New season, new Eagles. But the fallout from the team’s late-year collapse is still on the minds of many in the organization. Virtually every player, coach, and staffer has been asked for their thoughts on what happened.
On the Javien University podcast, running back Kenneth Gainwell offered an explanation for why the once 10-1 Eagles lost six of their last seven games.
“I think it was a connection piece,” Gainwell said. “Teams like [the Kansas City Chiefs] are well-connected, upstairs and downstairs. Front office and locker room. When you have a connection, everything just clicks. But when you’ve got guys that aren’t talking to each other, you never know what’s going on.”
The Birds made big changes to the coaching staff after their wild-card loss to Tampa Bay, hiring two new coordinators in Vic Fangio and Kellen Moore. The moves are a fresh start for the Eagles after a season of turmoil, one that included Matt Patricia replacing Sean Desai as defensive coordinator midway through the year. Linebacker Nicholas Morrow told The Inquirer in December that Desai and Patricia had different communication styles, with Desai being more reactive and Patricia more aggressive pre-snap.
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Even while the Eagles were winning last season, Jeff McLane reported that they were “the most miserable 10-1 team,” according to a source. By the time the playoffs came around, it was dire. Fletcher Cox said that the mood around the team heading into the postseason was “very scary” and that everyone was incredibly sad.
But Gainwell said on the podcast that those problems are solvable for next season.
“If we all sit down and talk to each other and find out what’s going on, or we find out what we need to do on the field to get this thing going, then we’ll be good,” he said. “Because if we played really hard at the beginning of the season, we need to continue to play hard at the end of the season because at the end of the season is what really matters.
“If we get to the playoffs and we’re not playing good, and we’ve still got our head down because we just lost five games, what do you think we’re going to do in the playoffs? It’s scientific, bro. If you’re moody every day, you’re going to be moody tomorrow and tomorrow. You’ve got to work on it. “You’ve got to continue to work on how to get better each and every day.”
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In addition to two new coordinators, the Eagles underwent several other major changes this offseason, losing the veteran leadership of Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox, both of whom retired, and bringing in free agents Saquon Barkley, Bryce Huff, CJ Gardner-Johnson (who played for the Birds when they went to Super Bowl LVII), and Devin White.
And the Eagles won’t have to wait until next season to start solving any remaining issues. The team has already held its first voluntary workouts and hosted rookie minicamp last week. The full squad will return to the NovaCare Complex later this month for organized team activities, with a mandatory minicamp the first week in June.
