Anthony Gargano’s Opening Diatribe- This Is Supposed To Be Fun
Did you miss Anthony Gargano’s opening monologue today? Well in it, he bemoaned the fact we are not having very much fun anymore with the Eagles season. Here is what Anthony had to say about the lack of fun we are having after the Eagles’ week 1 victory.
“I’m worried that we’re not going to enjoy ourselves. The last two days talking about the game have been a little odd. Now I know know that they had a lead and the Lions came back on them. And Gannon got us angry because he was playing soft in the fourth quarter. But the conversation has not been fun. Now, I’m not saying I’m going to come in here every day and do Pom Poms. It’s not about ra-ra, but it is about fun for this season.
I’m kind of worried about the fun aspect. Over the last two days, there has been an inordinate amount of contentious conversation and I’m trying to figure it out. I want to have a heart-to-heart. Is it possible that we can have fun? We have a Monday night game coming up against Minnesota.
Now already Jim the Miserab is saying. “You know the Eagles have no shot against Monday.” Well, that’s ridiculous. In fact, I can’t even stomach Jim or this entire attitude. It’s pushing me over the top. Could they lose Monday night? Yeah, they could lose. Do they have a shot? Yes, of course, they have a shot. The game is at home.
Minnesota is a good team. But let’s be real here for a second. They’re not the Bills and they’re not the Chargers. But all of a sudden now the Vikings are unbeatable? That’s ridiculous. They had a great win in week 1, but what happens in week 1 does not mean it’s going to happen all year long.
There are certain teams that are elite type of teams. The Bills are elite. The Chiefs are elite. The Charges are elite. We’ll see what happens with Tampa if they can button up their offensive line. But this is where you got to pay the freak attention to what you’re looking at.
And I don’t understand why everything’s contentious. There’s no lightness, no joy, no fun. And they won the game. Imagine if they lost. Imagine Monday night if they lose, what’s Tuesday? Is this going to be like this all season where every day there’s no enjoyment of the season?
That was my whole point about the lack of expectations and how this is a rebuild. Hey, if they make a run and they get to a Super Bowl, which I don’t think they’re going to do, then so be it, right? That’s great. Enjoy it. If they don’t get there, well, you shouldn’t have expected that. What happened in 2017 was an anomaly. That doesn’t happen all the time. And to expect this team, that’s not all the way built yet, to be a Superbowl team is stupid. It’s not being a smart fan. It’s not understanding the level of the build and what the build is.
And by the way, I feel like every day I have got to officiate Jalen Hurts.
On one side, “Yeah, Hurts stinks. You know he stinks.”
And on the other side, “Hurts is great. He’s the future.”
Now I feel like I’m in the middle officiating this ridiculous argument that completely saps any sort of joy from the season. I don’t understand you guys. We look forward to this thing all year long. It comes around and now we’re going to fight? Come on, man, this is unbelievable.
When you look at Hurts, it’s pretty simple. We’ll know at the end of the year whether he can drive the Ferrari. The offense is a Ferrari. The line will play better. AJ Brown is T.O, he’s a freaking stud. You got Devonta who is a terrific player. We’ll see if Hurts can drive it.
Now his floor, which means at his worst, they could still win double-digit games and win a playoff game. If he does certain things, he could eclipse that. But he doesn’t stink. He is a playmaker in the sense that he makes plays with his legs. Now, that’s not traditional. That’s not Herbert or Mahomes or Stafford. But he does make plays. It’s 3rd and 13 and he bails you out with a first down run. That’s making a play. And that’s what he does. So you can’t judge him like he’s a pocket quarterback because he’s not.
On the flip side, his arm does need work. He does need to look and not bail out on one read. The line, there were some breakdowns, but come on, it was in every play. So he also needs to understand what he’s looking at. He’s got to be better at presnap read. But he doesn’t stink. He’s not going to preclude them from winning double-digit games and or the division. And yeah, he still needs to get better and he doesn’t have the job long-term yet. You see that’s right in the middle. So why do we need to officiate a freaking Jalen Hurts argument every day?
And it bothers me because I love coming to work and I love talking to you guys. Now, I could do a whole show where every day there are guests and I’ll geek out and Chonis and I will dissect it and everything. But part of the joy I get in doing this and part of the reason why local radio works so well is that everybody gets a chance to contribute, that we all have these conversations, and just so happens that I preside over the conversation like the bartender in the bar. But as someone who controls the conversation, I’m seeing it going sideways and I’m trying to figure out why. Trying to figure out what it is that you expect.
I give you guys credit because I believe you guys know what you’re looking at. You guys know the players. Like you guys know deep down what you’re looking at. I truly believe that. But sometimes I wonder if you lose, it is like you ignore what you know. You know there’s such a thing called a building process for a team, right?
From what happened last year against Tampa until now this year, you know that when you add all those faces on defense that it’s going to take some time for it to come together. Forget about Gannon, because I agree there’s issues there, but the personnel still needs to come together. There are still new pieces. This is still a building process.
And I don’t want to sit here and argue with you guys every day about Hurts. You guys should have some fun. Because the last two days, I’ll be honest with you, not that fun.”
