Who is most responsible for the downfall of the Eagles?

This season has been absolutely terrible. There are plenty of reasons why, not just one. The Eagles have a quarterback who apparently forgot how to quarterback, a head coach who forgot how to scheme correctly, and a general manager that doesn't know how to plan for the long term. There's plenty of blame to go around.

The Quarterback

From missed reads, to inaccurate passes, to fumbles, to holding the ball too long, the list can go on and on about the things that Carson was absolutely dreadful at this year.

The main thing we need to worry about here is his footwork. There has been a crazy regression in his throwing stance. He's either throwing with too wide of a stance, with his plant leg closed off (foot pointed towards sideline and not towards target), or both.

He's either throwing jump shots or bowling. There hasn't been a time where he's made consistent throws with great mechanics. This is a complete 180 from where he's been in recent years. What gives?

It's taking him 2.91 seconds to throw the ball, tied for 6th longest in the league. He's behind Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, Russell, Wilson, Lamar Jackson, Matt Ryan, and tied with Drew Lock.

Mayfield and Allen have the benefit of incredible offensive lines, although Allen can do some elite things outside the pocket. We know what Wilson and Jackson can do outside the pocket, while Ryan is a statue and Lock is decent outside the pocket.

What about Wentz? It's definitely a combination of trying to do too much and running for his life. Wentz doesn't seem to know what he wants to do with the ball a lot of the time when he gets the snap, but when he does, the offensive line had already let the whole VIP line into the club.

He's also not going through his progressions. Once the ball is snapped, Wentz is dead-set on throwing it to the first guy he looks at. Not ideal.

Of 33 quarterbacks with 195 attempts or more, Wentz's DVOA is -37.7% (32nd). His 49.2 QBR ranks 28th, his effective yards (fewer Effective Yards than standard yards played worse than standard stats would otherwise indicate) are 1,392 (29th). He's been bad.

But the blame cannot end there.

The Head Coach

Doug.. man.. what the hell?

We saw innovation. We saw guts. Plays that no other team was executing, we were executing.

Now? We see stale offenses. We see Greg Ward on screens.  Miles Sanders is being severely underutilized. Alshon Jeffery is taking snaps away from Travis Fulgham. Unreal.

Now that Jalen Hurts is under center, Doug has an interesting strategy to help Hurts succeed:

Uh.. Doug.. WHERE WAS THAT BEFORE?

We've been clamoring for the Eagles offense to include the running game more. Is Carson not mobile? Have we not seen the things he can do out of the pocket? What the hell?

When a quarterback is struggling, as Wentz as been, the easy thing to do would be to simplify the offense more and get him easy completions. Wait.. they're doing that for Hurts? C'mon.

Doug seems dejected. He seems defeated. Maybe he knows the writing is on the wall. But no matter what his fate is in 2021, his play-calling has not been up to par with what Carson Wentz can do as a quarterback. The fact that he is changing it up for Hurts solidifies the notion that he and Wentz do not see eye to eye.

Remember my report about Howie's influence on the roster and staff? Remember how I was told that Doug doesn't really have any say? Well, the same source told me that Carson does not like to be coached. He likes to do things his own way, which led to the DeFilippo firing. IF that's the case, is Doug purposefully holding the playbook back?

It's a damning thing to suggest, but there are actions and words by Doug that suggest this is partly true.

Have you heard his press conferences? Have you heard the quotes that throw Carson under the bus? I mean.. you can't get much more of a broken relationship than that.

But, again, the blame must go around some more.

Continued on the page below.

Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire

The Eagles General Manager

Howie, Howie, Howie.

He lives in the moment, but that moment may forever be 2017.

We have to hand it to Howie. He destroyed what Chip Kelly "built" and quickly rebuilt the team to a Super Bowl-winning team in two years. Extremely impressive.

He was able to manage the cap and contracts so adeptly, that we were all convinced that the Eagles would stay atop the salary cap savings year after year.

But what actually happened?

We were blinded by the fact that Howie's draft selections have largely been unfruitful. One Pro Bowl player since 2016. That selection, Carson Wentz, didn't even play in it due to injury/Super Bowl season. Since 2010, the Eagles have had 21 different players named to the Pro Bowl. Of those 21, only 7 have been drafted in 2010 or after. Of those 7, only 6 were drafted by the Eagles.

The 6 drafted is below the league average of 8.5.

The Super Bowl-winning team had a ton of one-year deals and a few two year deals. We had one year of Blout, Smith, and Robinson. We had four more games of Ajayi in 2018 and a resigning late 2019 that didn't work. Mychal Kendricks was released. We were lucky enough to have two seasons of Chris Long.

Departures that were never fully planned for by adequate drafting and/or developing.

The running back room still hasn't had a Blout-type back since he left, the wide receiver room maybe has a speed threat like Smith in Hightower, the corners outside of Slay are disastrous, and we're still extremely old on the defensive line. Josh Sweat and Derek Barnett are showing flashes opposite Brandon Graham, but neither have had the impact Chris Long had in his short stint.

Back in February, Howard told ProFootballTalk the following:

We have a quarterback that we think is a tremendous player, tremendous leader, and so we’ve got to make sure he’s protected first and foremost, so we’ve put so many investments in the offensive line. And that he’s got playmakers at his disposal. Always looking to surround him with playmakers.

How did that work out? We look around the league at how other teams have helped their franchise quarterbacks and lament how Howie has failed to do that for Wentz. The Reagor, Hightower, and Watkins picks were fine, but relying on hope that Jeffery and Jackson would return to form was extremely irresponsible. Howie allowed DeAndre Hopkins and Stefon Diggs become league leaders in receiving for other young quarterbacks and all we were given was "we were in it until the end".

The Jalen Hurts pick was a combination of head-scratching and understandable. A quarterback in the second round? Well, we need a backup to develop. But then you hit Carson with:

How'd you do that, Howie? How did you continue to support Carson after the pick? Trade for Goodwin? Wow!

Howie furthered his own hole by signing Jason Peters and ultimately giving him a raise when Andre Dillard went down.

Howie failed to protect Carson Wentz and he failed to protect the long term success of the Eagles. He did so by failing to make the necessary moves to provide Wentz with sufficient playmakers and he did so by continuing to push contracts further into deferred money.

Now the Eagles are stuck with a QB controversy and a bunch of Bobby Bonilla's.

This team is a mess, but make sure you place the blame on the entire product and not just one sole person.

Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire