What if the goal has changed?

[SunMo]

Every year, every team says it's their goal to win the Super Bowl, obviously that is a more realistic goal for some teams over others.  Ever since the Eagles lost the NFCCG to St. Louis, their realistic goal each season was to get to and win the Super Bowl.  What if that isn't the true goal this year?

Donovan still has at least 5 good years in him, the RB, WR, TE, secondary (except dawk) are all young.  What if the goal this year, instead of patching holes to make another run at the Super Bowl, is to go with the youth movement, especially along the OL and DL and rebuild towards a Super Bowl run next season, or the one after that.  Not necessarily sacrificing this season, but using it mainly to get these young guys (Herremans, Jackson, Clarke, Young, McCoy, Brown) ready to make a run?

It sounds somewhat stupid, but there is some evidence to suggest this may be the plan:

• Shawn Barber - a cheap, one-year WIL who knows the system, he may be ok, but they won't have a problem mixing in McCoy at his spot because he isn't making a lot of money
• They targeted LeCharles Bently, a young stud C that they could build their revamped line around, but when they didn't get him, didn't go after Mawae
• They didn't sign or trade for a #1 reciever, someone that could stunt Reggie's development
• They still haven't signed Runyan, or any other OL help, making it more likely that they will go with all youth on the line and probably draft a LT to replace Tra next year

So, it's possible that they are willing to take their hits with the growing pains this year in hopes that they are able to build to a run in the next couple years.  It would certainly explain why they have made some of the questionable moves that they have made this offseason.

[ice grillin you]

clearly the goal isnt to win the superbowl this year....but that doesnt make it right

you dont waste years in the 'not for long' league

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I think the current Eagles FO and decision-makers is always looking toward having the best chance to win over the next 5+ years instead of going all-out to win in the present year.  I think the goal's always been to have long-term success at the possible cost of shorter-term veteran depth and success.

I love the philosophy, and I also hate it.

[rjs246]

Andy Reid hit the reset button on his 4 year plan once McNabb got hurt last year.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Good article by Rich Hofmann on this very philosophy:
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/football/14156861.htm

Posted on Wed, Mar. 22, 2006
Putting it to the test
Birds sticking to cap philosophy even after 6-10

THIS IS THE perception, widespread and unchanging. It is of a bizarre marriage ceremony being played out in a continuous loop, throughout the Delaware Valley, in a recurring regional nightmare.

Minister: Who gives this woman in holy matrimony?

Joe Banner: I do.

Minister: Do you, Andy Reid, take this woman, Sally Recap-Room, to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, for better or worse, in sports hernias and in health, till death do you part?

Reid: I do.

Minister: You may kiss the bridesmaid.

Every night, right about then, you wake up screaming. You sit up in bed and you look across the room, to see if the window is closed. It isn't. Comforted, at least a little, you try to go back to sleep, counting the days to minicamp. You are more successful some nights than others.

And so it goes, as the Cowboys land Terrell Owens, and the Giants try to remake their secondary, and the taterskins do their annual shuffling, and the Eagles sign Jabar Howard Garcia-Schobel and tell you everything is going to be all right.

You have no choice but to believe them. This is the year when the Eagles' core philosophy undergoes its most stern test, and there is nothing any of us can do other than watch it play out. A 6-10 season clearly has changed nothing about how they do things.

People who have called them arrogant in the past have been wrong - the Eagles have just been consistent in their beliefs. But if this thing blows up as they stick to their knitting, after a year like last year, the word will fit and they really will have to live with the fallout.

That they now have two ways to lose the argument - if the team falters again, or if the team is solid but the Cowboys (with T.O.) sprint past them - is obvious. Can you imagine what those Eagles-Cowboys games are going to be like? The guy has been like a jobs program for columnists since he arrived in Philadelphia, and now Owens is going to give us all another year of easy duty. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

But none of this clearly matters to the Eagles. That is the lesson of the offseason so far.

