And so the most important opening on Chip Kelly’s staff has been filled.
On Wednesday, we learned that the Eagles have hired Cleveland Browns linebackers coach Billy Davis to be their latest defensive coordinator.
Forgive me if I’m a little underwhelmed.
Davis has previously been the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals. During his two years with the 49ers, San Francisco’s defense was abysmal, finishing 30th and 32nd in points allowed. They also were near the bottom of the barrel in yards allowed, ranking 32nd and 24th.
Davis got his second coordinator opportunity in Arizona, and to his credit fared much better in 2009 when he managed to field a somewhat competent defense that finished 14th in points allowed and and 20th in yards allowed. However, the floor completely fell out beneath him in the following season when the Cardinals plummeted to 30th in points allowed. After losing his job in Arizona, Davis spent the last two seasons coaching linebackers in Cleveland as mentioned previously.
The Davis hire does absolutely nothing to make me believe that this defense is going to return to its glory days any time soon. Here you have a coach that got two chances to show that he could successfully build up and run an NFL defense and he’s failed miserably both times. Now he’s coming into a situation in which he’ll be asked to clean up a defense that is short on talent, short on leadership, and are collectively soft. Oh yes, the man who three times in his career has been responsible for a defense ranked 30th or worse in a 32-team league, that’s the ideal candidate to turn this defense over to.
What makes the Davis hire even more egregious in my eyes is the way in which the whole situation played out.
Let’s flash back to the last time the Eagles hired a new defensive coordinator. Shortly after firing Sean McDermott, one of the first moves that the Eagles made was to hire Jim Washburn to coach the defensive line. Before securing a competent coordinator to run the defense, the Eagles decided to hire a polarizing figure, and essentially commit their defense to the Wide-Nine scheme. No sane defensive coordinator had any interest in the job, and almost three weeks after hiring Washburn the Eagles were forced to settle on Juan Castillo as their guy.
The Eagles failed to realize that in order to make their defensive coordinator job attractive, they need to give their coordinator full control of the unit. The defensive coordinator must decide what scheme to run. The defensive coordinator fills out of the defensive coaching staff with assistant coaches that he is familiar with or confident in. The Eagles doomed themselves to failure over the last two seasons because they broke this basic philosophy, and married themselves to Jim Washburn and his Wide-Nine scheme.
Now in the present day, what have Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman learned from the crippling mistakes they made in the winter of 2011? Well to their credit, at least the man that they gave the job to this time has previous NFL experience as a defensive coordinator. But that’s about where the upside of the Billy Davis hire stops.
As Garry mentioned in his article, Billy Davis was far from the Eagles’ first choice. If they had really been that impressed with him, they could have hired him several weeks ago. There were better options available, but the team’s top choices weren’t interested in the job. The Eagles settled for Davis, just like they settled for Castillo two years ago.
Several of the key mistakes made in 2011 have been repeated during this search for a defensive coordinator. Once again, before hiring a defensive coordinator, the Eagles had already filled out their defensive staff and have also committed themselves to a scheme. They again made the job unattractive by tying the coordinator’s hands to a 3-4 attack, and taking away the coordinator’s ability to fill out his defensive staff with his own guys.
While there’s nothing wrong with a switch to a 3-4, that decision should have been made by the defensive coordinator alone after he had been hired. Shortly after Kelly was hired, there were strong indications that the Eagles would be switching to a 3-4, even though no new members of the defensive staff were in place. Wasn’t Chip Kelly supposed to keep his hands off of the defense and focus squarely on adjusting his offense to work in the NFL?
Even though none of the coaches the Eagles hired as defensive assistants carry the divisive reputation that Jim Washburn had, it’s a bad decision to hire these coaches before the defensive coordinator is in place. If you’re an up-and-coming defensive coach about to get your first shot at running an NFL team’s defense, you’d want to go into a situation where the team grants you as much control as possible to shape the staff and the scheme in a way that you know you can be successful.
