A sense of dread is creeping over Philadelphia. It is flowing through the streets, covering all of the dried-up previous layers of dread.
This year’s dread is different. In the past, the Eagles have been failures, teases, doomed underdogs, strife-racked self-destructors and punchy palookas. But they have never been a laughingstock. They have never called attention to themselves so demandingly, only to pratfall so comically. The Eagles are 1-3, and they are so tragically flawed, so bumbling and inept at football basics, that they are easy prey for those who choose to mock the latest so-called Dream Team.
Philadelphia does disappointment and frustration well. It has no stomach for comeuppance.
The Dream Team label was applied by the backup quarterback Vince Young, his lone contribution to the Eagles so far. The Eagles have twice needed a backup quarterback to replace Michael Vick at the ends of games, but Young strained a hamstring in the preseason and vanished, leaving Mike Kafka to close out losses to the Falcons and the Giants. It only took two weeks to turn Kafkaesque into a sports cliché; the Eagles are so embarrassing that they even wear out literary references.
The Eagles’ problems started long before Young arrived this summer with his foot in his mouth. Andy Reid promoted the offensive line coach Juan Castillo to defensive coordinator before the lockout. Castillo’s previous experience on the defensive side of the ball had been at Kingsville High School in Texas, from 1986 to 1989.
Promoting Castillo was one of those decisions that was so inexplicable that it had to make hidden sense, like using a goose as a watchdog. Perhaps Castillo had a latent knack for defense that lay dormant for 21 years. Or maybe he was the perfect push-button coordinator to call vanilla schemes and let newcomers like Nnamdi Asomugha and Jason Babin do the things that made them All-Pros.
Unfortunately, Castillo had ideas. He and the new defensive line coach Jim Washburn installed a new Wide-9 defensive front, with splits between defenders so expansive that a Ford Excursion can drive through them, though Michael Turner or Frank Gore will do if you want to save gas. The scheme itself would be sound if the Eagles’ linebackers could shed blocks, but Casey Matthews, Brian Rolle, Moise Fokou and Jamar Chaney (two rookies, two former seventh-round picks) could seemingly get stopped by a garden gate with no latch. The Eagles have allowed 18 runs of 10 or more yards and give up 5.6 yards per carry, a number kept artificially low by the fact that running backs stop upon reaching the end zone.
As for Asomugha, one of the best man-to-man pass defenders of his generation, he can often be seen playing zone, watching receivers race past and wondering where, if not who, his safeties are.
Superstars like Asomugha were acquired to cover the gaping holes in the foundation of the Eagles’ roster. Unfortunately, the holes have swallowed the superstars. Reid has relied on too many rookies at key positions. Matthews has proven to be the Zeppo of the proud Matthews family. The first-round pick Danny Watkins admitted that he was “overwhelmed” by the N.F.L. experience and lost his preseason starting job at guard; the void was not really filled, Vick is just expected to sidestep it.
The sixth-round pick Jason Kelce won the starting center job, though he ran virtually unopposed. Kicker Alex Henery got into the disappointment act by missing two easy field goals against the 49ers.
Even the reliance on rookies at so many important up-the-middle positions cannot explain the lapses in fundamentals, judgment and sanity by the Eagles’ highly touted acquisitions. Receiver Steve Smith’s lone contribution so far has been a tipped pass that resulted in an interception, a play he perfected as a member of the Giants last season. Running back Ronnie Brown tried to throw a pass with three 49ers defenders draped over him at the goal line last week. Babin’s seven sacks are partially offset by his six penalties, though in fairness, Babin’s penalties are frequently declined because the offense gained so many yards after he jumped offside.
Incumbent Eagles have fared better, but only running back LeSean McCoy (446 total yards, 6 touchdowns) is completely blameless thus far. Reid rewarded him with nine carries last week.
Vick, of course, mixes many big plays into all of the chaos: he has completed 17 passes of 20 or more yards despite having to dodge an unblocked defender on nearly every play. His heroics have kept the team in games while adding to the impression that Eagles football is a chaotic hybrid of a playground pick-up game, a roller derby and Black Friday morning at a Wal-mart. The Eagles are honors students who did not study and are trying to wing the test. They are just brilliant enough for stylish failure.
The Eagles are trying to bounce back from their disastrous start. “The Dream Team thing is over,” Vick said Wednesday, a tacit admission that perhaps the team bought into it in the first place. Watkins is back in the starting lineup, though he did not so much rise to the role as watch it fall to him. Reid and Castillo have adopted linebacker juggling as a hobby. The game Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, marked as an easy win in August, is being called a desperation game.
Eagles fans, meanwhile, are calling for Reid to be fired, but because they started doing that in earnest in about 2005 it has lost its value even as a therapeutic mantra. Fans treated the whole Dream Team concept with icy distrust in the first place. Free-agent spending sprees? That is what the Redskins do. Preseason crowing? That is for the Cowboys. The Eagles are supposed to sit tight through the off-season, enter the year with the same coaches running the same systems, cross their fingers and win through a mix of perseverance, heady play and luck. Like the Giants.
When they do not do that, the dreadful feelings return.
And the Phillies are not helping.
No comments:
Post a Comment