Jan. 19, 2026
I read something last week that so perfectly captures the current state of our shamefully soft Philadelphia sports media that, for one brief moment, I wanted to come out of retirement.
Yes, I was that angry – as would any writer or broadcaster from an era not so long ago, when our city held sports figures responsible for spectacular failures like the debacle we just endured with the 2025 Eagles.
In this case, the perpetrator was David Murphy of Philly.com. When Kevin Patullo was fired as coordinator after taking the most talented array of talent in the NFL and turning them into the 24th-ranked offense, Murphy wrote a column about the mob mentality in our city that ensures after a brutal loss.
Then he said something so misguided, so lacking in a basic understanding of Philadelphia, he would never have survived if he were writing such slop here 20 or 30 years ago. He wrote:
I don’t have a personal relationship with Patullo. If I did, I would certainly apologize to him on the city’s behalf.
In my world, sports figures are held responsible for failure. It is the job of a journalist, and even more so a columnist. What most definitely is not part of the job is to appoint yourself a spokesman for the city and then issue an unwanted – and unwarranted – apology on its behalf.
Murphy is not a fan, and most certainly not a voice of the people who love the Eagles. The truth is, he was a columnist for many of the years I was on the air, and no one – not one caller – ever referenced him or his work. They talked at length about Marcus Hayes and Mike Sielski, both of whom were so compelling, they became hosts on WIP.
David Murphy?
You mean the weather guy who used to work at 6ABC?
No. The other one.
What other one?
Kevin Patullo was one of the worst hires in the history of Philadelphia sports because he took the favorite to win back-to-back Super Bowls and then systematically destroyed the most talented offense in the NFL.
This is no second-guess for me. You can look it up. I said last winter that hiring your best pal for an important job is a terrible idea. I said Patullo had never called plays, so why give him an in-season audition now? I pointed out Sirianni had already made this mistake in 2023 when he promoted another play-calling novice, Brian Johnson, with disastrous results. Why try it again?
Everyone who knows anything about football could see the crash long before it happened. To try to deflect blame after the fact does nothing more than insult a fan base that knows better.
David Murphy doesn’t need to apologize to Kevin Patullo.
He needs to apologize to the people who read his column.
My guess is, there will be fewer of them now.
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Given that a sea urchin could do a better job as offensive coordinator than Kevin Patullo, there is almost no chance the Eagles will fail to upgrade the position in the next few weeks.
The good news is, most of the names on the list of candidates so far have experience calling plays, unlike their predecessor.
The bad news is, some of them have prior connections to Sirianni.
If there’s one thing that should be painfully obvious to anyone studying the resume of Nick Sirianni, it’s that the more input he has into the Xs and Os, the less successful the team is. His two proteges, Johnson and Patullo, were abysmal as OCs. Kellen Moore, the independent choice in between the coach’s toadies, won a Super Bowl.
For that reason, the Eagles should not hire Frank Reich, Brian Daboll, Marcus Brady, Jerrod Johnson or Jim Bob Cooter to replace Patullo. All five have been on coaching staffs with Sirianni. In my mind, that disqualifies them.
The last thing the Eagles need right now is anyone who shares an offensive philosophy with the head coach, let alone his laughably ineffective schemes. (See: Last play of loss to 49ers).
If we learned anything last season, it is that the only real path to the Super Bowl is one that is Nick-proof. The Eagles need to be so good, not even Sirianni could screw them up.
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Saturday’s overtime thriller between Buffalo and Denver was one of the best playoff games I’ve ever seen . . . . until it wasn’t.
Thanks for nothing, Carl Cheffers and your bipolar officiating crew.
For all four quarters and the start of overtime, the refs called the 33-30 Broncos win the way all playoff games should be officiated, letting the world’s greatest athletes play without the intrusion of sketchy flags.
After a clear pass interference that wasn’t called, the back judge decided to provide two make-up calls on PIs that were dubious, at best.
Why change your approach at the end of an NFL classic?
And why would anyone insult our intelligence by trying the cover for those two bad calls?