For them, this is all about talent evaluation and not overspending, about list-making and a methodical, plodding, check, check, check, check, check.

The point all along has been that the Eagles did not need an infusion of superstar talent on this roster. The rest of the division got better, yes, but anyone who watched the Cowboys, taterskins and Giants last year saw three highly flawed teams.

What the Eagles needed was an infusion of bigger, professional players - guys with some size (because they really have become too small in too many spots), and guys with some experience who can step in and play the game immediately.

So far, you see the Eagles embracing some of that thinking, but only some. It has been kind of hit-and-miss. Darren Howard, coming off a down year in New Orleans, is a 275-pound defensive end. You wish he was bigger, but they are desperate for pass-rushing help there. And if they were going to spend money at one position, that was it - and that's what they did.

Matt Schobel, the new backup tight end, is a receiving type. You would rather have a backup tight end with great blocking skills - especially when the starter, L.J. Smith, doesn't have them - instead of a guy who is proud of how much his blocking has improved. But another passing-game weapon is worthwhile.

Jabar Gaffney has some size (6-1, 205) and is advertised as a slot receiver. That is what this team needed, more than anything. No one knows if Gaffney is the guy, but he fits the type. Sorry if that doesn't jibe with the wideoutamania that has gripped this city for years now, but the truth is that they can make this work by spreading the ball around - provided Todd Pinkston is healthy and productive, and provided they come up with a real, legitimate, bigger option at running back to complement Brian Westbrook and Ryan Moats.

If they don't get him, they're cooked. But there's still time, you would think.

The backup-quarterback situation, with the addition of Jeff Garcia, is improved. Shawn Barber's return at linebacker is OK - but even with either him or Matt McCoy starting, there are still size issues there.

Elsewhere, they are still short a defensive tackle, and they need another veteran offensive lineman, be it Jon Runyan or somebody else. And that's at the minimum.

It is going to be August before we know if they've checked off everything they need. Even then, we haven't really talked about the two most important things - a healthy Donovan McNabb at quarterback and a willingness by the coach to call running plays, at least a little. Everything else falls in line behind them.

[mussa]

so are we drafting Dawks replacement this year?  I'm a firm believer in Dawk be very productive for next couple years.  I don't think Considine is it, are we getting another S this year in draft?

[Geowhizzer]

I've been thinking the very same thing, Sun.  That the Eagles don't think they're in the Super Bowl hunt this year signing one big name in FA- so they're concentrating on the draft, laying a foundation to make a run over the next several years.

Of course, what do I know... I'm just a middle school teacher.

[Wingspan]

I've been thinking the very same thing, Sun.  That the Eagles don't think they're in the Super Bowl hunt this year signing one big name in FA- so they're concentrating on the draft, laying a foundation to make a run over the next several years.

isnt that what they always do?

i dont see how their goal is that different than any other year.

other than 1 year, it's worked.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

other than 1 year, it's worked.

Has it?  I don't see a Lombardi Trophy at the NovaCare complex.

[ice grillin you]

Has it?  I don't see a Lombardi Trophy at the NovaCare complex.

"gold standard" = "mission accomplished"


even so i cant hate on them at all for the superbowl year...they made a huge effort in the offseason to take the team from nfc championship contender to superbowl contender...its the years prior to 04 that digust me...the years when they clearly needed something extra to get over the hump and did nothing..all those years are gone now and as you said nothing to show for it...while the minesota atlanta nfc championship game remains one of the two best sporting events ive ever been to in general all those good years including 04 are now a 'what if' curse  as opposed to something i look back on with good feelings...and i hate them for that

[SunMo]

you mean atlanta, right?

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

while the minesota nfc championship game remains one of the two best sporting events ive ever been to

Which game was that, exactly?

[SunMo]

i got it handled, but thanks though

[hunt]

the goal hasn't changed one bit...they're still trying to make money.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

the goal hasn't changed one bit...they're still trying to make money.

Ask Bob Kraft... the two goals need not be mutually exclusive.