Eagles’ OC Moore Not Dialed-in and Santa Takes a Pass as Birds Now Poised to Host NFC Title Game

For a 21 Billion dollar juggernaut that can make it rain more than Michael Irvin at The Million Dollar Club, the NFL just can’t seem to get out of their own way sometimes.  With the way some of their over-complicating of the rules pan out you would think that their competition committee, which basically is charge with the league’s rules and rule changes each year, might not be a collection of the best and the brightest.  But before we get into that here’s a snapshot of today’s Divisional Round playoff showdown between the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles at a potentially very snowy Lincoln Financial Field.

The Basics: Rams at Eagles

• Who: Rams (11-7, 5-3 Away) at Eagles (15-3, 9-1 Home)
• When: Sunday 3:00 p.m. ET
• Where: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
• TV: NBC
• Betting: Eagles -6.5, Total 42.5  Money Line: Eagles -283, Rams +229
• Weather Forecast: High 35 degrees, Low 17 degrees. 70% chance of snow, 2-7 inches predicted

But upon further review there are actually some very bright and accomplished folks the league has put in charge of their pro football legislation.

• Rich McKay (co-chairman) – president, Atlanta Falcons
• Stephen Jones (co-chairman) – executive vice president, Dallas Cowboys
• Katie Blackburn – executive vice president, Cincinnati Bengals
• Todd Bowles– head coach, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Chris Grier – general manager, Miami Dolphins
• John Lynch– president of football operations and general manager, San Francisco 49ers
• John Mara– owner, New York Giants
• Sean McDermott– head coach, Buffalo Bills
• Sean McVay– head coach, Los Angeles Rams
• Mike Tomlin– head coach, Pittsburgh Steelers

All told – one president, two VPs, two general managers, an owner and four head coaches with a couple of Super Bowl rings on their resume.  Kind of makes you wonder then why they churn out some of the most asinine rules and rules changes that make the game much more difficult to comprehend with some of the most ridiculous verbiage ever created, most likely by over-priced lawyers who wouldn’t know a bubble screen from Bubble Yum. 

Only in the NFL

Can you imagine being a European tourist watching an NFL game for the first time and having play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt try to explain to you the criteria for what a catch is or isn’t?  Heck, most NFL fans don’t exactly know what one is even today. 

Good thing the NFL implemented a couple tweaks to the very simple and clear former definition of what constituted a catch that read  “must have possession of the football and both feet in bounds”.   They’ve since added language like “a move common to the game” and “must survive the ground.”  Atta guys.  Way to keep it simple.  Good thing the epic confusion over the definition  and making the right call never came up in a big playoff game huh? Oh wait, it did.

Only in the NFL.

How about the tuck rule?  The NFL really outdid themselves with that little gem.  I mean I guess anyone could see why the competition committee needed to tweak what constituted an incomplete pass, you know the ball coming loose when the quarterback’s arm was going forward.  Yes, the much needed addendum of pulling the ball back down and beginning the process of tucking the ball back towards your body should definitely be ruled an incomplete pass if the ball is jarred loose during the tucking process.   I can totally see why there was a need to add that stipulation to the mix.  Thank God at least that situation never came up in a big playoff game huh? Oh wait, I’m pretty sure it did.  In fact they named the game after it – The Tuck Rule Game.  But it least it only took the NFL 11 years after that debacle to eradicate the idiotic rule.

Only in the NFL.

And how about the NFL pitting the Eagles and Packers to open their season’s on a different continent, in the country of Brazil this past year?  Of course only to find out that the color green was banned from the stadium because of the possible gang violence it could trigger.  At least the NFL only chose two of the three teams in the league who don green uniforms.  I’m a little surprised they didn’t extend an invite to the Jets to play a round robin that weekend with aggregate score-keeping.

Packers running back Josh Jacobs, who said he believed the color green was unsafe to wear in Brazil due to possible retribution by local gangs, was the first to bring it to the media’s attention. 

The Corinthians soccer team, which plays at the stadium, asked the Eagles to avoid wearing green because of its affiliation with the rival Palmeiras club, their biggest and nastiest rival.  I’m sure it was just an overly protective security precaution because you rarely see violence break out at soccer games abroad.  Can’t make it up. 

Only in the NFL.