The way the Eagles have conducted their last two defensive coordinator searches have forced them to settle for an unqualified and overwhelmed offensive line coach, and now a retread that has already failed in opportunities with two other teams. The direction that this franchise is going in is disturbing to me.
I’m not expecting any quality defense to be played in Philadelphia this season.
Denny Basens is the editor of GCobb.com. Email him at dbasens@ycp.edu
All this bitchin and moaning and we don’t even know shit about the guys. We CANNOT go just based on his resume. Look at some of those “great” coaches with great success in the past in the league. Jim Washburn, Bobby April, Howard Mudd? Worked out GREAT right fellas? C’mon Man. Look at some of the great DC’S in the league. Someone like Vic Fangio who a lot of o people are fond of, ever hear of him having great success before he landed the 49ers gig? Who did Davis have on those bum ass teams he coached back then? He’s literally never coached a defensive with a great supporting cast of players. Who know’s? Maybe this guy will surprise a lot of people.
Last time I checked the browns had a top 5 defense 2 years ago, and actually were a pretty rock solid defense last year..
Give the dude a chance.
We do know about him CT. This guy isn’t an unknown who hasn’t coached in the NFL before, he’s a two-time defensive coordinator who has had units finish 30th or worse in three of his four years on the job.
Your point about the quality of players he might have had to work with is fine, but there’s still the fact that his defenses didn’t improve at all in two years with both teams and you’re going to give him a pass for that? In Arizona, he actually dropped from 14th to 30th in his second year. Players always have something to with it sure, but failures that drastic have more to do with a coach’s incompetency.
Look at a guy like Jeff Fisher, who took over the Rams this past year. In 2011, their defense was among the worst in the league. In 2012, they became a respectable unit under a quality coach…
Ranked 20th, 26th twice & 30th. 30th was his worst ranking. So you are a little wrong. There are only 32 teams. How much worse could he get? LOL!
@CT THey majority of posters on here are pretty educated about football. Most of us know bullshit when we see it also. With a few exceptions I find even the people I disagree with on here are good football minds. I begrudgingly respect a few I never agree with. Eagle fans and these posters know more than we dont for the most part and Billy Davis is a bullshit Hire, weak and if it indicates how this new regime is gonna go we could be in big trouble. Again Im Eagles all the way and hope Im wrong, but Im smart enough to see shit and not think it’s brownies. I do like the O-line hire though.
@Denny Good come back article after mailing in that weak Gonzo story last week. You lined it up perfectly my friend. Well stated.
Xevous exactly
McDermott, Castillo, Bowles to Davis?
again he may be a great coach but the heap of garbage in the dumpster in back of the Nova Care center of Defensive Coordinators suggested they hire a proven winner not potential
this looks like a cheap Jeff Lurie penny pinching move
Well, if this guy doesn’t pan out we can grab Rex Ryan as our d-coordinator when he gets fired from the Jets next year
I agree CT,
Lets see what happens but hiring a quality Secondary Coach is
Crucial.. And don’t forget that Kelly has a background with Defense and very unlikely that he would give “complete control” to any oCoach on either side of the Ball and will probably be active in all facets of the Team and their Schenes from Offense, Defense to Special Teams, it’s his nature to be a very hands on HC..
Should have kept T Bowles as Def. Back Coach…Any candidates that come to mind to fill the position?
Joke, the eagles are a joke, yes, let’s give them the benefit of tbe doubt like we did with the other off decisions , how did that work out, It’s a doomed franchise as long as you have non football people making decisions on key coaching, personnel decisions , the root is the problem. The tree will die
Exactly, that’s the way I see it at this point. There’s been too many bad decisions, to me this team has lost the right to have the benefit of the doubt when they make a questionable decision.
I don’t see any reason to trust them right now.
Thats what happens when you have Howie Roseman at the helm, and not GMCliff. First of all , I would have hired Gus Bradley, and Jacksonville staff would be the Eagles staff. Right now, on paper theirs is better. Just saying.
