The Best of Times
It’s October 23rd, 2022. The Eagles are on a bye week. The Phillies are up 3-1 against the Padres in the NLCS. It’s a Sunday and the game starts at 2:37 P.M. Bottom of the eighth inning, Bryce Harper blasts one over the left field wall.
It’s a shock they’ve slugged their way to this point, but this team feels like they might actually win it all. A rag tag group of fun guys heading towards the World Series facing off against the Goliath Houston Astros team.
They lose, but hey, at least we all had fun right? Kyle Schwarber, Alec Bohm, Nick Castellanos, Garrett Stubbs, Matt Vierling and Darick Hall were all drinking beers casually after the game. Just like any guy would. No expectations, just a nice cold beer.
February 2023, the Eagles are in the Super Bowl against another juggernaut, the Kansas City Chiefs.
It’s a high-scoring affair, we’re all having the time of our lives.
The Eagles just may pull off this upset. They lose 38-35 and it’s a solemn night in Philly. The world expected riots in Philadelphia win or lose. Instead we all stayed home or at the bars and put our heads down in dejection.
It sure sucks losing multiple championships. Even the Union lost their championship in November, 2022.
Looking back, those might’ve been the glory days. Okay that’s a little dramatic, the Eagles did beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX. That was the peak. Jalen Hurts and the squad overcame Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and prevented the three-peat. So that might’ve been the glory days.
As for the Phillies, not much has changed. A disappointing 2023 NLCS loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks – 2024 losing to the Mets in the NLDS – 2025 losing to the Dodgers in the NLDS once again.
2026 the Phillies got off to a slow start and they fired manager Rob Thomson after a disappointing 9-19 start to the season. Don Mattingly took over, and sure this team succeeded and went to the playoffs.
The problem is that this Phillies team now reeks of has-been frat guys. Watch as Bryce Harper refuses to join his outfield mates during pitching changes, he does it every game.
They have false hope comebacks and runs during the season that’ll titillate the average fan and trick them into believing that this might finally be their year.
The Eagles have also had their run and winning a Super Bowl with their core, which was also amazing.
I mean what a time to be alive. Defeating Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs and stopping a potential and historical three-peat? Along with that, they dominated them on defense and offense, leaving no doubt that the Eagles were the best team that season. It’s hard to be better and feel more confident about your team than that.
What an amazing high for the Eagles. Unfortunately the come down this season has been harsh. I won’t debate about whether it was the Eagles or Jalen Hurts who shouldn’t have let him play with an active blood clot in his lungs in London on no sleep.
Never mind, I change my mind, a strong and good medical staff should’ve never let Jalen Hurts on that field. Appreciate the performance he put up and he won them that game against Jacksonville, unfortunately special teams ultimately let him down.
The good times are over, or maybe this is a sacrifice for the 76ers. Though Jaylen Brown has been diagnosed with left patellar tendinopathy. But still, it’s now time to move on. The Phillies are in purgatory and the Eagles are in search of a new identity.
How did we get here?
The Worst of Times
For the Philadelphia Eagles, this was a slow build-up. Winning in the NFL is amazing. Winning and making several Super Bowls is an almost impossible task where everything has to go perfect. With the Howie Roseman era, fans have been spoiled over the last 10 years and there’s a new expectation with the Eagles. Super Bowl or bust. Unfortunately the bill is due on this Eagles team and they have to pay it.
This season hasn’t been nearly close to expectations and of course it’s hit a major wall.
I mean it feels like Massive Head Wound Harry is running the Eagles medical staff at this point.
What’s the future?
Unless Hurts can never medically be cleared to play again, he’s still the franchise quarterback during the 2027 season and beyond. Lane Johnson’s sudden retirement after 14 seasons doesn’t help in the immediate season or two. It does help the team make that move to search for a solid RT during the 2027 free agency.
The Eagles will have the 12th most cap space this offseason. The focus could be on locking up their defense, although I believe they should go a different route.
Of course for one extra defensive player they should lock up is Quinyon Mitchell. Mitchell will command a contract as expensive, if not more expensive than Christian Gonzalez’s 4 year, $135 million contract or Devon Witherspoon’s 4 year, $132 million contract or Trent McDuffie’s 4 year, $124 million contract.
Mitchell will be signed to a huge deal and the Eagles will also have to figure out how to keep Cooper DeJean this offseason.
There just isn’t a scenario in which they lose one or both players coming off of rookie contracts in the same offseason. Even if one of them has to take a deal they may not love and then bounce back in a couple years. I’m probably wrong about that and cash does rule everything.
The Eagles have their draft picks this season and have two firsts in 2028 due to the A.J. Brown trade. Luckily New England has to deal with his degenerative knee issues.
They also picked up two seconds from the Cam Jurgens trade.
Howie can blow it up once again and search for another Super Bowl team like he has successfully. I’d disagree with completely dismantling this team, but a complimentary running back alongside Saquon Barkley would help. Not only that but also rebuilding the defense.
The pieces on the defense are still solid, with Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter locked up for the future and Quinyon Mitchell becoming a top cornerback in the league. Nolan Smith is their best edge rusher.
The Eagles are heading towards a reset on offense. I don’t believe a full rebuild isn’t in the picture for Howie, most likely because we’ve been here before with him. This is how the Eagles were able to draft players like Hurts, Carter and Devonta Smith.
What’s the status of Nick Sirianni?
He will one hundred percent be on the hot seat next season if the Eagles struggle out the gate. I don’t see him or Sean Mannion being blamed for the struggles this season. Though the Eagles are off to their worst start since 1999 and have lost six straight games, Sirianni does deserve some grace for the unprecedented amount of injuries this season and along with his previous track record.
It’s popular amongst fans to believe that Sirianni is only successful due to his coordinators, but for a head coach with the missing his franchise quarterback and one that has been to two Super Bowls, along with being a leader of the team. It’d be difficult to see Howie try and fire and replace him with someone else unless it’s a completely new offense and quarterback.
Fans should however be prepared for a change in defensive coordinators as it seemed that Vic Fangio seemingly contemplated retirement last offseason but denied it in May. You have to ponder if the Eagles’ defensive struggles have made him reconsider.
Is this just the curse of the 76ers landing LeBron James and having their best shot at winning a championship for the first time since 1983? Maybe it is. Although logically, this was bound to happen. The Phillies have hit a wall and the Eagles are searching for their identity.
The Flyers have also been off to a rough start and though I don’t know hockey well, this doesn’t bode well for a return to glory right now.
There is hope for the future, though with David Dombroski’s track record, I simply can’t trust that the Phillies will be a World Series winning team once again. With Howie Roseman’s track record, I can envision and trust that he has something up his sleeve for either the upcoming trade deadline on November 10th, or the offseason and making the right moves to keep the Eagles championship window open. He has built a team that has won two out their last three Super Bowl appearances.
While the party may be over and the teams are being humbled, I don’t doubt that there won’t be major changes in strengthening up the Eagles roster, and just maybe Dombroski won’t screw up another offseason. And if he does, hopefully Bryce Harper is right and we won’t have to stress out over Phillies baseball in 2027.
Until then, we can hope that 40 plus year old LeBron can help lead Philly to glory once again, otherwise we’re looking at another future where the teams we love may not be competitive again until the end of the decade.
Thank god the Sixers are off to a hot start and look to have all the team chemistry in the world. But I don’t know, maybe the Sixers play in a way that’s too garish and eventually injuries or age will catch up to them.
That could just be me being pessimistic. So here’s to hoping that we can at least witness one fun and winning team this season.
But if that’s all that is with both this Eagles and the Phillies era, well then “a stereo’s is a stereo. art is forever!”
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