How much should Philadelphia Eagles fans listen to anonymous quotes?

The ‘new norm’ for the Philadelphia Eagles now includes a lot of whispering.

There’s an old saying, though it’s difficult to remember who said it first. It goes something like this. Rumors, to some extent, house a little truth, or they wouldn’t be rumors in the first place.

If you’re a Birds fan, here’s what that looks like. Carson Wentz’s mental toughness, whether or not he’s difficult to coach, and his questionable work ethic are questioned. Discussions about whether or not Doug Pederson has any power become more common. Stories are less about wins and losses and become more about how involved Jeffrey Lurie is. What’s sad is, in some ways, he’s more of a meddlesome owner than Jerry Jones is.

What did we do as fans and members of the media? We ignored so many leaks as being the problem, and we chalked all of what we heard up to Alshon Jeffery being a snitch, this theory that Doug’s just a bad play-caller, and everything being Howie Roseman’s fault. Well, don’t pump the breaks on that last theory yet.

Who would have thunk that, after the Birds played their final game of the 2020-2021 season on January 3rd, that Howie would have been the last man standing in that Carson Wentz versus Doug Pederson versus Howie Roseman debate?

Maybe we should have known. After all, former Eagles president Joe Banner told us that Howie was probably safe and that Lurie wanted guys around that he was comfortable with. Here’s the thing though. If you think that the issues with this team have been remedied just because Jeffery, and Wentz, and Pederson are all gone, think again.

Check out what was said in a tweet on February 6th by the aforementioned Rob Maaddi who covers the Eagles for the Associated Press.

"Former Eagles player told me: “Doug wasn’t the problem. Carson isn’t the problem. The PROBLEM is still there.” This feeling has been expressed to me by several others recently. More people around the league have shared similar thoughts with me over the past week in Tampa… My first response is always: “But they won a Super Bowl just three years ago.” I don’t know how the culture changed so dramatically and it’s quite possible if the team hits on draft picks, key players return healthy and others perform to expectations, they can rebound."

Enough said. Seriously, what can you say after that? Maybe we should address what we can take from the whispers?