By George Zhang, Staff Reporter
“Wentz throwing, and there’s the interception in the endzone!”
This marks just one of Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz’s 15 interceptions this season, tied for the most in the NFL. Wentz also leads the league for most number of times sacked at 50.
Just two years after winning the 2018 Super Bowl, the Philadelphia Eagles finished their season in last place in the often joked-about NFC East Division. Many fans believe the Eagles had an extremely disappointing season, with a record of 4-11-1.
Since narrowly making the playoffs last year and getting eliminated in the first round because of a loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the Eagles have made some roster changes in the offseason such as acquiring cornerback Darius Slay. For Freshman Elsa Burgo, the Eagles did not live up to her expectations
“I didn’t think they were going to do amazing because they’re just not the best team. But I did not think that they were going to do this terribly,” Burgo said. “After five losses, it was kind of clear that we weren’t going to do so well.
For many fans such as Senior Jack Susanin, Wentz’s horrible playing throughout the season disappointed him and left him in shock.
“(The most disappointing part of the season is) 100% Carson Wentz. I mean you were talking about a guy who was going to win the MVP in 2017 if he didn’t get injured.” Said Susanin. “And to see him go from that level to the level he’s at now, it’s honestly shocking and really disappointing.”
After many weeks of Wentz underperforming, former Eagles head coach Doug Peterson finally decided to put rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts in the starting position. Hurts played incredibly in his first start against the New Orleans Saints and was able to lead the Eagles to a win. This puts Wentz’s spot on the Eagles in jeopardy. Freshman Ryan Hughes predicts that Hurts will remain as starting quarterback while Wentz will get dealt to the Indianapolis Colts during the offseason. Hughes believes this trade would most likely be one-sided, as Wentz has a massive contract.
“I think they’ll try to trade (Wentz). Indianapolis will probably want to take him. I don’t think (the Eagles will) get much in return for him because it’s a lot of money,” Hughes said.
Susanin believes that the Eagles have made many mistakes that have been detrimental to the team. Susanin speculates that some of the main errors the Eagles made recently were bad coaching and terrible draft decisions.
“I think there are a lot of things going wrong. Player evaluations in the draft have been terrible for so long, coaching has been average at best and play-calling has been iffy. It all just comes down to not having the players and staff that you would hope they have, and it’s not going to be an easy fix. That’s the problem,” Susanin said. “It’s going to take some time to get the team to where it should be.”
But who is to blame for all of these mistakes? For Susanin, it is Eagle’s general manager Howie Roseman and Peterson.
“Howie Roseman’s never been a good drafter. I’m not on the fire Howie train, I’m more on the repositioning of him in which he doesn’t have anything to do with player evaluation.” Susanin said.
For Burgo, it isn’t one person that should be on the scapegoat. She believes the entire team should take responsibility
“I think it’s everyone (that should take the blame) because you can’t just put blame on one person. There’s no “I” in team. It’s the whole team that’s not working well together.” Burgo said.
The Eagles will now have roughly eight months to prepare for the start of the next NFL season as they did not make the playoffs. Susanin believes the Eagles need to make many changes during this period. One of these changes is to get a new head in the front office immediately.
“The main priority I think should be getting a new front office head in quickly. This shouldn’t be something that should be debated over for a long time. It should be done within the first two or three weeks of the offseason. Just get it done quickly, get a plan going for what you want to do and then you can be a viable contender in the NFC East next year.”
