My First Season as an Eagles Fan - End of Term Report

It wasn't supposed to end like this.  It was supposed to end in New Orleans next month with Andy Reid hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.  It was supposed to be the culmination of my dream first season as an Eagles fan, a triumphant justification of my absurd process for picking my NFL team.

Then the season kicked off and it all went downhill rapidly.  In fact, looking back, it's hard to think of a game where I genuinely thought the Eagles looked like a good team.  Perhaps the Giants at home, but even that game would have ended in defeat were it not for a last minute missed Field Goal.  4-12 could so easily have been 0-16, in fact the Eagles 4 wins were by a combined total of 6 points!

Fumbles, injuries, interceptions and just rank bad play were visible throughout the year.  With hindsight, I shouldn't have been surprised.  My preseason optimism was naively based around the fact that we hadn't garnered the same media attention as in 2011 and the pressure was off. Our star players would be able to perform, Michael Vick would be fit and raring to go and we'd quietly make our way to the Play Offs.  In reality, the Eagles were full of overpaid, overrated and under performing "stars" and whilst there were encouraging signs from some of the younger players, this was a team at the bottom of the NFL cycle.

Luckily, the key word here is cycle.  Teams very rarely stay at the top or bottom of the pile for too long, and the Eagles failure gives them an easier schedule and higher Draft picks for next season.  What's more, we'll have a new coach, probably a new quarterback, a bolstered line and hopefully some additions to the secondary.  Perhaps one year wasn't enough to scar me for life, but I'm quietly optimistic about the Eagles future.

So how did I find my first season as an Eagle?

First things first, I am still delighted that I picked the Eagles.  The franchise has a strong fan base in the UK and I am glad to be a part of it.  The British Eagles are a great supporters club and have made me feel very welcome.

One thing that genuinely surprised was that atmosphere at Eagles home games.  Whilst the crowd were behind the team at the start of every game, it didn't take much for them to turn on the Eagles players. A bad play call, a turnover or an opposition score were all it took for the boos to start.  And when I say boo, I mean BOOOOOOOO!!!!  In this country, talk show phone lines go berserk when a footballer gets a bit of abuse from the crowd.  There was outrage when Rafael Benitez was given a hostile welcome by Chelsea fans recently.  Compared to what the players and coaches have to put up with in Philly, Benitez had a stroll in the park. Personally, I'm not entirely sure what it achieves, but equally you pay your money so you have the right to express your opinion.  I think booing at the end or when the game is over as a contest is fine, but whilst the team still has a chance it seems pretty counterproductive.  It certainly didn't seem to inspire the Eagles players this term!

Another interesting aspect of the season was watching one team's games closely.  Previously, I'd just watched the live Sky games on a Sunday evening and highlights of any other action.  This year I got Gamepass and tried to watch all of the Eagles games in their entirety.  Aside from the weekend of the Wembley game and the irrelevant Week 17 defeat to the Giants I succeeded in this aim.  It gave me a very different perspective of the game.  I'd previously just noticed the big plays and who the star players were.  Now I was taking a much more detailed look at proceedings and the performance of the Eagles players.  For example, I could see that Evan Mathis was a shining light in an otherwise woeful O line, and that Demetress Bell was the worst member of said O line.  I could see that Demeco Ryans was a leader and the key player in Defence, whilst our much hyped Cornerback pairing were pretty dismal.

As my knowledge of the team grew, then so did my emotional involvement in the games.  So much so that Jeremy Maclin's last second TD in Tampa was greeted by some enthusiastic leaping around my living room, whilst the numerous defeats left me in a bad mood most Mondays!

What's Next?

The Eagles season is over, but there's still plenty of NFL Play Off action to enjoy.  I'm going to try and take more of an interest to the Draft and it's build up this year.  It's an aspect of the NFL that I've not really embraced before, so that should be fun.
In addition, I've started research on my next NFL writing project - The History of the NFL in the UK.  I've already found plenty of fascinating stories on the subject and I'm going to start writing up some of those stories very soon so watch this space!