Philadelphia Eagles: One Aikman comments that isn’t getting enough burn

As Philadelphia Eagles fans, we’re sick of all of these Cowboys on TV.

Who knew that a Dallas Cowboy that doesn’t even play in the NFL anymore could still rile up the Philadelphia Eagles fan base just by speaking. Then again, maybe that’s more believable than we’re stating. By a show of hands, who watches the NFL Network’s NFL GameDay on Sundays? Is anyone else just as irritated by everything that Michael Irvin says as our staff is?

If that doesn’t make you want to hit the mute button on your television (or throw something at it), maybe this might. How about those ‘game of the week’ broadcasts on FOX? If you’re tuning in to the games of the most public interest, you’ve gotten used to hearing a lot of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on Sundays and now Thursdays (and before that, you had to endure Buck, Aikman, and Cris Collinsworth).

One Cowboys great has the Philadelphia Eagles fan base stirred up.

As many of you have heard by now, Aikman and Irvin chopped it up with one another on The Michael Irvin Podcast on PodcastOne’s Network. The news of that one began circulating on 2021’s second Wednesday, but the actual pod didn’t get dropped until Thursday.

Here’s what Aikman said that had so many Birds fans riled up.

"I’m surprised. What I gathered, and I don’t have any insight, but (from) what I gathered, it came down to was a difference of opinion in how (the Eagles) were going to move forward with the quarterback position… Jeffrey Lurie, the owner, has paid a lot of money to Carson Wentz, and they’re on the hook with him. They can’t get out of that contract right away, and yet, it’s my belief that Doug Pederson felt that Jalen Hurts was probably the quarterback going forward… How does that mesh?… I think they said, well, there’s a difference of opinion in how they’re going to go forward and correct this past season, I believe it all came down to how they’re going to handle Carson Wentz."

While most got stuck on what Aikman said about former Eagles head coach Doug Pederson preferring Jalen Hurts over Carson Wentz, it was another of Aikman’s comments that probably should have been the focus of what the hall of famer said, the one relating to Carson Wentz’s struggles and how the way things progressed in 2020 may have affected him mentally.

"There was a lot to point to as to why they struggled on offense… I always felt the weakness of the team is ultimately run through the quarterback, and the quarterback is the one who gets exposed for inefficiencies within a football team, so when you’re not being protected, you’re not getting guys open, the quarterback then bears the brunt of those criticisms… But, the franchise quarterback cannot compound the problems, and Carson was compounding the problems with the way he was not protecting the football… It’s going to be a project for whoever becomes the head coach to see if they can get him back and play at a high level, but it wasn’t just this year, it has been a long time since I’ve seen Carson Wentz play at the level he needs to play at, or any quarterback needs to play at."

Cue the discussions of, not only the rumors that Jeffrey Lurie chose his quarterback over his coach, but also the discussions about whether or not Jeffrey Lurie is too involved in football affairs. He doesn’t speak to the media often, and after his most recent attempt to appease the Philly media, that won’t be something that you hear Philadelphia Eagles fans complain about. Lurie sees himself as a football guy, but he isn’t. He’s a businessman and a doggone good one who just happens to run a football team.

Oh, and then, there’s this. You can expect to hear a lot about the seemingly increased possibility of Wentz staying and what might be an interesting battle in training camp. That is unless Philly goes the route of moving on from their very wealthy signal-caller, something that some of this fan base has been clamoring for since Nick Foles stepped in and saved the day for a second time during the 2018-2019 season. The drama continues in Philly.