Following a disastrous 1-4 start to their season, the Eagles are in complete disarray and will undoubtedly miss the postseason for the fourth time in the Andy Reid era.
The following five players have continued to cost the Eagles all season and need to be benched immediately. In order, they are as follows:
5) Brent Celek:
Celek has been in danger of losing his starting job for over a year now, in my opinion. That’s one of the biggest reasons why the Eagles signed free agent Donald Lee on the first day of free agency. Although Lee did not make the team, I would start Clay Harbor over Celek. According to the numbers on Pro Football Focus, Harbor is the 15th best tight end in the league, while Celek rates 49th. Harbor has good hands, and Celek drops more than any tight end in the league. And Harbor is rated as a better blocked than Celek. Start Clay.
4) Moise Fokou:
Fokou has been a problem for the Eagles all season. He is a big reason why opposing running backs have torched the Eagles for five consecutive games. He has just 11 tackles and he is allowing a passer rating of over 100. I’d replace him with second-year man Keenan Clayton, a fourth-round pick last season. Clayton has barely had any playing time in his career but he has a lot of potential and a change at linebacker could help spark the Eagles. It really couldn’t hurt any.
3) Jason Kelce:
I’ve never understood why the Eagles rushed Jason Kelce into becoming the starter over Jamaal Jackson. I understand that Kelce is the center of the future and I’m fine with that but Jackson is a seasoned veteran and an above average starting center. Just two years ago, quarterback Donovan McNabb named him the most important member of the team’s offense. Now he’s buried on the depth chart to a guy who ranks as the 31st best center in the league, according to Pro Football Focus. Having Jackson as a starter would also really help on goal-line situations because of his size and strength.
2) Jarrad Page:
Here’s a statistic for you. According to Pro Football Focus, Jarrad Page is almost twice as bad as any other safety in the league against the run. He has a -6.5 rating (the next worst is -3.7). He’s average in coverage but his inability to tackle any living, breathing, moving human being has moved past the point of ridiculous. Last week, he missed four tackles. That’s about as many as I want my safety missing all season. I have absolutely no clue why he is still the starter, although I think Coleman will regain his starting job before next week. Jarrad Page might be the worst player on the Eagles not named Casey Matthews.
1) Juan Castillo:
I honestly don’t blame Castillo for being completely clueless on how to run a defense. I really don’t. It’s not his fault that Jarrad Page can’t tackle and Casey Matthews couldn’t do anything, etc. But his in-job training needs to end because it’s really costing the team games. He doesn’t use Nnamdi on man-to-man. He hasn’t been using Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie as much as I expected. He is starting some guys who shouldn’t be anywhere near a football field. The Eagles should either promote Johnnie Lynn to defensive coordinator, or bring in the defensive consultant that they were rumored to get during their upcoming bye week.
[...] 5 Players on the Philadelphia Eagles Who Should Be Benched ImmediatelyRant SportsFollowing a disastrous 1-4 start to their season, the Eagles are in complete disarray and will undoubtedly miss the postseason for the fourth time in the Andy Reid era. The following five players have continued to cost the Eagles all season and need to …Eagles looking for leaders | Philadelphia Inquirer | 2011-10-11Philadelphia Inquirerall 2 news articles » [...]
I couldn’t understand what the Eagles did in the off season. But my main concerns were defense line & LBers, offensive line. Vick needs to roll out, because the moment he gets the snap in shotgun formation the defense isn’t far behind unabated. McDermott wasn’t the problem on defense, injury was, he had to shuffle what he could piece together play by play. Just me, but every week is like watching a wild card or playoff Eagles loss. Great to have the DB’s the Eagles have, but if they become your leading tacklers, that means everyone in front of them stinks. Eagles have a decent pass rush, but the NFL knows they can’t stop the run.
I have to agree, Page and Castillo are horrible. As for Celek, someone needs to paint him black to get him the ball more. Vicks passes to him are rushed and he barely has a chance to catch the ball. The reason why Celek is in and not Harbor is because of the blocking issue. Regardless of the stats, Celek blocks much better than Harbor. Basically it is Celek and Herremans holding the line together at this point in the season. Kelce has had a tremendous amount of penalties this season but he is not the main problems with this team. Vicks mind is all messed up and he just can’t play, simple as that. More than anyone on this list, Vick should be benched. He plays like crap, makes terrible decisions and has been in decline since the last 3 games of last season. Maclin has had a couple key drops (specifically Atlanta) and Avant lost the ball twice last week. I say we bench Avant, since he gave away the game. Quite frankly this whole eagles team needs to be benched.
Really? For starters, you can drop the racial undertones. While I will agree that Celek is a better TE than Harbor, Celek does drop a lot of balls. Defending him by saying the balls are rushed? If the ball touches his hands, it should be a catch, end of story. If he can’t hold onto crucial balls, you need to sit until you can figure it out. I still beliee in him, we just need him invovled in the passing game more on 1st and 2nd down. “Painting him black” is insulting and degrading on all levels. As for Vick, Benching him might be the second dumbest thing i’ve heard. The man is making plays when no one else on the offense is willing to step up. You can’t argue with 1300+ yds of passing. You can’t argue with 300+ yds rushing for a QB. The turnovers are killer, and the ENTIRE offense is to blame, Vick included. But there has to be protection, and Vick has to start playing to his strengths. Rolling out of the pocket to get better vision is one. Utilizing more than maclin, D. Jax, and Avant is another. Celek, Brown, McCoy, SMITH, Cooper, harbor, all need to become invovle. Kelce Definately has to sit. Untimely penalties, and bad snaps have killed us, and he’s the culprit. Jackson needs to step back in. Vick and he are both familiar with each others style. They have got to put DRC in the game more and find a better way to utilize all three CBs. It can be done. The team is playing to none of the strengths of all their pro-ball talent. The D-Line is nasty, but requires a saftey net of LBs who aren’t undersized and overly aggressive. They get sucked in the brushed off too easily. With that gaping holes in the center of the defense, opponents can destroy the secondary because they’ve got to play zone to compensate for awful linebacking.
The real probelm with this team is that all the shifting in the off-season. with no OTA’s, no Spring training, no session, and no legitimate camp, they have not had a chance to gel. They don’t know each other and thus cannot anticipate how the person playing opposite them will respond to certain situations. If they can make it through this season without completely imploding, i think next year is going to be special. This is the Eagles Off-season.