You only tell the truth Denny. Great article!!
I agree with all the comments and I have been harping on here Since November that what Owner Jeff Lurie should have been focusing on this Fall was the hiring a real VP of Football Ops who then in turn would lay the Football Vision out for the Franchise and then Hire the Next HC and Staff (with the HC inputs/suggestions of course
I stated incorrectly that Tom Donahoe would be this guy since he was hired as a Consultant to Lurie last spring and I really didn’t think that Lurie was foolish enough to alloy non-football men like GM Rosenan and Pres Smolenski to nake sound Football decisions but I obviously was wrong and though I am no strong fan of Donahoe to begin with for his record at Buffalo was shaky at best, at least he is a real Football guy.. So now we as Fans have to suffer longer until the next Iwnership comes in with real Footvall people to make a football decisions and not these lawyer, financial, marketing geeks… Good Greif..
And by the way, great article Denny
Another great article Denny, why must this team always think they are smarter then everyone else? Who’s the boss over there Howie or Chip? This has disaster written all over it.
Big, it’s condescending arrogance, personified! I have ZERO faith in this getting better. Didn’t like his hiring, & it’s been all down hill, since his kiss booty press conference! Bad staff, still having Vick on the team, only cutting Bell thus far, negotiating with a stiff, practice squad QB, who couldn’t beat out AARP members, Jenny Craig patients & backups, hiring an entire DF staff before the DC, then hiring a failure as the DC! What’s not to be pumped up about?!? SUPER BOWL BAAAAAABY!!!!
I’m ready to take the gas pipe! I don’t live in a world where Billy Davis is the DC.
Or maybe he will turn out like Vic Fangio who also sucked in all his previous DC jobs before he got to the 49ers.
Maybe I’ll hold off on the gas pipe for now… lol
Don’t hold off on the gas pipe Denny nailed it, has the guts to write it, doomed franchise, the fish stinks from the head down, first Lurie had the chance to really change the culture of the organization, by hiring a great defensive coordinator to be head coach, but Gus Bradley was too much man for Lurie, so he gets in a bitch fight with banner over Kelly, who has already given strong indications he is not the right candidate, can’t adress the qb situation, hires position coaches before coordinator, same mistakes, but worse, he has no nfl pedigree, none, but we are to bow at the almighty altar of Lurie that he got this one right,,,,,,
Suck deep on that tail pipe my friend, put yourself out of misery
Spot on Denny. My guess is that other more qualified candidates passed on the DC job not because of the lousy roster, but because they wouldn’t get a chance to choose their coaching staff. The Eagles have been hiring defensive assistant coaches for the last few weeks, who does this without first hiring a coordinator? Poaching coaches from one of the most god-awful franchises in pro sports to be your offensive and defensive coordinator is not a recipe for success. Embarrassing. This team feels like it’s being run like the Norman Braman years again.
Maybe Andy Reid was the real brains.
“Maybe Andy Reid was the real brains.”
I’d been thinking about that ever since this Chip Kelly love affair began. And now that the shhhhh! quiet! decision-making has been leaking out, it’s becoming obvious that Jeff Lurie is more like Braman than anything.
The thing that makes me resist giving Reid credit for brains is that he stayed here in this organization forever. Jimmy Johnson left the Cowboys when he couldn’t deal with the dysfunctional organization in Dallas. If Lurie is as screwed up as Jones is, then a brain-ier man would have left town. Since he stayed, I can only believe that it’s more corroboration that Reid isn’t that sharp. Maybe he was the smartest guy in the office, but that doesn’t say much.
Next year, we’ll find out. I still think Reid will ultimately fail in KC and be gone in 4 years. But I guess that doesn’t mean he won’t do better than the Eagles in that time span.
