Eagles Need To Go Back to the Future

2009 Philadelphia Eagles: W 11, L 6, with 3 big losses to Dallas

Look carefully at your 2009 team photo, it’s already beginning to fade out on key players and coaches, just like the dissolving photograph in the movie “Back to the Future”…

Still in the picture for the time being are the last six players left from the 2004 Eagles, the team that dominated the NFC then lost to New England, 24-21, in the 2005 Super Bowl.  Remaining from that team are: Donovan McNabb, Sheldon Brown, Quintin Mikell, David Akers, Jamaal Jackson, and Jeremiah Trotter…and Trotter will probably retire or be released soon.

That means a roster turnover of 47 out of 53 players for a team which only five years ago was sitting atop the NFC and knocking on the gates of greatness…What’s more amazing to ponder is that’s a normal lifetime in the NFL.  It’s beginning to shape up as a 5-year generational league.  It seems you get about a 5-year window to build a winning team using both the Draft and free agency, and it also takes a young starting quarterback about 5 years to reach his peak performance level.  It all has to come together under a coaching and management regime that’s given about 5 years of rope to either make a Super Bowl run or…just fade away.

Andy Reid’s the exception to the 5-year rule.  After the great run the Eagles had in 2004, owner Jeff Lurie rewarded Reid with a fresh set of downs. After coming so close to getting to the Super Bowl in 2008, Lurie extended his head coach again, this time to 2013.

All of which means: if Reid and McNabb are going to remain together and go after it again in 2010,  they’re going to have to replace the fading images in the team photo by going back to the future…By that I mean the upcoming Draft and free agency season which Alex is profiling for us must be aimed at replacing fading or broken pieces with proven winners now, and not be content to sculpt a development model for two, three or four seasons down the road.

That’s because time is running out on McNabb and Reid in Philly, just as surely as Marty McFly would have been stuck in the past if Doc didn’t catch lightning in a bottle…er, cable.

Reid and McNabb are at the far end of their second 5-year plan. Most coach and QB duets only get one shot at a 5-year run together…if they’re lucky.

That’s why I say, if you’re going to keep Reid and McNabb together one more time, then let’s throw development plans to the wind and try to harness the perfect storm instead.  Alex has told us where the broken pieces are in the team photo; soon he’ll tell us where the new parts can be found. But this time, I hope the Eagles spare no expense in hooking up McNabb and Reid with a fixed-up DeLorean and the right-now players that can drive it.  We’re running out of time, and by now, the Eagles should know, the lightning and the electricity is already there in Philadelphia,  generated by  fans,  just waiting to be harnessed.