Tell the Truth Monday- 2024 End of Season Edition

[Chris]

The 24 hour rule has been commuted. Post your ‘truths’ if you still have any.

 

[Chris]

My truth is that yesterday is still too raw to compose any thoughts that I feel are worth putting in print except this-

The time for proper 2024 eulogies will undoubtedly come…but I’m not there yet. I have still not come to grips with the kick in the nuts that we witnessed yesterday yet.

Post ‘em if you’ve got ‘em.

 

[HOF28]

Proud of our team to overachieve. It was a magical season, and tons of fun. Loss still hurts mostly because of all the turnovers made so never really had a chance. JD5 is for real, but this team needs lots of work. My big takeaway is we’ll probably be worse next year record wise but hopefully upgrade the roster again like this year lots of holes. But we have the most important piece a QB so we’ll always have a chance.

 

[mhd24]

Proud of our team to overachieve. It was a magical season, and tons of fun. Loss still hurts mostly because of all the turnovers made so never really had a chance. JD5 is for real, but this team needs lots of work. My big takeaway is we’ll probably be worse next year record wise but hopefully upgrade the roster again like this year lots of holes. But we have the most important piece a QB so we’ll always have a chance.

Yeah. Our schedule makes it that a wildcard is our goal to be honest. Maybe the NFC north beats each other up, but I suspect that the #1 seed will actually be the 49ers next year (everyone healthy and a last-place schedule including the games against NFC south, AFC south, Giants, Saints, and Bears. They should cakewalk to the #1 seed with Stafford potentially retiring as well.

 

[CuredFromBatteredFanSyndrome]

This team clearly overachieved all season long, and when that wasn’t enough- Jayden put them on his back and that’s how we ended up playing in the NFCC game.

What really stood out against Philly though was their team speed and the trenches, in contrast to our own.

Peters has a lot of work to do.

 

[burgold]

I think Dan Quinn blew it when he told the players they weren't playing with House money and that they earned it and should play like their rent was on the line. I liked it in the moment, but it turns out that this moment was too big for many of our players. They played tighter and made mistakes.

There's a fine line between believing in yourself and putting too much pressure on yourself. Honestly, I thinking I'm picking nits here and looking for fault where there's little, but all season the team fought well when it was "Why not us?" I think they needed to keep that loose, underdog mentality.

In general, this team went further than it had any right to. They gave us memories and it was the first fun season probably since RGIII's rookie year. I think this fan base really needed that. I think we were as broken as the team. Still, I am disappointed. We should have done better in this last game. After a season of overperforming, we chose the worst game to underperform.

We are better than that.

 

[Boone]

I'm not 'devastated' by the loss like I thought I would be. I think the fact that we played poorly makes it a little easier to swallow a beat down on the scoreboard. I think if we'd been more competitive and lost on the last drive or something, I'd feel a lot more upset. That was an atypical game for this squad - with individual players making big mistakes that cost us points. We were never really 'in it' because every time we showed signs of coming back and closed the gap, we made another brutal mistake.

It is very hard to beat a team with as much talent as Philadelphia 2 out of 3 times. When you turn the ball over it's nearly impossible.

Most fans will say 'we had no business being there and every game we won was a huge bonus' and that's not wrong. But when you are talking about an individual game that, had we won, would send us to the Super Bowl - no one wants to hear that, true or not.

What I am most happy about is that I think we have finally found the components to put together winning seasons year after year. An incredible young QB, a great coaching staff, and a GM and front office that knows what they are doing. The future is bright and this team (or future renditions of it) is going to make noise for years to come.

 

[Boone]

I think Dan Quinn blew it when he told the players they weren't playing with House money and that they earned it and should play like their rent was on the line. I liked it in the moment, but it turns out that this moment was too big for many of our players. They played tighter and made mistakes.

There's a fine line between believing in yourself and putting too much pressure on yourself. Honestly, I thinking I'm picking nits here and looking for fault where there's little, but all season the team fought well when it was "Why not us?" I think they needed to keep that loose, underdog mentality.

In general, this team went further than it had any right to. They gave us memories and it was the first fun season probably since RGIII's rookie year. I think this fan base really needed that. I think we were as broken as the team. Still, I am disappointed. We should have done better in this last game. After a season of overperforming, we chose the worst game to underperform.

We are better than that.

I think little things like that matter very little once the bullets start flying. With the one exception on the first drive, they went for it on 4th down, they even faked a punt for a 1st down. We didn't lose because of mindset, we lost because we couldn't stop Saquon Barkley, we turned the ball over multiple times, and we couldn't cover their WRs.

 

[DWinzit]

What a great first season for this whole new regime! There are going to be a lot of new Washington fans for the first time in decades and faith has been restored to remaining dedicated fan base after being abused for so long!

I never saw this season coming as strong as it did!

Tell you the truth, the NFL needs to clean up their officiating. It has NEVER been as atrocious as its current state.

 

[burgold]

I think little things like that matter very little once the bullets start flying. With the one exception on the first drive, they went for it on 4th down, they even faked a punt for a 1st down. We didn't lose because of mindset, we lost because we couldn't stop Saquon Barkley, we turned the ball over multiple times, and we couldn't cover their WRs.

Fair.

I think the truth is, Witt got this D to be good enough to stop one thing. The problem is that the Eagles do three things well. They run the ball damn well. Yesterday, they passed it well and have tough wide receivers. And they have that mobile QB. We saw what happened when you removed one element. We could handle Barkley if you removed the running QB. In the Lions game, we even managed to barely do enough to control two elements, but this team lacks the talent to handle a team that does everything well. If we try to take one thing away we are too exposed by all the others.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

The truth is, you can’t win when you turn the ball over that many times. Yes, it happened in their previous matchup, but that is very, very rare. The Eagles made them pay for every turnover. I was trying to think of which one was worse, and while that Ekeler one sticks out because it killed any chance at more Daniels magic at the end of the game, the Brown and McNichols ones were equally devastating. The Brown one put the early momentum in the Eagles court. And the McNichols one gave the Eagles a free possession before half which gave them 14 straight points.

Despite all the rest of what happened, I think it’s a much closer game without the turnovers. That may be an obvious statement, but that’s 4 possessions that you don’t score and 3 of which led to short fields for the Eagles to score. All the other issues the team had, they have been issues all year and they found ways to overcome them. But those turnovers, that’s just too much of a hole to put yourself in.

 

[Chris]

I think the Eagles ran the ‘ol okie doke on us with Hurts injury.

 

[Boone]

Crossed my mind too. He had a very good game and didn't look at all gimpy to me.

 

[DWinzit]

This isn't going to sound right but to tell the truth, I am hoping for some karma coming to Jalen Carter after last night's antics.

 

[MassSkinsFan]

NGL I’m gutted. I haven’t felt that powerless since maybe the start of this season or during the Snyder shit show.

Yesterday’s game was a bad showing by a very good team. Like others have said we were simply overmatched.

That said, we found ways to overcome obstacles all season long. We just didn’t have what it took yesterday to do it again. We were due for a lapse, and it happened.

Despite my temporary depression regarding the outcome, I’m very proud of the team - players, coaches, FO, everyone. They punched way above their weight all year and it was amazing.

 

[burgold]

I think the Eagles ran the ‘ol okie doke on us with Hurts injury.

Yeah, having the brace on during warm ups through the Star Spangled Banner and the first drive then taking it off right before hitting the field was kind of a tell.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

I'm bummed, of course, but it didn't feel like the gut-punch that I thought it would. We had a spectacular year. That said, I think that DQ not going for it on the first drive sent the wrong message. I agree with KDawg contention that you "bring what brought you" and should've went for it. Oh will....no use crying about it now. In any event, those TO's were just too much to overcome. Too bad it was the Iggles though...

 

[KDawg]

I'm bummed, of course, but it didn't feel like the gut-punch that I thought it would. We had a spectacular year. That said, I think that DQ not going for it on the first drive sent the wrong message. I agree with KDawg contention that you "bring what brought you" and should've went for it. Oh will....no use crying about it now. In any event, those TO's were just too much to overcome. Too bad it was the Iggles though...

When I do my Next Day Thread (which may end up being Tuesday) I'm going to touch on this more. But I really think we set the tone for ourselves. Go for it in far worse situations on that drive and then when we're close we take three points instead of continuing to ride the pony that got us to the show and going for it. Of course, I see the argument that there is no guarantee you get it and coming away with no points may be equally detrimental (couldn't have been worse, given what ended up happening). And I do agree to some extent. But this team overachieved its talent because it went for the jugular at all times. Yesterday, on the tone setting drive, we said, "ya, we're nervous. We need three."

 

[Chris 44]

Tress way is right handed? LOL great paly!

Lattimore may need a serious heart to heart this offseason. Just looking from the outside he doesn't seem to "fit in" with this group, not from a sheer talent aspect but from a mentality type of aspect. I understand that corner backs have to be aggressive but there is aggressive and there is undisciplined. His demeanor just seems off. Maybe Im wrong, just my view from way outside of the organization.

 

[method man]

It absolutely sucked to have to lose this game against the Eagles. Any other team, even the Cowboys, and I don't feel gutted the way I do now. I went to the game and seeing the trashiness of their fans at the stadium and on Broad Street was absolutely disgusting to me.

Not to be Debbie Downer here but we have a long long way to go in terms of catching up to the other teams in our division talentwise sans the QB. Draftwise, we lack the premium picks and three of our 7 picks this year are 7th round picks, which are complete lottery tickets. Furthermore, the $100M in cap room kinda evaporates when you consider all the guys on one year deals you are bringing back next year, whether on one year deals again (ex Wagner and Ertz) or multiyear deals (ex Chinn). Finally, we were so so lucky this year in terms of team health. The depth on this team was bad and we were fortunate guys like Ertz and Cosmi held up for the entire regular season

What we'll have to count on are the following:

- Not only JD continuing to ascend but 1st / 2nd year guys like Sainristil, Newton, Sinnott, Coleman and Quan continuing to make major steps with at least one of these four guys becoming a Pro Bowl/All Pro caliber player next year. Sinnott was a disappointment this year - I get that it takes tight ends a while to elevate but it was disappointing he couldn't pass Bates on the depth chart as TE2 this year

- Draftwise - We shouldn't bother with the PFF BS about only taking premium positions the first couple rounds. Given where we are picking, we need difference makers first and foremost. This means guards, DTs, RBs, etc. I don't think there are any players we have who we'd be willing to trade who could realistically garner meaningful draft compensation. Maybe Allen but guys like him tend to get cut and teams know it. I wonder what we do with these 3 7ths because we are not in a position as a team where 3 7ths should be making our roster

- FA - We may have the room for a big splash or two but we should stick with what has worked and continue to unearth gems like we did this past year. Look at the Eagles FA. Their best FA signing was Baun (who didn't play the position before) and their second best FA signing was Becton (who had only played tackle in the NFL). They got both guys for < $5M a year. For ourselves, I hope we kick the tires on 1 year guys who could potentially break out bigtime like Koonce, Adebo, Wills (as a guard?), Hernandez, etc.