Can’t wait for phillies baseball, at least their doomed decisions are made by baseball people, not nerds playing fantasy leagues, not even a close comparison,
the eagles are the laughing stock of its zealous fan base, Lurie tries to bull shit us brothers, it will not work, we can disagree on personnel , preferences for quarterback, but we remain unified on the type football we want in Philly, and it ain’t what this elitist from new England is peddling, stand up eagles fans, call it out.
Why can’t you wait for Phillies Baseball, they’re just as bad as the Birds?!? They’re the Birds of 2011-2012! High expectations, overrated, overpaid stiffs, boob as a HC/ Manager, stupid, inept front offices, loyal to a fault ownerships, & teams that need an overhaul & rebuild! YAAAAAAAAAAAY, SPRING TRAINING!!!! Can’t wait for, at best NL EAST 3rd place, with no playoffs again! YIIIIPPIE!!!!
The Eagles have a ton of money to spend and if they want to use some of it by bringing in some guys that would flourish in the 3-4 and have proven it, one guy who is a free agent that comes to mind is Paul Kruger of the Baltimore Ravens. Hes 6’4 270, plays OLB but they also put him all over the defensive line as a pass rusher, hes pretty young being only 26. I expect the Eagles to take a look at him and may even sign him if he doesnt decide to return back to the Ravens.
Krueger would be an excellent acquisition but with thecRavens losing Ray Lewis and possibly Ed Reed to Free-agency to the Saints,
And Terrell Suggs another year older and injury to NT Nfara, I can’t see how Ravens let Kruger walk.. Of course they will spend big $$$ to sign Flacco and also have WR A Boldin eligible for free-agency but they will somehow retain Kruger and probably build their Defense around him
And therein lies the problem, read Jh and paulman posts, in spite of huge issues on leadership, direction, these geeks still want to talk fanntasy gm , as if they can know more than howie, which they probably do, but their desire to be the number one geek eviscerated their fandom, they are nerds, pure and simple nerds,
But JH (LIL BRON-BRON JON FRAUD AKA MINI D GUNN), is a clueless, delusional, lifeless nerd! At least Paul, brings something to the table sometimes!
You writers think you know everything a good coordinator is only as good as the players he has the last time I look at the 2 teams in the Super Bowl I see a lot of good players on them teams. So until the Eagles get the players that fit there style of play there defense is gonna stink. Players makes a good defense not coordinators
By that logic, you have must been totally on board with the Juan Castillo hiring haha.
Because the defensive coordinator has absolutely nothing to do with the success or failures of the defense, why even bother filling the position, let’s just let the 11 guys run wild on their own.
Turk, if you listen to the great Eagles of the last decade like Jeremiah Trotter, Brian Dawkins, Hugh Douglas, or Troy Vincent talk about Jim Johnson, you’d understand how much an impact the coordinator has. Part of what made the Eagles defense under Johnson great was the fact that the players believed in what he was asking them to do. Like whenever Jim called a blitz, everyone was unified and all-in, no one on that defense ever questioned him.
When Juan took over, he had no credibility as a defensive mind and none of the players bought in to what he was selling, and the defense was doomed from the start.
The defensive coordinator sets the tone for the unit’s personality, and the players feed off of that guy and whether or not they can buy-in to his message.
So Denny since your such a genius who should of they have chosen for defense coordinator?
Haha well Turk, I would have started by allowing my coordinator to choose his own scheme and put together his own staff…and then I would have gone after Romeo Crennel or Todd Grantham.
Crennel was a failure as a head coach, but he’s a great defensive mind, and his defenses have always been tough. He also runs the 3-4. I think he would have been a nice presence for Kelly to lean on, since he’s a guy who has been in the league a decent amount of time and has experienced varying degrees of success and failure with other organizations.
Grantham has a great deal of NFL experience, and has had a good run at Georgia. I think he could have made the the transition and become a successful NFL defensive coordinator.
No answer for that truth bath Denny gave you? HUH pom-pom waver!
This is just getting worse, neither Roseman nor Kelly are putting the best interest and the development of the team first, they are just acquiring “Yes Men” that will defer to them and allow each to cover his own 6 ONLY…Kelly will defer to Roseman and everyone on Kelly’s staff will defer to him without question.
