I think you let the chips fall where they may this season

[art vandelay]

Disagree - if they trade him, they get the pick now and a metric shit-ton of salary cap space. If they hold him, they get him for half a season, pay him a lot of cash, and get a third a year later.

What do they really need the salary cap space for this season? You are right that a 3rd in 2019 is worth more than a 3rd in 2020 though.

[Maniac]

If you offered me the NFC East title and a wild card weekend playoff game right now I’d take it. Win the division then play one game at a time.

I agree with this. Although right now it would be nice to see them play one all-around solid game. This season has been brutal viewing. Blowing out the Vags would be an excellent start.

Not big on paying running backs but spending five million and a draft pick on a half-season of Bell could be just what they need - assuming Dougie uses him for more than ten carries a game. It's not going to cripple the future of the franchise and another potential Super Bowl run beats the hell out of what we're watching now.

[Maniac]

The team ramped it up by midseason. Need to do the same this time. Build, build, build. Peak at playoff time. That's how you do it.

I don't think you can reasonably assume they do the same thing. The loss of Reich/Flip and the "Super Bowl Hangover" look real. But I agree that's what needs to be done!

Hangover should wear off soon. Losses will sober them up. Not sure how Groh turns into Reich though.

[Bardy]

What do they really need the salary cap space for this season? You are right that a 3rd in 2019 is worth more than a 3rd in 2020 though.

Salary Cap space carries over. $10M saved this year means $10m more next year that they can spend. If you look at Bell - how effective and motivated will he be whether in Pitt or elsewhere? He still won't have the long term deal he covets, so he will be more worried about avoiding injury than being effective.

I wouldn't touch him right now, but if Pitt can trade him, they probably should.

[BirdBrawn]

Sure, we were 4-1

We needed a 61 yard FG to beat the hapless Giants. We were lucky to get out of San Diego with a win. Then came the Cardinals, who we beat up on. Other than that game it hardly seemed like a roll, especially since we began 2016 with three straight wins and ended up in the NFC east cellar.

[CbEagle]

Exactly, we could or should have been 2-3 at that point. We were pretty fuckin lucky to be 4-1 but those same bounces are not going our way early in this season.

[DEERSPINE GUY]

We needed a 61 yard FG to beat the hapless Giants. We were lucky to get out of San Diego with a win. Then came the Cardinals, who we beat up on. Other than that game it hardly seemed like a roll, especially since we began 2016 with three straight wins and ended up in the NFC east cellar.

SO YOU'RE SAYING IGGS ARE PLAYING THE SAME, AT THIS POINT AS LAST YEAR? OK. 4-1>2-3 IN MY OPINION.

[bobbyuk]

Here are the differences between last year's 4-1 and this year's 2-3 IMHO:

The team had no one coming off a major surgery. The question about last season's team was chemistry between Wentz and his new receivers. There has been so much uncertainty this year--Jeffrey coming off surgery; Hollins coming off surgery and going on to IR; Wentz, Sproles and Peters coming off of surgery. And then they began to bounce back and forth with players who may be in or may be out from week to week. That messes with the chemistry of the team when you don't know who's going to be playing from week to week. Up until Sproles got injured in the 3rd game last year, you knew who the Eagles were going to put out there every week.

Rules changes. This year's rules changes have affected the way the game is played no doubt. The VERY shaky call on Bennett turned the Vikings game around; the changes on kickoff rules changes how you can try to onside kick (even though Thielen said it was one of the most difficult onside kicks he's fielded). No more exotic looking onsides attempts. We've all been slating the way Darby is tackling but maybe he's afraid of getting a 15 yarder tacked on.

As someone said, the bounce of the ball. Last year the Birds got it this year they're not. I don't recall in Wentz's 2 seasons with the team the ball popping straight up in the air like it did on the sack on Sunday--maybe for us last year but hardly for the other team; 7 LOST fumbles already this year?

And as BB said, if you look at last season, the final score notwithstanding, they struggled to beat the Skins in the opener, lost at KC, needed the 61 yarder against he Giants; had to withstand Philip Rivers' aerial show in LA; had the breather against the Cards, struggled against the Panthers and in the rematch with the Skins. It wasn't until really November that they hit a stride with the blowout of Denver,SF, Chicago and Dallas. And SF and Dallas were first half struggles.

It's a game of inches. How many passes did Jeffery catch last year that were not very on the money throws--the one against the Rams for the TD was ridiculous--now compare that this year with the 3rd and 20 pass he coughed up against the Vikes--he had it and then it popped out when he was hit.

To me these are the differences between the 2 seasons. But as disheartened as I am about the losses, until they are absolutely down and out, they are still WORLD FUCKING SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS1!!!

[DEERSPINE GUY]

HOWIE!? JUST TRADED A 3rd AND 5th FOR SHADY.. DON'T KNOW HOW I..

JERRUH!!!

[phillyeagles36]

Last year, everybody wanted to see us in the playoffs.

Bell is not interested in winning a championship this year. He's only focused on getting paid. He is a bad long term investment. This team has plenty of other issues right now, there's no need to throw common sense out of the window.

Not only that, why would you give ANY assets up to get a guy whose contract is up this year and wants 17+ million dollars... No fucking way am I giving that to a RB

[art vandelay]

I see the start of last season a bit differently. They didn't kill the skins, but the opener was a good win. SD wasn't a playoff team last year, but that was a quality road win, especially the way that they ran out the clock on their last possession. I don't know about them "struggling" against the Panthers. The Panthers were a playoff team and we beat them on the road on a short week (without Johnson). That was the best regular season win in years. And struggling against the skins on MNF? That game was Carson Wentz's coming out party to the general public. A garbage time TD by the skins made that a 10-point game, but it was a very convincing victory.

I think Wentz has been careless so far this year the way that he was the first two games of last season, when he threw 2 INTs for TDs. He also led the league in fumbles his rookie season, so it's not like we've never seen this before.

Part of what's happening this year is just regression to the mean. So many things have to happen for a team to win an SB. That's what happened last year. Wentz's QB rating on third down, particularly third and long, his near perfection in the red zone, the defense always holding to end games...that can't go on forever. I also think that there are some issues on the OL and with the RBs that are keeping Dougie from committing to the run, which helped make Wentz so good last season. And as crazy as it sounds the injuries are worse this year than last year. Winning with a backup QB was unprecedented, but Foles caught lightning in a bottle when it mattered, and the rest of the OL made up for Peters' absence. Right now a higher number of guys are out and a lot are banged up.

[Corkey_for_President]

Son, YOU can do BETTER than THAT!!