On three!
(Image via sportsphotographymashup.com)
With each loss, the issues grew more pressing for the Philadelphia Eagles: where was the leadership?
In the first loss following a bye week in the Andy Reid era, the team accomplished the appalling feat of getting worse instead of better.
Where was the leadership? Players hung their heads in shame and vacated the locker room quickly. But there was a strange detachment to the third consecutive loss on the part of Eagles players, it seemed.
LeSean McCoy came out and said what every fan and casual observer alike was thinking.
“How we played, how the game ended, I didn’t see any pride. I didn’t see any heart. This is the whole team, myself included. We didn’t get it done today.”
Three straight losses and no fire. A new defensive coordinator and no improvement. An embattled head coach and yet they continued to show little fight. What could save this Eagles team?
For the first time this season, a players-only meeting was held on Wednesday. According to Yahoo! Sports,
“meeting was productive even though it was not always pleasant. Players implored each other to talk amongst themselves, man-to-man, rather than go straight to the media.”
Which, of course, meant that an unknown player on the defensive ran to the media to give his perspective on the meeting and the team’s situation.
“Mike ain’t the problem. Look, we all know he’s struggling. That ain’t some secret. But we’re not helping him and that’s the problem. The defense isn’t helping him, the offensive line isn’t helping him. None of us. We all gotta help each other and that’s what we talked about.”
The unnamed player continued,
“This ain’t time to be throwing people to the street. We already had that with [Castillo’s firing] and that didn’t work,” the defensive player said, referring to a 30-17 home loss to Atlanta in the first game after Castillo’s dismissal. “We gotta hang together.”
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie didn’t hide behind anonymity. Typically a quiet presence in the locker room, he felt that the meeting was an important opportunity to speak up.
“Yeah, because I don’t really say much. I’m not into the talking game. I just believe in going out and playing ball, regardless of what goes on. Not a lot to be said.”
DRC knows that times are serious and that his teammates needed to hear his voice.
“It was a team thing. I’m part of a team. So I felt like if I speak, guys would listen. I didn’t speak on much; I just said, ‘Let’s just play ball and see where that gets us.’”
Other players who reportedly spoke up in the meeting were Vick, Trent Cole, Jeremy Maclin, Cullen Jenkins, DeMeco Ryans and Jason Avant.
Will the meeting and the man-to-man discussions make a difference on Monday Night Football in New Orleans? For a Philadelphia team all out of answers, it must. With the level of dysfunction on this team, if the record falls to 3-5 things will be torn apart at the NovaCare – including a change at the quarterback position – and the chances for victory will diminish even further. Half the season will remain, but the outlook is bleak if the Birds don’t even up their record at the Superdome.
Perhaps now isn’t the time to throw people on the street, to paraphrase the unknown player, but with a loss in New Orleans it will happen again. The Philadelphia Eagles are playing to save their season, their quarterback and their coach. Is the burden too much to bear? We’ll find out on Monday night.
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Brandyn Campbell of Philly Sports Muse, for War Room Sports