Juan did a good job it’s not his fault he had to deal with Jim Washburn his defense wasn’t playing bad when he was let go
You don’t consider multiple blown fourth quarter leads to be bad play in any way? Do you remember how lost Juan was during his final weeks against Pittsburgh and Detroit? He couldn’t decide whether or not he wanted to be passive or aggressive at the end of games, and the meltdowns were what ultimately cost him his job. He had no natural feel for the game as a defensive coordinator, Washburn or no Washburn he wasn’t going to succeed.
Why would Romeo coach defense this season when he’s getting paid by the Chiefs him and Lovie are taking the year off.
After getting fired by Dallas several years ago, Wade Phillips turned right around and right away took a defensive coordinator job with Houston. Not all coaches take a year off just because they’re getting paid. Why wouldn’t you at least reach out to him, it’d be foolish not to at least to give the man a call and see where his head is at.
Denny, the guy is a deranged, irrational, pom-pom waver, don’t waste your breath! Good article. Spot on, factual, truthful.
Another reason Romeo may have considered it is that he is from Chester. You never know if that might have been something he was interested in. It would have been great if we would have at least interviewed him.
Davis has plenty of NFL experience, but unfortunately, not a whole lot of NFL success. If you look at many of the of the best coaches in the NFL, they often had some runs with poor teams, I guess the best guys are able to learn from those experiences and hopefully that is what Davis will do with the Birds.
I just think its great that we’re poaching coaches from Cleveland. I mean why not?
If I was to start my own coaching staff, I’d be thinking…”where can I get some competent coaches…..hmmmmmm…..oh I know…..from the Cleveland Browns!”
I’m really excited about all of this. If the Eagles announce that Dennins Dixon has been signed tomorrow I think I’ll hit cloud 9.
Easy solution…stop going to the games and stop watching them on tv. Then maybe the front office will get it.
I so want to say “hey let’s give this Billy guy a chance!” but i can’t come to grips saying it…i’m at a loss for words..
get your brown bags ready for the next 5 years.
After the ever so important search …this is what they come up with?
3-13
Vick get the hell outta here while there’s teams who will pay you and leave this garbage ass team before they place all the incompetent moves made by ownership on you.
Yeah, because he’s gonna make us better, & win us a SB! GTFO!
If you love Vick so much Fraud, why don’t you take down for your Redskins?
You know that RGIII won’t be ready for the start next year, so perfect, you can have MV?
Go away you loser.
Yes the most important thing is Vick get paid…Not like He is the most overpaid failures in league History. He’s a fraud and so are you.
I’m not sure if anyone mentioned this NT that plays for Georgia Tech that is a pure beast. Name is TJ Barnes hes 6’7 345lbs and is a sleeper in both a 4-3 3-4. I hope the Birds are checking him out..
He’s a late draft pick. Possibly 6th-7th project.
would rather have juan freakin castillo.
If anything positive have come out of Reid’s hiring is that now we see he’s not the sole reason for this organization’s failures.
He was pathetic but the guys over him are even worse.
We can fire a coach but we’re stuck with an incompetent owner and GM.
WE……WTF……WE???
You are NOT an EAGLES fan you loser. Don’t pretend that you didn’t leave this fanbase months ago. You are the pathetic loser who declared his love for the Redskins….a pathetic loser who isn’t a pan but a whiner.
WE…..never you loser. NEVER.
If Baltimore uses there non exclusive tag on Flacco, there will be a team that will offer two first round picks for him. Idk if the Ravens would accept (possible), but I wonder if Chip Kelly and the Birds would make that offer? I think getting a young franchise QB like Flacco is imperative if this team wants to move forward. Look at the effect that getting RG3 had on the Redskins. Same thing could happen if a team gives up the picks for Flacco, but only if the Ravens use the non exclusive tag on him..
Here’s a few for you…….
Warren Sapp?…naw let’s get Mike Mamula
Ray Lewis? .. naw That Jermaine Mayberry with one eye is a steal.
Troy Palomalu to pair with Dawk? naw….Jerome McDougal is the truth!
Earl Thomas sitting right there to step in Dawk Shoes… naw Brandon (short) Graham will do just fine and we’ll just pick up Jaquan Jarrett in the 2nd before other teams figure out what an impact player he is.
Cameron Jordan OG waiting to help the team..but naw…let’s get that canadian 27 year old fireman, even though he’s 3 years away the time we begin to cut players due to age.
By the way, the Defensive guru “JJ” is gone…let’s hire an intern….
oops sorry that didn’t work but that failed offensive line coach had a few lunches with “JJ”. Ok…Defensive Coordinator spot filled.
Damn, how was we to know this wouldn’t work so let’s fire within the season after his failure last season and replace him with the secondary coach.
yeah! let’s fire the defensive line coach too…you know the one that was hired before the defensive coordinator was hired?
Guys I can go on and on and on with this dysfunctional organization.
It’s not all on Reid here guys because a competent front office would not allow these things to happen.
This year’s draft will show everyone how pathetic this front office is, so guys don’t put no mock drafts together because they’ll just pick a player no one ever heard of then cut them 2 years later.
that is why the greatest Philadelphia Eagle of all time certainly the greatest living Eagle said when asked for the reason why the Eagles have not won a chairmanship since 1960 —- ” DECISION MAKERS AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL “
Jon Hart Flacco would fail miserably here…..back shoulder throws and jump balls don’t work with little, speedy receivers. Look at those imposing receivers on the Ravens that turns a bad pass into a reception. Flacco need to stay with those receivers to succeed.
Hahaha hysterical
We have to see if BAL uses the non exclusive tag on Flacco, if they do, the options open up.. Im not saying it will happen Im saying it can happen and would everyone (meaning fans) be content with the Birds giving up two first round picks for a franchise QB.. Just throwing it out there as a possibility..
Songs, good stuff, I mentioned those same current and future HOF names and draft pick comparisons on SB day. It really boggles my mind that the Birds could mess up drafts that much.. But lets try to move forward. This is a new regime. Lets give Chip and his hand picked “guys” a chance. This is a very very very important draft. If they mess this one up it will set this team back 5 or more years and thats being honest not emotional. They cannot afford to have “misses” like theyve made a habit of having in years past. I think Chip made it very clear that he wants a certain type of player and that he and the scouts will go after that guy. Im going to give him the benefit of the doubt until he shows me otherwise..
I also think that as Chip evaluates the players on this team he sees there heights. This team overall is on the shorter side. Yes theyre young in age but also short. I see him drafting guys 6’0 and up. Nomore little people with a “high motor” with “alot of fight” that “fly around” …
Bottom line here is that Howie and Lurie have learned nothing,you limit who you can get to take the DC job by going out and picking the position coaches as the article correctly states someone accepting the DC WANTS TO PICK THEIR OWEN GUYS AS POSITION COACHES….why doesn’t Howie and Jeff get that ?”
What your not understanding is Chip is the one picking these guys not Howard and Jeffrie. Stop trying to pin every single thing on the front office. It makes you sound very petty and ridiculous. Give Chip a chance to put it all together.. sheesh.. obviously the process has just begun, alot of newness. Both in the front office and coaching staff. Next it will be the players…
did Chip Kelley bring in the wide nine defensive line coach(Washburn) then try and find a DC to fit that.Any time in the past when i have seen a DC hired they ALWAYS bring in their own guys and that’s just the way it works in the NFL. We should have just brought in the guy that does your taxes or mine to run the Eagles,like Assante Samuel said its just guys playing fantasy football,cant say i disagree with him
Clemenza I agree. Hiring the position coaches before a coordinator makes no sense. They have done it twice now, and with Kelly being new to the NFL I would have to believe that it was more a Roseman move than Kelly.
