The Eagles Have Too Many Individuals, and It’s Going to Continue to Cost Them

An extremely deflating wildcard round loss for the reigning champion Philadelphia Eagles wasn’t all down to poor performances on the field, but mismatches and disagreements off the field as yet another outburst between coaches and players headlined the game. The Eagles chemistry hasn’t looked very structural over the years despite winning a Super Bowl together, but now the breakdown in multiple relationships is having a clear effect on the team.

Although Robert Saleh 49ers defense was the star of the show last night for San Francisco as they took the opening round of the playoffs against the Eagles, the big headlines seemed to be the ongoing outbursts between head coach Nick Sirianni and wide receiver A.J Brown, and it is simply an off field reflection of their problems on the field. 

A.J Brown has been extremely outspoken this year about the lack of opportunities he has been seeing, and erased concern over how much he is getting the ball, even hinting at leaving the Eagles due to breakdowns in communications across the team. Brown, who is seen as one of the league's most prolific receivers, hasn't had the best of years, and has grown frustrated with his head coach and his plans, however last night was everything that has gone wrong for him in a nutshell.

A couple of missed opportunities and dropped balls didn’t just end up in offensive turmoil, but ended up resulting in a heated discussion between him and head coach Nick Sirianni, one which has occurred on a number of occasions before. For the Eagles, last year they could push past their problems and continue to be a dominant force even with their off field problems, but it seems now in Philly, there is too many individuals, and their selfish and uncoordinated locker room issues caused their demise early in this year's postseason.

As for what Brown decides to do in the offseason, it wouldn’t be a total surprise to see him opt out of the plans in Philly and ask to be traded. It is clear the relationship between himself, a number of teammates, and the coaching staff isn’t as concrete or as understanding as most seem to think, and although he is only one piece of the problem, it may be time to do some thinking for Philadelphia, and become more of a tight knit team to return to their winning ways.