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As the 2024 Super Bowl Sunday approaches, the football world has descended on Sin City, Las Vegas, where the Kansas City Chiefs will take on the San Francisco 49ers.
The Philadelphia Eagles players who made the trip will be spectators this year, but that didn’t stop the media from asking them the tough questions.
After starting the year 10-1 and then nose-diving, going 1-6 to finish the season, it’s easy to find fodder.
A video of Eagles offensive tackle and 11-year NFL veteran Lane Johnson has been going around social media for the past couple of days because the All-Pro let the whole world know the 49ers are what caused the late-season breakdown.
Lane Johnson admits the 49ers broke the Eagles, dismantling them and their offense. Britain Covey just told me the Eagles let outside noise negatively impact them down the stretch
In the video, Johnson is being interviewed by Dan Patrick who asks him to explain what happened late in the year. Johnson explains that over the course of the season, “film piles up,” and then he makes sure to note that the 49ers game showed the league “them dismantling us” and “teams piggybacked off of that.”
There’s a reason the 49ers are in the Super Bowl. They’re one of the best teams the NFL has to offer, and it’s possible that after the Eagles dismantled them in the postseason of the 2022 season to the tune of 31-7, the 49ers were dead set on doing the same to their foe in 2023. The game was likely circled on the calendar.
WR Britain Covey Also Talked to Media About the Eagles’ Demise
Still, Johnson, toward the end of his interview, lets the crowd in on some doubt, saying, “I don’t know if it was something we were doing whether scheme-wise, maybe the teams were on to what we were running, but it was a lot more difficult than what it needed to be.”
Eagles wide receiver Britain Covey sat down with Chase Senior of Chat Sports and had a lot more to say on that same topic.
In a lengthy interview, Covey said, “I definitely think we got emotionally tired, trying to figure out what the problem was…There was some miscommunication from coaches to players, there was some pointing fingers from player to player and there was letting outside voices impact our love for the game and the happiness we had. All of that combined to kind of make us spiral.”
Britain Covey with a fascinating and very honest assessment of what went wrong for the #Eagles this year:
“I definitely think we got emotionally tired, trying to figure out what the problem was…There was some miscommunication from coaches to players, there was some pointing…
Winning Might Be the Only Cure for the Eagles’ Woes
There was a lot of mystery around the Eagles’ struggles in 2023, whether it was the midseason defensive coaching change, QB Jalen Hurts storming out of a press conference, DeVonta Smith saying he was “not happy”, or A.J. Brown erasing the Eagles from his social media during a reported feud with the coaches.
Head coach Nick Sirianni and the Eagles front office might still be trying to figure out what went wrong themselves. Whatever it was, though, they must start looking ahead to 2024.
They’ve already begun assembling a new coaching staff with Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio as the new offensive and defensive coordinators. There’s also starting to be rumblings about how the franchise could fill the many holes likely coming with free agency.
The Eagles can make all the changes they want but the only thing that’s going to quiet the chatter is winning. If Sirianni and company want to stay employed in Philly, they’ll have to figure out these mysterious issues and get everyone rowing in the same direction sooner than later.
Eagles brass could already be thinking about who the next head coach will be.
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Media Gets Eagles Lane Johnson Talking About 2023 ‘Dismantling’