

Kelly’s tenure in Philadelphia continues to be polarizing, but he deserves another year to flesh out his ideas, writes Yahoo! Sports’s Charles Robinson.

The Philadelphia Eagles are giving the one-or-the-other argument plenty of ammunition in 2015. One moment the Eagles are getting plowed under in losses to the Detroit Lions or Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the next they’re beating the defending champion New England Patriots on the road. So the pendulum of opinion swings – Chip is the next Steve Spurrier, Chip is the next Jimmy Johnson.

Neither is a fair estimate at this point. Forty-five meaningful games have passed and it’s still too early to say what Kelly is, good, terrible or mediocre. Nearing the final stretch of his third season, Kelly has lived inside all three of those boxes. Determining which represents him best requires a larger sample size. And that means one thing at this point for ownership: making the correct determination on Kelly means letting this season and next play out.


DeMarco Murray‘s decision to talk to Jeffrey Lurie about his playing time isn’t a very Philadelphia-friendly move, writes ESPN’s Phil Sheridan.

Murray’s deal runs through 2019 and includes $18 million in guaranteed money. To trade or release Murray, the Eagles would have to absorb $13 million in dead money on their salary cap next season. That is a significant cap hit.

It is typical around the NFL for coaches to grumble about the players they have been given by their general manager. [Chip] Kelly the coach clearly tired of the way his offense was running with Murray in the backfield. The problem is, Kelly the personnel guy is the one who saddled the coach with Murray in the first place.

It is understandable if Murray thought the appropriate recourse was to talk to the owner. That’s how it worked in Dallas. It is not how it works in Philadelphia.

According to ESPN’s Mike Rodak, LeSean McCoy and the Buffalo Bills are amped to beat McCoy’s former team this weekend.

An excited LeSean McCoy told his Buffalo Bills teammates Tuesday morning that he will need their help Sunday in defeating his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Today he walked in the building, full of juice, full of energy,” running back Boobie Dixon said. “He walked pretty much in a lot of guys’ faces and just let us know, he need us this week. So I can’t wait, man. I’m excited.

“We can feel him on so many different levels. We gonna go out there and fight hard, we want it for him too.”

It would be best for everyone if Chip Kelly remained the Eagles’ head coach next season, writes MMQB’s Peter King, and that’s what will happen.

Whether the Eagles can scratch out a playoff spot in a bad division, I’m sure there are many—most, maybe—in Philadelphia who have a love-hate relationship with Kelly. He came in as an offensive guru, a quarterback whisperer, and since Nick Foles had the season of his life in 2013, the Eagles have struggled at the position. Mightily. They may have to look for a quarterback again this off-season, when potential free agent Bradford could sign elsewhere. But the biggest mistake of all would be to lose Kelly.

He’s had some skirmishes with his players. That’s because what he’s done early hasn’t resulted in a big winner or a solution at quarterback. He’s made some poor decisions—the biggest of which was paying pedestrian corner Byron Maxwell like a star, continuing a long Eagles tradition of screwing up the secondary badly—and needs an improved player personnel staff to take some of that heat off him. But he’s the same smart guy Jeffrey Lurie waited for 35 months ago. He’s 25-20. Not great, but not a debacle. For once, Philadelphians need to match the owner’s patience. Remember how Lurie gave Andy Reid 14 years? He’s certainly not going to look to move on from Kelly after three. Nor does Kelly have wanderlust. I still feel this strongly: Kelly’s an imaginative coach with good ideas, and there’s a good chance he’s going to win big in Philadelphia. Sunday showed that with this guy, miracles are possible.

It may have taken longer than expected, but it seems Kelly’s vision is starting to come together, writes the New York Post’s Bart Hubbuch.

It was just a few days ago Kelly was having his Philly coaching obituary written in the wake of a 45-17 home loss to the Buccaneers followed by a 45-14 Thanksgiving Day embarrassment at the hands of the Lions.

All of that has suddenly died down now that the Eagles are 5-7 and tied for first place in the woeful NFC East. And now Philadelphia plays its next three games at home before finishing the season at the Giants.

But with Sam Bradford back (the Eagles, you will remember, were playing well before he got hurt in Week 10 against the Dolphins) and his players seeming to have gotten the message from Kelly’s benching of DeMarco Murray and release of Miles Austin, things are suddenly looking up again in Philly.