From the Desk of Eagles Outsider Barry Bowe
Or What?
Yesterday, I wrote “Parkey Injury No Surprise” about the Eagles placing Cody Parkey on IR after suffering an injury against the Jets on Sunday.
I also suspected that Cody Parkey initially suffered that injury during the final four games of the 2014 season – and I said so in no uncertain terms.
Idle speculation on my part?
Un-uh.
Trained eyes, the power of observation, and a combination of inductive and deductive reasoning led to my conclusion. To begin with, I could see with my own eyes that his kickoffs late last season weren’t traveling as far as they were traveling earlier in the season. And he missed a couple crucial field goals against the Redskins that had been money in the bank earlier in the season – misses that cost the Eagles the game and a trip to the playoffs.
Why had Cody Parkey’s performance dropped off?
Off the top of my head, I listed five possible factors:
- Bad weather
- Cold temperature
- Under-inflated footballs
- Poor technique
- Injury
It didn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to eliminate the first four factors. While any one of them – or combinations and permutations thereof – could account for the decreased length of Parkey’s kickoffs, it was mathematically impossible for all of them to exist in all of the last four games last season. That left just one factor – injury.
Cody Parkey was hurt late last season.
And now a great big thanks to Reuben Frank, csnphilly.com’s Eagles Insider, who today wrote “MRI reveals Parkey tore 3 muscles in groin.” The following two paragraphs have been lifted word-for-word from Roob’s piece:
Cody Parkey was just beginning his pregame warmups Sunday morning at MetLife Stadium in preparation for the Eagles’ game against the Jets when he felt a severe pain in his groin.
Parkey had been battling a groin injury all year and even late last year, but this was different. The pain was much worse.
OK. So did I call it? Or what?
Yes, I did. Thanks for the validation, Roob.
Hari-Kari
Parkey gutted it out against the Jets – pun intended since we’re talking about a groin injury here. He went three-for-three on PATs and nailed his only field-goal attempt. However, his kickoffs were weak.
But in gutting it out, Parkey committed hari-kari and he’s now out for the year.
Trick question
If I knew Cody Parkey was hurt late last season, why didn’t Chip Kelly know?
That’s a trick question.
It’s a trick question because Chip Kelly did know that Parkey was hurt late last season. Moreover, he knew that Parkey was hurt this season. Look at how Chip used the cloak-and-dagger technique during the preseason to – at first – say that there was nothing wrong with his kicker before finally revealing that, yes, his kicker was battling some kind of groin injury.
Real Questions
So now come the real questions:
- Why didn’t Chip do something about it late last season?
- Why didn’t Chip do something about it during the off-season?
- Why didn’t Chip do something about it this season?
- Why didn’t Chip audition some real kickers during preseason instead of the one stooge he brought in – Kip Smith?
I’ve been schooled to believe that there are just two answers to such questions:
- Either he didn’t know.
- Or he didn’t care.
Well, if I knew late last season that my kicker was hurt – as an Eagles Outsider – then definitely chief-cook-and-bottle-washer Chip Kelly should’ve known.
That leaves only one answer – Chip didn’t care.
Perhaps if he Chip cared, he would’ve sent out an able-bodied kicker against the Redskins late last season. Perhaps that able-bodied kicker would’ve nailed at least one of the those two missed field-goal attempts and the Eagles would’ve advanced to the playoffs.
Perhaps if Chip cared, he would’ve sent an able-bodied kicker out to boot the game-winning 41-yard field-goal attempt with 2:32 remaining in Week 1 against the Falcons. In case you’ve already forgotten that kick, it went wide right, the Eagles lost the game 26-24, and got the season off to an 0-and-1 start.
Even worse. Knowing your kicker is injured, how could you send him into the game to try that 41-yarder when you have fourth-and-one and DeMarco Murray, Ryan Matthews, and Darren Sproles at your disposal. Not to mention your $13-million quarterback Sam Bradford – who, if nothing else – is a master of the short pass.
Uh-oh, I just did mention $13-million quarterback Sam Bradford.
Sorry, Eagles fans – of which I’m a die-hard – but Chip Kelly is not going to lead us to the Promised Land. He’s in way over his head and he’s yet to learn how to coach in the NFL.
In addition to being an official Eagles Outsider, Barry Bowe is also the author of:
- Born to Be Wild
- 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
- 12 Best Eagles QBs
- Soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen
- Soon-to-be-published novel Stosh Wadzinski
- Soon-to-be-published novel Polish Widow
- Soon-to-be-published Birth of the Birds
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