If Jeff Lurie were to ask my advice on what to do with the Eagles, here are a few things I would tell him.

Let the season play out. The goal is to get the team back on track. That might mean a coaching change. It might mean adding a GM. It might mean changes on the coaching staff. There will be roster turnover (fact of life in the NFL), but you need to know what changes need to be made.

It would be easy to say “Fire Bill Davis!”, but just 2 weeks ago you could argue his unit was carrying the team. Did he become an idiot in 2 weeks? I don’t think so. Still, the results are so incredibly bad that you can’t just brush them aside. That’s why it is critical to see how the defense plays the last 5 games. If they continue to struggle, Davis needs to go. If the defense rights the ship, then you have to really study the 2 blowouts to figure out why things went so horribly wrong.

You need that same mentality when judging the whole team, players and coaches. I am not a fan of firing a coach who is coming off a pair of 10-6 seasons, but if the Eagles finish 4-12 or 5-11, that is one epic collapse from a 4-4 start and Chip might need to go. If the team goes 6-10 or 7-9, style points will be key. You can play reasonably well and lose. You can play poorly and win.

What if Sam Bradford comes back and the Eagles then finish 8-8 or 9-7? That changes the discussion entirely. At this point I would be shocked for this team to get red hot. Then again, I’m shocked they are 4-7 so what the heck do I know? Every time I think I know what is going on with this team, things go in a very different direction.

Let the season play out. Figure out who needs to go and who is worth keeping. Making emotional decisions after a bad loss or during a losing streak doesn’t do anyone any good.

Do a lot of talking. At the end of the season, Lurie will meet with Chip to discuss the state of the team. Lurie isn’t a meddling owner. He lets his football people do their thing. He talks to them every year, but I get the feeling he does more listening than anything else.

This January Lurie needs to talk. A lot. He needs to press Chip for very specific answers about what went wrong and then ideas on how to fix those problems. Lurie needs to be one heck of a devil’s advocate to make sure Chip understands the gravity of his offseason decisions.

If Chip can’t explain his vision and his ideas well enough, that might be a clue that he needs help or shouldn’t be kept around.

Try to get the pulse of the players. Cary Williams didn’t like playing for Chip. Brandon Boykin wasn’t happy with how things went between the two of them. Evan Mathis had a strange end to his time as an Eagle. There are reports that some current players aren’t happy.

Lurie needs to try to find out if this is a legitimate issue or typical player-coach stuff. Jeremiah Trotter hated Andy Reid when he left the team in the 2002 offseason. Donovan McNabb left angry. John Welbourn forced Reid to trade him. Shawn Barber ripped on the Eagles when he played against them while he was a Chief.

There are player-coach issues on every team at every level of football in the world. That’s a fact of life. That said, Chip is an unusual coach and person. If there are problems that go beyond the normal griping about money, touches and/or snaps, then Lurie has to factor that into his thinking.

Check out the landscape. Look around the league. Who are the best teams and why? How close are the Eagles to being one of those teams?

Is the answer as simple as find a stud QB? Maybe. Maybe not. Green Bay is very up and down right now and they have Aaron Rodgers. But having the right QB makes a huge difference. Cam Newton is carrying the Panthers. Jay Cutler is playing well and the Bears are suddenly in the playoff mix.

As Lurie considers a coaching change, think about who is out there. Would you rather have Chip or Josh McDaniels? What about Adam Gase? And so on. If you do replace Chip, you need to have someone better to replace him with.

Is Denver better off since firing John Fox and going with Gary Kubiak? Figure out why the Panthers kept Ron Rivera around and see if any of that thinking applies to the Eagles situation.

Keep the goal in mind. You want to build a great team that can win a Super Bowl. Figure out which coaches and players you think can help you do that. Keep them. Move on from the others.

*****

Nolan Carroll is on IR.

Watkins knows the scheme so bringing him back makes sense. I’m curious to see how the coaches use Eric Rowe, E.J. Biggers and Watkins. I would love to see Rowe get playing time, but the coaches may prefer someone with more experience.

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