Doug Pederson And Carson Wentz Walk Into The Sunset
And with that, it feels like the Eagles Super Bowl squad is officially gone. I’m sure there are a few pieces left but with Doug fired and Wentz traded the identity of that team is now officially historical record. It took just a few years for what looked like one hell of a squad to just completely crumble into dust as the worst team in a historically bad division. Unlike the other 3 teams, the Eagles probably aren’t trending upwards. This next year might be really rough.
I didn’t expect Wentz to actually leave once Doug got fired. I figured it was Wentz or Doug. A lot of the media leaks made it sound like it was Wentz vs Doug. Wentz appeared to win. Now he’s gone too. Jalen Hurts now gets to command a ship of death into the horizon. Wentz gets to try and rehab his everything in Indianapolis. Doug gets to drink tequila in Mexico or whatever it is he is going to do this year.
The trade was both surprising and not at the same time and opinions seem pretty divided on who “won”, because every trade must be analyzed as a win-loss scenario. One on hand, you’ve got the Philly Wentz fans, who are really pissed off because to them Wentz was still good and worth the money, and all they got out of it was a 3rd and a 2nd that might become a first if Wentz works out. You also have the Philly Wentz haters who are thrilled to see him gone and can’t believe they even managed to get a 2nd and 3rd out of him. For the Colts, consensus seems more even. If Wentz works out, the price isn’t that steep. If he doesn’t, the price wasn’t that steep. Philly is stuck with the worst dead cap penalty in NFL history as they rebuild and the Colts potentially get their future franchise QB for a reasonable price. The real winner in all of this is Wentz, who is now on a better team with a coach he knows well.
Now we truly get to see if Wentz was broken or the Eagles were. Frank Reich has gained most of the credit in recent years for the Eagles Super Bowl run, since football fans are dumb and the team didn’t immediately live up to new expectations after he left. I’m not sure how much credit Reich deserves. The Eagles in 2017 were just fucking stacked and generally very healthy (ironically outside Wentz). Reich certainly played a part in that 2017 success but Doug still made many of the decisions that won them that trophy. In 2018 they had a harder time but still made the divisional round with Foles once again playing the season redeemer. To me it felt like classic fandom expectation shift once 2017 happened. Fans witnessed an incredible team have an incredible win and immediately assumed they’d be the Patriots now and when the team wasn’t as good the next couple of seasons they turned on the coaching staff. Doug wasn’t a perfect coach, no coach is, and winning a Super Bowl is hard as fuck everyone not named Tom Brady. I still think Doug was a good coach who made the most of his best season. Watching him get run out of town like this has been fun because I feel the Eagles made a mistake.
That same spiteful part of me kinda wants Wentz to succeed in Indy just to further stick it to Philadelphia but I still think Wentz is broken and won’t be good. If he stayed in Philly he would likely never recover but in Indy he at least has a chance at a new slate. A lot of reports paint Wentz in an unfortunate egotistical light and getting thrown into a new locker room where he can’t boss people around might humble the guy. Many of his problems looked mental last year, so this could be what he needs. I think he’ll be better than 2020 but not great and certainly nowhere near his 2017 form. I’m expecting a bottom 16 QB performance, but closer to 16 than 32. I think he’ll be average, with signs of what made him special but also plenty of bizarre mistakes just like last season.
At any rate the Eagles are a mess and that’s cool as hell.
I’m with EDP on this one.
The Eagles needed to fire Howie Roseman, not Pederson. Watch Philly draft a QB in the 1st this year.
It should be obvious, if it wasn’t before, that to beat Sata- err, Tom Brady – in a Super Bowl, one must pay the Iron Price. The ’07 Giants sacrificed Burress, the ’11 Giants sacrificed their entire OL, and after emerging victorious, the ’17 Iggles were asked what it cost them. With a tear in his eye, Howie Roseman whispered, “Everything.”
The ’18 Rams cost Brandin Cooks and Jared Goff
Oh wait this is only for winners
You make an interesting point. The losing teams may have made sacrificial offerings that weren’t accepted.
Atlanta is still enduring its sacrifices.
The Giants may have partially sacrificed Osi as well since the guy clearly wasn’t the same player he was prior to that 2008 injury, even with his 2010 renaissance.
At least Hamster Huey and the Franchise Kablooey has a happy ending for everyone but Hamster Huey. And Sashi the Mouse. And Deshone the Squirrel. And Ferret Freddie. I guess Beaver John landed on his feet, though he really didn’t deserve to.
I love this comic. It just seems to fit. I was really shocked that with what Stafford got, the Wentz haul was really low. Wonder what that means for any potential Watson trade.