The Eagles chose to wear white, black, and a touch of green on their jersey numbers. The Packers wore their traditional white, yellow, and green jerseys.

The NFL denied that the teams would be restricted to their hotels or travel to the game in armored vehicles. NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said that the rumor regarding the danger of wearing green in the stadium was not true. He did?  Well, why didn’t anybody say something?  I feel so much better that someone from the NFL squashed that rumor because I’m sure no one from the league would ever lie to the media or the public to shirk accountability.

Good job by the advance man there too.  Guess he chose to take the guided tour versus doing any real investigating or wait for it…advanced work.  Actually he could have saved himself the trip by tapping into some of the new technological advancements at our disposal these days.  Something called Google works pretty well I hear.

Only in the NFL.

Moore is Less

But here’s what has me and much of Eagles Nation irked heading into round two with the Rams today.  The NFL allows teams, whose seasons have ended and are in search of a head coach, to conduct interviews with possible candidates who are still employed by other teams and still in the midst of their playoff run.

Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore had an interview with the Cowboys on Friday was was supposed to meet virtually with the Saints and Jaguars on Saturday for their head coaching vacancies.  The interviews are allowed to last up to three hours.  I’m not sure who regulates the time but my guess is no one.  While the rule itself is incredulous,  I’m not that thrilled that Moore would agree to meet with those teams while his team is preparing to play the Rams in the Divisional Round.  

NBC Sports reported that Washington Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is avoiding any head coaching interviews while he leads the Commanders’ offense in the playoffs, having yet to interview for any job virtually despite many candidates having already done so for vacant roles.  

Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was in a similar position to Kingsbury, before losing to the Commanders last night, but he was taking virtual meetings and appears to be making progress with the Raiders for their head coaching vacancy.  Now if he could just take Jared Goff with him he’d be all set.

Since the Commanders upset the Lions in the Divisional Round last night, teams looking for a coach will likely be forced to move on from Kingsbury if he indeed refuses to interview virtually during the week leading up to the NFC Championship game.

Only in the NFL.

Imagine being a big name at Apple and you’re at your company’s Worldwide Developers Conference getting ready to unveil your new software and perhaps give a sneak peek to your investors and shareholders the latest Apple Watches and iPhones that can read minds or take out the trash of whatever, when Steve Job’s admin knocks on your door and says “OK Steve’s ready” and you reply, “Oh some things have suddenly come up.  Can we push it back to tomorrow?  I have a Zoom interview with Samsung in 15 minutes, then a couple of suits from Google want to take me out to lunch afterwards for a schmooze and then I’m meeting with some venture capitalists later who want me to head their Research In Motion reclamation project. Tell Jobsy to throw on a black shirt and knock ‘em dead!  He’s got this.”

Most likely it’s you who would be taking out the trash right before you hit up Zuckerberg to see if he has any entry level positions still available at Meta.

But as far as the current situation with Moore is concerned, I’m miffed that the league, Moore and the Eagles organization would let this happen.  I don’t think interviewing with the Cowboys is a huge deal as both parties know the other very intimately.  Moore was a quarterback for the Boys from 2015-2017, the quarterbacks coach in 2018, and their offensive coordinator from 2019-2022.  I’m guessing the interview was to gage Moore’s interest which shouldn’t have taken too long.

But to tack on two more yesterday with the Saints and Jaguars is excessive.  That’s upwards of nine total hours that Moore could have been doing something else, Rams-week related.  I know the offensive install was done on Wednesday but that’s not the point.  If there’s anything in Moore’s head preventing him from being completely dialed in to beating the Rams on Sunday then the rule should either be abolished by the NFL or Moore should have politely deferred until after the Eagles’ season comes to a conclusion, preferably the former because if the rule allows it then there will be others that will take the interview requests, which puts undo pressure and stress on the coordinators who decline them, making them feel that they’re behind in the process, which in turn may cause them to take the interviews before their seasons end.

Acho Sounds Off

Giving my stance on this a little bit of street cred is the fact that I’m not alone in my opinion.  Former Eagles’ linebacker Emmanuel Acho, on his own show “The Facility” this past week, sounded off about Moore’s decision.

“The Eagles lost the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs, I believe, because their defensive coordinator [Jonathan Gannon] and their offensive coordinator [Shane Steichen] were distracted,” Acho said.