@ Paulman or GMCliff
usually new coaches pick free agents off their former team whom they trust within their system —– Anyone have have the Cleveland free agent talent pool available for both Offense and Defense?
these 2 coordinator hires look cheap — like joe banner is paying most of their salary from Cleveland
E0S, I think Phil Taylor, who has been hurt the last 2 years, may be on his last leg with that team, and I know Joe Thomas will be a free agent soon.
Outside those two, and Joe Haden,(and he is not available), I wouldn’t want any body on their team. I wouldn’t need to see their list. That team sucks.
WR Mike Massaquio is a Free-Agent and has never blossomed as a Pro after a decent 1st year a couple of years back
The Browns best Defensive Players are CB Joe Haden
ILB Qwell Jackson and Safety TJ Ward who are all under Contract
That’s a powerful indictment against the eagles songs, that alone explains a lot
In all honesty, you just have to wait and see. You cannot predict how he will be one way or another. When Jim Johnson came here with Reid, who could’ve predicted his success… For that matter Andy Reid was a QB Coach before he came here. Can’t complain if other DC’s did not want to come to Philly. You have to play the hand you are dealt. Let’s just hope that this hand is not a bust… Now get some headbangers in this town and build a physical defense.
all this griping and complaining….doesnt matter who the coordinator is if the talent is mediocre…. this defense has so many needs… especially moving to a new scheme, the 3-4…. give Davis 2 years before you judge him…they need new personnel….no way, Graham, Curry or Cole can play OLB in a 3-4… not happening.
Great article CT you covered everything. I think the man for this job who fell into their lap and it was working perfect was Gus Bradley! I have a feeling the Chip Kelly experiment with this group of inexperience is going to blow up and I dont give it a full season. I think it is safe to say Jeff and Howie as long as they are running the show we AINT GOIN NOWHERE!!!!
Holy Shit, someone die?
jott….paste the same comment but replace the name with Mcdermott or Castillo
Hey Denny,I see where you replied that one of your two choices for D-Coord would be Todd Grantham, heres some stats of him when he was D-Coord for Cleveland in 07
25th against the pass
27th against the run
30th in total yards
looks like Billy Davis numbers to me, its all about players buddy, all those great linebackers and Goldston and Justin Smith came the year AFTER Davis was fired in San Fran, Dansby and a couple guys from the Cardinals were gone when he coached the Cardinals, that didnt matter anyway, they werent going anywhere without Kurt Warner. Players are needed! This isnt about Davis, its gonna be about Howie Roseman and who he brings in for Davis to coach.
You’re picking out an isolated incident with Grantham…outside of that season in Cleveland, his track record is very good. He joins the Colts for a couple years as the defensive line coach and during his time there the club sets a team record in sacks.
He moved on to Houston in the same role, and their defensive line also improved significantly.
After Cleveland, he goes to Dallas and contributes to a defense that finishes with the 2nd fewest points allowed.
Now after his time in Georgia, he had a defense ranked 3rd in the nation and has drawn considerable interest from numerous NFL franchises. Where was the market for Billy Davis? Nowhere but Philadelphia.
Grantham’s resume isn’t perfect, but my god, at least he’s achieved significant success with numerous organizations, whereas a guy like has multiple significant failures on his.
It’s flat foolish to believe that it’s all about the players. Talent is without a doubt important, but if the guy pulling the strings is inept and can’t get through to his players, the talent of the players will never hit their potential, and the result is a defense that ranks near the bottom of the league.
If Davis was anything to write home about, would it not be reasonable to think that in the second year of both of his stops he could have at least gotten his units ranked within the top 25?
Listen, every coach has a bad year every now and then for one reason another. Things happen and tt’s ok to have a bad year. It’s not ok to have almost nothing but bad years on your resume when you’re an NFL defensive coordinator.
Put that in your pipe & smoke it!
