Stages of grief in a dying Eagles season...
What stage of Kubler-Ross' classic 5 Stages of Grief are you (or your favorite Eagles fan buddies) in right now as the Birds have crashed and burned midway through the 2011 flight?-----
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance...
I'm dancing between Stage 1 and Stage 3 right now, personally still holding out an unrealistic hope that if we can JUST WIN IN NEW JERSEY this Sunday night, then magically the stage will be set for a 6-0 or 5-1 run that somehow, some way qualifies for a wild card or a division title.
Obviously I'm about to crash into the mother of Depression of a Philly sports decade very shortly...
It is important to interpret the stages loosely, and expect much individual variation. There is no neat progression from one stage to the next. In reality, there is much looping back, or stages can hit at the same time, or occur out of order.
As I read comments here and over at PE.com, I observe all the Stages exhibited by our fans, with a rare few having already achieved acceptance and planning for a better future.
Wondering where Andy Reid is about now? I think he's stuck in Stage 1....
According to Nick Fierro of the Allentown Morning Call, Reid does not "get it" yet that "his 2011 team has fallen apart around him"... The laundry list of problems on his team are apparent to all now but him. These are the kinds of things that happen when coaching reigns, no matter how successful, begin to crumble. There are blind spots and catastrophic misjudgments and miscalculations, and they sprout out of control, like mushrooms after a three-day rain...
Reid sat calmly at the podium at Monday's presser and stared down a mass interrogation about his defense, his defensive coordinator, the lack of leadership on his team and discipline problems.
"Yes, the coaches and players all have to do better, because the Eagles' 3-6 record is unacceptable", he said. "No, there is no lack of leadership, no discipline problems, nothing that can't be corrected in timely fashion."
Fierro wrote: "There's a fine line between strong convictions, which Reid has always had, and downright stubbornness, which has sadly overtaken his heart and soul and blinded him to the flaws he will never be able to correct because he refuses to acknowledge them in the first place."
"In normal times, Reid would explain 11 penalties, including a mind-boggling neutral-zone infraction by a $60 million veteran cornerback that kept a game-tying touchdown drive going, as a lack of discipline."
"Not so on Monday, a day after his players so boldly rejected the disciplinary message he desperately tried too late to send to his team by benching star receiver DeSean Jackson for behavioral issues that may have already metastasized. They played their flattest game of the year in a 21-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals."
But Reid placed himself on an especially slippery slope when he revealed on Monday that there are no plans to relieve overmatched defensive coordinator Juan Castillo from his play-calling duties or at least bring in some extra help. This, after the Eagles set an NFL record by blowing four fourth-quarter leads at home in one season — and with three games still to play at Lincoln Financial Field.
Opponents have run roughshod in the final 15 minutes with simple adjustments against Castillo's defense, the result of catching on to trends on display through the first three quarters.
Fierro observes what we have also witnessed: Every week it's something different with this defense, and while not every incident might look like Castillo's fault on the surface, no team in the history of the league has done in one year what the Eagles have done at home with still almost half the season remaining. Didn't matter that Castillo's defense was formidable and even intimidating at times through the first 45 minutes Sunday (or in other weeks). It was solved in the fourth by a team with just two wins coming in and with a backup quarterback from Fordham calling the signals.
This is not a fluke. It's a trend, a trend Reid obviously refuses to acknowledge. So right after telling us on Monday that he plans to get this season turned around, he tells us he's going to continue to go about it the same way.
Nick Fierro calls it "stubborness", and even alludes to Einstein's famous definition of "insanity"--- doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
I see it more as a first stage of grieving called Denial. Reid hasn't even hit Anger yet. He's still in shock. This can't be happening. It's a coping mechanism that we've all experienced as Eagles fans at one point of a season gone wrong or another. I feel bad for Andy. He's set up for a devastating jolt of reality when the patient finally dies.
Kolb was apparently shouting out to the safeties and corners the patterns that the Eagles WR were about to run. He was reading the Eagles signals, etc.
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Yeah that's what the tweet posted below was in reference to I thought everyone already knew that. Guess I should have set it up better. LOL @HoserChris
@Demappulls! @HoserChris I still think kolb could have ran the hell out of this offense. Although the way our wrs have been droppin balls, montana couldent produce for us. Suxxxx.
I don't know. I don't think Kolb could have taken some of the hits Vick has taken this year. Not to mention he hasn't done much in AZ this year either. @fieldsr69 @HoserChris
Don, levon kirkland. He got beat for a huge td down the middle of the field, I think it was the 1st of andys nfc championship losses but im not 100%. Till that play he was soilid.
@donpardo 6'5, tackled well, covered well. Then they just gave up on backers. Hell I wish bradley was still in the middle.
@fieldsr69@donpardo I don't think Bradley even cracked the Cardinals starting LB corps, did he...? Isn't he a back up over there?
@HoserChris @donpardo I dont know, I saw him on the field, dont think he made the stat sheet.
LOL this shit is funny....
SpikeEskin Spike Eskin
If you look closely, you can see Kevin Kolb on the sidelines when the Eagles played Buffalo, Atlanta, the GIants and the Bears.
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“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” - Virginia Woolf
I think that fat overwieght LB from Pittsburgh that we had one year would be great right now....What was his name....wore #99 for Pittsburgh...I thought he played well for us when he came here...
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I think slurpy got it wrong. Andy is in stage 2 (anger). I saw him snap last week during the Cards game. I think he's approaching stage 3 now (over-eating)....
How would one judge if Big Red was "over-eating" exactly? He prolly lives on a 5-6k+ cal/day diet.@HoserChris
fields - remember the glory days of such LBs as Seth Joyner, Byron Evans, William Thomas, Jerremiah Trotter...
@fieldsr69 Hell, I'd even take Mike Reinchenback, Dwayne Jiles, Bill Romanowski, Vaughan Johnson, or Carlos Emmons right about now....!
@HoserChris rite up until romanowski spit I loved him. Quiet as kept the eagles have a nice lb tradition.
Does beg the question .... What does Sir Winston bring to the table except back up back up status!!!
@fieldsr69@kent Indeed I had forgot about that big payday he had a couple of seasons back ....... whoops!
Hoser Chris: Never sold on Laws...one flash play in 9 games...another second round bust...imo....as for Parker....he is having an off year...I am wondering if this is beginning of end or if he is legitmately hurt...
@donpardo He hasn't played up to his 2nd round billing, that's for sure. But he HAS been our 4th best D lineman this season thus far (behind Cole, Babin, & Jenkins).
Strange to me that they don't slide Todd back to LG and let Justice play RT. Is Winston still hurt or just THAT bad? What's the weaker link combination -
Herremans at LG with Justice at RT....OR....Jackson at LG with Herremans at RT?
@HoserChris its possible tbey are looking for the best combination w/o mathis. Or their tryen to get vick killed.
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Landri never should have beem cut in the first place...same with Hargrove...both are better than Laws who is not my boy!
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Jarad Page cut? Geez....what took so long?
Nice to see Chad Hall get another shot at WR. He brings his lunch pale to work everyday. The kid gives top effort, as does Landri. Perhaps the multi-millionaire players on this team will learn something about attitude and effort from these two players...
@HoserChris Oh...missed that one...missed the whole game actually....all I know is that we scored only 10 points....but I am sure it was all the players fault.....not....
Hmmmm it says at the dump that if Evan Mathis is not ready for Sunday that JJ will slot in at LG ........
@n.akuatuta Hey where abouts in France are you ...... As the crow flies I am only about 60 miles from France!!!!