“Primarily their defensive coordinator, remember the moment the game ended, Jonathan Gannon goes to take the head coaching job for the Arizona Cardinals. The Kansas City Chiefs simply out-schemed the Eagles; they did not outplay the Eagles, they out-schemed the Eagles.”

Acho further mentioned how the Eagles could have won the Super Bowl if Gannon had been more focused on the game against the Chiefs rather than his upcoming head coaching gig with the Cardinals.

@EmmanuelAcho I will be furious if Kellen Moore being distracted by the Cowboys job costs the Eagles. This same situation literally already cost the Eagles a Super Bowl. Eagles fans know. #FlyEaglesFly

“So, I hate when this stuff occurs,” Acho added. “I do not want Kellen Moore for one second to be distracted against trying to handle Jared Verse and trying to handle the defense of the Los Angeles Rams and end up thinking about the Cowboys job, and thus, the Eagles lose. I hate that it is even within the realm of possibility. Eagles fans, you should know all too well; in my opinion, it has happened before.”

Birds’ fans quickly took to social media X.com, to jump on the Acho bandwagon.

One X-er tweeted, “Loooovvvee Kellen Moore interviewing for multiple head coaching jobs the week after he put together one of the most vanilla play-calling jobs in the passing game I’ve seen.”

Another added, “this hurt the Eagles when the Cardinals spoke to Jonathon Gannon when Eagles lost the Super Bowl to Chiefs.”

And a third felt Moore should more worried about redeeming himself, “Agreed! I don’t want him distracted. I need him locked in, especially because he wasn’t great last wk.”

Full disclosure, I disagree with Acho’s assessment that the Eagles lost Super Bowl 57 to the Chiefs because former Eagles’ defensive coordinator Jonathon Gannon was distracted enough, when he took an interview with the Arizona Cardinals, surreptitiously during Super Bowl week.  I think that Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid just flat-out outcoached Gannon in the second half of Super Bowl 57, especially late in the fourth quarter of that game, a 38-35 loss to the Kansas City.  And it was only one interview as was told to the media.

So is it me or is this head coaching search process what the text book definition of tampering is?  Of course in the NFL they have added something known as “legal tampering”, a couple days before free agency officially opens in mid-March so I guess this little exception gets lumped in with that.  

Only in the NFL.

Santa Should Sit This One Out

Now let’s talk about the weather.  Two to seven inches of snowfall is expected today in South Philly so Santa should probably sit this one out.  I know the fans are pumped because the “experts” and fan base alike believe that the bad weather favors the Birds.  And it may.  But it also may not.  A coating of snow will  turn the game into a mess, and that usually favors the team that makes their bones by running the ball and the Eagles certainly like to pound the rock.  Philly led the league in rushing attempts this year and finished second in rushing behind the Baltimore Ravens.  But here’s the thing.  The Eagles grade out much higher in this matchup versus the Rams when the playing conditions are normal. Why would anyone want an external environmental variable to possibly affect that?  I’d much rather have a fast track for the league’s leading rusher because who knows how well Saquon Barkley is going to fare in five inches of snow?

Statistically, yes, the weather favors the Birds.  Dome teams are just 1-6 all time in the postseason when playing in Philly and Rams’ quarterback Matt Stafford is just 1-8 in his career when playing in the rain or the snow.

The last time the Eagles played at home in crazy winter wonderland conditions  was back in 2013, in a game that’s actually known as the Snow Bowl.  Playing the Detroit Lions, Birds’ running back Lessen McCoy rushed for a then franchise record 217 yards, including two long fourth quarter TD runs of 57 and 40 yards in a 34-20 Eagles victory.  The quarterback for the Lions that day – a much younger Matt Stafford, who completed just 10 of 25 pass attempts as Nick Foles and the Birds handled the weather much better than their Detroit counterparts that day.

Speaking of Detroit in case you missed it, their off-season has officially begun as Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders showed them the door last night in a 45-31 colossal upset at Ford Field, knocking the number one seed out of the postseason tournament.  That has opened the door for the Eagles to host the NFC title game next week if and only if they can get by the Rams today in South Philly.  In the immortal words of the late great Herb Brooks, if the Birds lose this game today they’ll take it to their bleeping graves, their bleeping graves. 

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