Welcome to a special edition of The Takeaway, where we point out five things the Eagles have to do after missing the playoffs this season.
1. FIRE SOMEONE. This little three-game winning streak is just about the worst thing to happen to Eagles fans, because the team was still rotten enough to miss the playoffs, but showed enough improvement to possibly save Andy Reid and Juan Castillo (!!!) from being fired. And that is BS. You listen to me, Mr. Lurie: I've watched enough football in my lifetime to know that hot streaks by losing teams to close out a season mean NOTHING. The Cleveland Browns won four in a row to close out a 5-11 season in 2009. You know what their record was in 2010? 5-11. The Colts just won two in a row. Do you think that means a Manning-less Colts team led by Jim Caldwell would have potential in 2012? If so, you are dumb. This win streak is a small sample taken from an overall failure of a season, and the coaching staff needs to be judged on its entire body of work. I bet the Eagles do nothing with this coaching staff in the offseason. I bet they tell you that they're on the right track and keep everything exactly the same -- and you'll spend all of 2012 tearing your hair out because Andy Reid will keep making the same mistakes he always makes. It makes me angry just thinking about it.
2. Re-sign DeSean Jackson. I don't think any Eagles fan would dispute that DeSean did everything he could this season to play his way out of town. But when you look at it from a different angle, his 2011 implosion has played right into the Eagles hands. Jackson now represents a sizable risk for ANY team looking to pay him on the open market. The Eagles can probably sit back, watch Jackson squirm as no team offers him anything close to what he wanted, and then swoop in with a reasonable offer and keep in the fold. He'll bounce back. It's worth the risk.
3. Find Mike Vick a proper backup. This man isn't getting through an entire NFL season without cracking eight ribs and puncturing a lung. The Eagles, more than any NFL team East of Indy, need to be serious about their #2 QB. Because that lack of depth probably cost them a playoff spot this season. You can't assume that everything will be all right with either Vince Young or Mike Kafka starting five or six games a season.
4. Devise an actual goal line offense. No Owen Schmitt dives. That's not a real offense.
5. MOAR LINEBACKERZ PLEEZ. Did you know that no Eagles linebacker makes more than $685K? As @FakeWIPCaller would say, this team clearly didn't spend enough in the offseason. So, so cheap.