On Thursday we solicited questions for an Eagles mailbag via Twitter or whatever it's called now. Thank you as always for doing half the work for me. This will (maybe) be Part I of a two-part mailbag. Let's just get right to it.

Question from @YoshkeZoidberg: We all can see the defense is very bad. I'm sure there will be 1,000 articles written about it, but right now, where do you think they need to improve the most next year talent-wise and where do you see them trying to improve?

I could say linebacker or safety or some other position and make a good argument for why those positions failed the Eagles in 2023, but they need to find a talented, innovative defensive mind more than anything else.

One of the philosophies that Howie Roseman has discussed in the past is falling behind when you try to copy what other teams around the league are doing.

"I think we spent a lot of time, (Nick Sirianni) and I talk about this all the time, if we're going to be the same as everyone else, we're probably going to finish in the middle of the pack," Roseman said in 2022. "Sometimes you have to take risks and you have to stand out there and do something different than everyone else."

They did not apply this principle to their defensive coordinator hiring. They seemingly had their minds set on a Vic Fangio-style defense, and when Fangio himself slipped through their fingers they instead found Sean Desai, who was a branch on the Fangio tree. Some of the other branches on the Fangio tree include Joe Barry, Joe Woods, Ed Donatell, Sean Desai, Jonathan Gannon, and Brandon Staley.

Here's how those guys fared in defensive DVOA:

• Joe Woods, Saints: 16th
• Vic Fangio, Dolphins: 19th
• Ed Donatell, Vikings (2022): 24th
• Sean Desai, Eagles: 27th
• Joe Barry, Packers: 28th
• Brandon Staley, Chargers: 29th
• Jonathan Gannon, Cardinals: 32nd

Donatell and Staley are currently unemployed, Desai is stashed in "Storage Closet B" somewhere in the basement of the NovaCare Complex, and there's a good chance Barry will be fired when the Packers' season is over.

Offenses around the league have figured out how to beat Fangio's style of defense and they have punished it all season.

Instead of being ahead of the curve as they like to be in other facets of their team-building approach, the Eagles were way behind in copy-catting a defensive scheme that caused them to return to the "middle of the pack," as Roseman put it.

Question from @SteveTSRA: How did the whole Matt Patricia thing happen? Juan Castillo being named DC is still the most bizarre thing the Eagles have done, but bringing the defensive coordinator who they embarrassed in the Super Bowl on as a consultant and then attempting to quietly promote him midseason isn't far off.

I think it's worse. The Eagles had some bad games against good teams and panicked. Now they have a new guy in there trying to implement new concepts like it's the second week of training camp, and the result is this:

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For a hot second after the Eagles hired Castillo I was talked into the idea that as a stud offensive line coach for so many years he had a deep understanding of defensive schemes, but obviously that did not work out. The decision to switch from Desai to Patricia was a pure "grasping at straws" panic move, and it is proving so far to be a disaster. 

Question from @evduzit: What do you understand to be the reasons why the team didn’t want to elevate Dennard Wilson?

I don't know, but it's looking like a big mistake. Wilson is now the defensive backs coach in Baltimore, and he's crushing it.

We didn't get many opportunities to talk to Wilson, but when we did I was always impressed by him. He'll probably be a defensive coordinator somewhere next year, I'd imagine.

Question for @Love4Philly: I saw a comparison recently to the last Ravens team to win the Super Bowl. The Ravens had the same record as the Eagles over the past 5 or 6 weeks. I think it was 2012? How do those teams actually compare? What can we take away from it to be positive?

Here's how the Ravens closed their 2012 season:

• Week 13: 23-20 loss to the Steelers
• Week 14: 31-28 OT loss to Washington
• Week 15: 34-17 loss to the Broncos
• Week 16: 33-14 win over the Giants
• Week 17: 23-17 loss to the Bengals

I didn't see the comparison you're referring to, but I'm guessing the crux of it is that they both lost four of five at the end of the season?

I can't claim to be an expert on the 2012 Ravens, but it doesn't take much research to see that their shaky stretch to close the season wasn't like what the Eagles are going through right now.

The Steelers and Ravens obviously have one of the best rivalries in the NFL, and those games are usually tight. Washington won the NFC East in 2012, and got hot at the end of the season, winning 7 straight. The Broncos were 13-3 that season with Peyton Manning. Those are all reasonable losses.

Then they crushed a 9-7 Giants team that had a +85 point differential to win the AFC North, and they rested starters Week 17 against the Bengals.

The Eagles got blown the eff out by the 49ers and Cowboys, then they lost to a Seahawks team with a -39 point differential, they struggled to put away an atrocious Giants team, and they got their asses kicked by a 3-12 team.

That comparison feels like a bit of a reach to me.

Question from @KevOContent: What confidence should we have that Howie can build an NFL-caliber back 7 — much less an elite one?

Well, they had a good back 7 last year. James Bradberry, T.J. Edwards, and Darius Slay (at least early on in Slay's case) all had very good seasons, as did Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Avonte Maddox when they were healthy. Kyzir White and Marcus Epps were competent starters who didn't cost them games.

In 2023, the linebackers and safeties moved on, and the front office didn't do a good enough job replacing them. The corners got older and worse (way worse in Bradberry's case) and have missed games.

Question from LotharZZ: Given the modicum of success Derek Barnett (of all people) seems to be enjoying in Houston, is this an indictment of the scheme the Eagles front employs, a fatigue issue, or skill issues that have contributed to the disappearance of the D-Line’s effectiveness?

Scheme, fatigue, and skill issues are all contributing factors in the defensive line's disappointing season.

However, I think that Derek Barnett is responsible for his poor play and his dumb moments in Philly the last half decade, under several different defensive coordinators. He seems to be playing well in Houston, and good for him. Perhaps he just needed a fresh start.

Question from @Philly_Bul215: Top candidates for defensive coordinator next season?

Ugh. It's so depressing knowing that as soon as this season is over, I'm going to have to cover a drawn-out defensive coordinator search (and maybe more) instead of taking it easy for a bit.

A lot of people asked some version of this question, so I wanted to include it, but I'll have an article dedicated to this topic on its own soon.

Question from @FranzkeLA: Rank your potential travel destination next week from most preferred to least.

Question from @KeithFo74392733: Press box spread question: assuming we go on the road in the Wildcard round, which team is your preference, based entirely on the food you'll get to eat?

I'll put these two questions together. I actually already did my power rankings on this in another article (I forget where), but I'll expound on that here. First, my travel destination ranking:

1) New Orleans: If you've never been there, it's a super fun city (duh), great food, drinks, etc. ("etc." doing some heavy lifting here), and the fun parts are very walkable, assuming your hotel is in or near the French Quarter. The stadium location is also the best in the NFL, in my opinion, narrowly edging out Seattle, even if the stadium itself is falling apart and the view from the press box is WAY higher than it should be.

2) Tampa: The appeal of going to Bucs games is the warm weather and the extreme convenience of the easy flight, as well as the proximity of the airport to the stadium, shown below. If you just want to get in and out, it's as easy a road game to execute as there is, the drivable games aside. If you want to stay an extra day or two, Clearwater is nearby.

3) Atlanta: Honestly you kind of can't go wrong anywhere in the NFC South. They're all decent enough cities, though I have Atlanta squarely behind New Orleans and Tampa. The best thing Atlanta has going for it is a top 3 NFL stadium, whereas the Superdome is a dump.

As for the spreads, now that I have covered a road game for every NFL team I would have the Falcons' spread at No. 2 behind only the Cowboys. The Bucs' spread is OK, the Saints' spread sucked the last time I was there.

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