Critique with balance only offends those who can’t dialogue

by John Kincade

There is nothing like a Monday after a loss. Sometimes a Monday after an unimpressive win delivers the same results. The use of selective hearing is in full effect. Anthony Gargano and Tom Alvord got into a very thoughtful discussion of whether “Negadelphia” was a thing on his Monday broadcast from Chickies. Anthony insisted he didn’t think that it is truly a thing. Tom leaned toward buying into it. Anthony determined that he thought it was more “Manicdelphia” and I couldn’t agree more. Over reactions and drama dominate.

Turn back the clock by one week. Last week the Buffalo Bills were coming off one of the dumbest losses in the history of the NFL to the Vikings who tied the Eagles atop the NFC at 8-1. The Dallas Cowboys wet the bed at Green Bay losing to the Packers blowing a 14 point lead in the 4th quarter for the first time in franchise history. Now today, Buffalo is back in the win column and Dallas went into Minnesota and punked the Vikings by 37 points. In summary, the NFL is weird. Crazy stuff happens and assumptions we make are quickly proven false…at least until next week.

That is why we get so much impassioned debate regarding any critique, legitimate or not, of Eagles players and coaches. Nick Sirianni had the strangest reaction to a victory that I’ve ever seen from an NFL coach. I’m not the only one who shares that opinion. From standing on top of the benches, running over to taunt fans in the stands and then crying post game I was baffled. For one thing, I’ve never seen anything like it. Secondly, why is the Coach of the Eagles obsessed with what the Indianapolis Colts are doing? I know he coached there, as an assistant. Who they hire and fire isn’t nearly as important to me as what is going on with the Eagles. That should be his focus. Reacting like that is strange to me. Offering that opinion on the air, his defenders say what a great job he is doing. At no point did I ever say anything contrary to that. At 9-1, of course he is going a great job. Its ok to acknowledge his success and to also find a reason to question behavior we have never seen from an NFL coach before.

The Eagles are 9-1 and far from perfect. That’s ok. It’s also ok to discuss it. If you complain about the play calling and time management, citing examples of odd decision making, it’s ok to discuss and debate it. That doesn’t mean you are talking about a win like it is a loss. It means you want the team to aspire for greatness. It is normal for a fan base to want the same. It also doesn’t matter that none of us expected them to be 9-1. They are and with that record expectations change. The Eagles set a very high bar and proved they can play above expectations. It isn’t crazy to want them to sustain it.

As Andy Reid said, enjoy the win, in any way that you desire to! On to the Green Bay game!