Former ref Gene Steratore is employed by CBS to provide his officiating expertise during games, but he revealed himself to be nothing more than a shameless apologist by agreeing with all three calls.
A fourth play, a contested pass that led to a wrestling match between WR Brandin Cooks and CB Ja’Quan McMillan, deserved a lot more attention than it got, both on the field and in the broadcast booth. Even though Cooks clearly had hit the ground before losing the ball, Cheffers ruled it an interception. All I can say for sure is, Steratore agreed with that call, too.
That game was too good, too special, to end with all of those flags.
If you hooked up a lie detector to Roger Goodell – a terrific idea for many reasons – I’m pretty sure even the commissioner would agree.
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Fortunately, at the end of the weekend, we got to see what a playoff overtime thriller is like when the officials stay out of the way. The Rams-Bears division-round battle was evidence of why the NFL puts on so much of a better show than the other major sports.
The snowy setting, the faceoff between two gifted quarterbacks, the ebb and flow of a smashmouth game, the desperation touchdown at the end of regulation and the final winning drive were all the ingredients for a fabulous sports event.
In the end, all I could conclude was that the Eagles would have beaten either opponent if they hadn’t imploded in the latter stages of the season. The Birds are deeper and healthier than any of the four NFC finalists this year. Not that it mattered.
If I sound bitter, that’s only because I am.
You should be, too.
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I find myself rooting for the New England Patriots, despite my chronic nausea over their recent Brady-Belichick dynasty. Hey, what can I say? I think Mike Vrabel is a fantastic leader. He’s so much more my idea of an NFL head coach than . . . . well, you know.
But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how luck has so much to do with winning a Super Bowl – and never more so than in New England right now.
Somehow, the Patriots have won 16 games (including playoffs) without having to face any of the elite NFL quarterbacks. No Patrick Mahomes, no Josh Allen, no Lamar Jackson, no Joe Burrow, no Matthew Stafford, no Caleb Williams and no Jalen Hurts.
Some of those QBs were not on the schedule this year, and a few of them (Allen, Jackson and Burrow) were injured when the two teams met.
Now, the Patriots catch another break because QB Bo Nix broke his ankle on Saturday and will not be available for Denver in the AFC championship game next Sunday.
And if Seattle wins the NFC as expected, New England would face the immortal Sam Darnold in the Super Bowl.
Sometimes it is indeed better to be lucky than good.
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Tony Romo has become less annoying since the start of the NFL season, but the CBS analyst needs to shake the common pitfall of too many network broadcasters who spend most of their shift glorifying the players.
Throughout the broadcast, Romo – a bust himself on those rare occasions when he made the playoffs with the Dallas Cowboys – acted as if he were an expert at conquering the pressure of the biggest games.
The rest of the time, Romo’s overriding theme was how brilliant QB Josh Allen was in clutch situations. Then, at the end of regulation, a stat flashed up on the screen. Allen had never won an overtime game, losing all seven he had played in, including two playoff games. (The loss on Saturday made him 0-8.)
Only 2-4 himself as a playoff QB, Romo shrugged off the Allen stat, the same way he suddenly halted his otherwise non-stop bloviating when the controversial calls unfolded late in the game.
In short, at $18 mill a year, Tony Romo will tell you what he really thinks until the crucial part of big games.
After that, you’re on your own.
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I turned off the 49ers-Seahawks game shortly after the half because it disgusted me. All I could think was, how did the Eagles lose to that carcass of a San Francisco team?
Actually, the Niners were roughly half a team by the time they got to the playoffs, victims of an injury epidemic like no other in the NFL this season.
Seattle, with maybe half as many offensive weapons as the Eagles have, managed to put up 41 points in the 41-6 romp. The Birds squeezed out 19 in their 23-19 loss the previous week.
Please don’t tell me how it’s the players who lose, not the coaches. The Eagles are not still playing this season for one reason, and we all know what that is.
No, David Murphy, I still have no plans to apologize, but I will say this:
I am deeply sorry that the Eagles hired Kevin Patullo to be their offensive coordinator this season.
The fans deserved better.