I’m shocked they were able to get what they did for Wentz. The Stafford comparison is off. The Eagles weren’t the Lions in this situation, they were the Rams
Pretty much that. Both teams gave huge extensions to their QBs, regretted doing it, and decided to move forward without them, even if it meant eating unprecedented amounts of cap space to do so. Except one got picks in return, the other gave extra picks away.
Despite that, I still think Eagles management to be worse than Rams’, considering they did a lot to create this mess in the first place, and also because history has shown they’ll probably waste those picks anyway. The Rams approach to team building has been a bit unorthodox to say the least, but they have been competitive so far, even without as 1st rounder since 2016.
If watson gets traded (he prob won’t) Houston’ll prob ask for two firsts or a first/second and a starting caliber qb
You have to separate the Stafford trade into two pieces. It wasn’t Stafford for Goff, two 1s, and a 3. It was Stafford for a 1 and a 3, plus Goff and a 1 for taking on an albatross contract.
In that context, the Colts paid only slightly less for Wentz than the Rams did for Stafford, which makes sense. Stafford is proven, but he’s going into his age-33 season and only has two years of team control. Wentz is unproven, but he’s younger and more talented, with four years of team control.
Lol does Teddy Two Gloves remind anyone else of Wentz? He gets all this hype around his comeback, sign him to big money, with all of our weapons is still garbage and wastes another good offense. Also, why is our defense so bad, on paper we should be good.
” and immediately assumed they’d be the Patriots now” They basically are the Patriots, now, but worse.
Nice use of the Kelly Green with the Midnight Green. That is my entire takeaway from this comic. Everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.
No pun intended.
So is the last panel the blackouts?
“The Eagles in 2017 were just fucking stacked and generally very healthy (ironically outside Wentz).”
I almost spit out my coke before I remembered that Dave is a Giants fan. By recent Giants standards, the 2017 Eagles team was relatively healthy, by a more (I don’t want to say normal) err… let’s say by a less traumatized fanbases’ perspective the Eagles suffered a bunch of key injuries in 2017 that could have derailed a lesser team. The difference between 2017, and 2018-19 is that the injuries didn’t completely deplete a single position group. The Eagles only had to rely on backups instead of street free agents.
I can see this move working out for Indianapolis for the simple reason that Wentz will be playing behind a much better offensive line than he was in Philadelphia. I think it’s possible that he won’t be as prone to making the same mental mistakes from trying to play constant hero ball since he won’t be running for his life back there right after the ball is snapped.
All in all it’s not a bad move for Indy. About as low risk as they come given the position they traded for.
Ever considering making a comic for the GOAT named Rod Rutledge?
“For the Colts, consensus seems more even. If Wentz works out, the price isn’t that steep. If he doesn’t, the price wasn’t that steep.”
As a Colts fan I agree, but this is actually somewhat my problem with the deal. Chris Ballard has been an absolute rockstar compared to Ryan Grigson when it comes to building the team, so I’m not completely down on this trade, but it still feels kind of weak to me. Like they’re playing to not lose, instead of playing to win.
It is true that if this trade fails, it didn’t cost a ton so the team isn’t really set back at all cap space or draft capital wise, especially with the Eagles absorbing so much dead money. But it feels like they made this trade already knowing it would fail, in which case why make the trade at all?
I get that there weren’t a ton of QBs left on the market and they wouldn’t be able to land any of the top 4 rookie QBs (and maybe top 5 depending on what the Pats do) without trading up, but I would legitimately have preferred signing Brissett again over this. He’s beloved in the locker room, and I’ve come to appreciate the fact that past a certain threshold of talent, leadership matters more. If the Colts are just looking for a veteran to hold down the fort until the right young QB becomes available to make a move for, I’d rather roll with the guy already loved by his teammates in Indy. Even when Luck was here, Brissett was the vocal leader. That’s not at all a shot at Luck but rather praise for Brissett.
Who knows though, I thought the rivers signing was horrible and would lead to a 6-10 or 7-9 season and was wrong, so maybe Reich will really work his magic with Wentz.
I’m happy for Wentz. He’s going to win a playoff game before the Eagles. He’s going to ball there and show why he is elite.
I’m pissed at the Eagles. There was no salvaging this situation at this point, but they are the reason that they got to it. It starts and ends with Howie failing at drafting. He made some good choices on which positions to get (barring the obvious one) but he failed at actually making a good pick. And then he picks a QB in the 2nd round last year instead of getting help for Wentz.
Howie needs fired. But if you are a Giants fan, you can bask in the glory that is the Eagles now.
Dang if the Colts held out a little bit longer they could have gotten Russell Wilson instead of lame Carson Wentz. Sure, it would cost more, but a first and a second or maybe two firsts would probably be enough– oh wait the colts did good this year so they don’t have any meaningful qb picks. Who’s the colts backup anyway?