I agree in the notion that its more about the players brought in over the coach, which will determine how good Davis will be. I don’t think you can use Castillo as an argument either because Castillo had no experience whatsoever as a Dcoach. And on top of that, the players we brought in were overrated and maybe the worst possible combination together you can ask for…yea lest bring in 2 corners who can’t tackle for shit when we have safeties and linebackers who can’t tackle either, what a great fucking idea.
I mean clearly Davis wasn’t their first choice, they got rejected for someone they had their hopes for. But MArvin LEwis rejected Reid as his first choice, to which he went to JJ next.
Denny, I would have liked Rome Crennel as my first choice too, but did you ever think maybe they did reach out to him behind the scenes, but were rejected? All I heard was that certain candidates rejected the job. The Birds can’t force somebody to coach their D.
pheags88 —be careful Lurie stooge Reuban Frank will write an article calling you a hack for writing that – LOL
Well I’d like to think that they reached out to Crennel. But we’re talking about an organization that isn’t exactly known for conventional wisdom and sound decision making…ha
SONGS you are 110% correct! It really sucks as an Eagles going through this shit. This is suppose to good times right now
And why didn’t they take a look at Rob Ryan? Doesn’t he run the 3 – 4? We get Billy Davis. It’s ok I’m still in my nightmare and haven’t woken up yet..
The sky is falling… still not going to go negative until after FA and the draft.
The Eagles went to the powerhouse Browns for their offense and defensive coaches.
“GOLDEN STANDARD”
NOW BEND OVER WHILE LURIE RAISE TICKET PRICES
fly eagles fly on the road to victory
E-A-G-L-E-S, eagles
Christina Lurie took half his loot, hence the ticket price increase
Lol good one SONGS. Well if they at least go back to the Kelly green uniforms i will feel better. If anything Lurie will generate some serious revenue off the change. It will be the hottest and newest gear out and everyone will want to have it.
Your correct Mr. Bugsy. Maybe we hit the jackpot and sign a few good solid players. But i really wanna see the Eagles hit it big in the draft. That’s what really matters
There will never be a championship in Philly so long as lurie is owner
It’s that basic, all other points about quarterback , the draft, all exercises in futility until lurie is gone
It comes down to this, at the end of the day we are all gonna bend over and take it in the can. It’s hard not to see the track record of this team for the last 5 years and not feel like this we’ll be a complete failure. There are recipes for success all around us, Ravens, Giants, Steelers, when you change your coach your org. should still have a philosphy in place. What scare’s me is not that we may have the wrong coaches it’s that we have no philosphy, It’s hard enough to find a good coach look at our history, but if your gonna change the philosphy everytime you hire a new coach you will never have long term success. Were on the east coast in the cold playing a mans game with small, fast, fragile players. I just want to see men on the field, Giants, Steelers, Ravens, 49ers, Seattle, Some of those teams run a finesse offense but the run it with real players. It’s time to get back to physical east coast football. Please just Draft big strong men who want to fuck shit up.
Haaaa, I bet a bunch of people that I coould pick a random article and it would be filled with personal insults, spit and hate on personnel and the owner.
I get not being happy with coaching moves though but hey you guys maid me look like a man who can see the future, you guys are more predictable than an Andy Reid pass offense. The bigeest question i got was who are these guys? And what is their obessive issue? Hey fellas I get it I am an Eagles Fan like you, LOL, outsiders will never understand us, for the record until it goes bad I am going to assume the best.
Still if you don’t think Lurie and Reid were the best that has happened to the Eagles over the last 30 years inspit of their short comings and not getting us the bowl, well hell that is just narrow vision, and boarderline arrogant and self absorbed.
Well had to pass through for old times, haaaa now off to balanced reasoned thoughts by other keen observers and posters. Still got love for ya.
As always LONG LIVE THE EAGLES
Final note it was time for Reid to go, so once again you guys were right so shows you what I know haaa, peace fellas don’t be so serious!
I am sure we can turn this around quickly with “Howie” selecting the talent….