David Carr: One move can put one of these two teams in the Super Bowl
New England clinched its playoff spot last month, trading for Josh Gordon. The Patriots got the big-play receiver they were lacking for a fifth-round draft pick in 2019, and that’s an absolute steal for what they could end up with in return.
He’ll impact that team enough to where I think they’ll be at least in the AFC Championship — they’re going to be there because of that one move that they made.
When a team is in a situation where it doesn’t have a piece that it needs, then it has to go out and get it, and with the NFL trading deadline coming up at 1 p.m. Oct. 30, there are two other teams that can put themselves in position for long playoff runs and maybe even a trip to Atlanta for the Super Bowl with one move.
Look at the Saints. And, look at the Eagles.
New Orleans obviously has a very good offense. Defensively, cornerback Marshon Lattimore has played pretty well. The Saints also have Patrick Robinson, one of the best slot corners in the NFL. If they added Patrick Peterson from the Arizona Cardinals to the other side of that thing, that’s a ticket to Atlanta for the Saints.
They have an offense that is dominant and then they’d have a defense just as dominant. Adding Peterson would not cost that much, I think. I’m sure Arizona would like to get something for him, but at some point his salary is going to be too much for the Cardinals to handle and they’re going to look at trying to get a younger guy. So it makes sense for both teams.
A trade would also give Peterson a chance to actually play for something. He’s one of the best corners in the league and has been consistently. To give him a chance to jump on a football team like the Saints would be amazing.
In Philadelphia it’s the same thing. The Eagles just lost Jay Ajayi for the year with an ACL injury. They need their run game to step up. When you look at how Philadelphia was put together last year, they were a run-first football team, inside zone, downhill run scheme and then they threw their run-pass options off of that. That’s when Carson Wentz was at his best. That’s when Nick Foles was at his best.
If the Eagles were to add a guy like LeSean McCoy, I think it would have a very similar impact as adding Peterson to the Saints.
The problem with the Eagles so far is they have relied too much on their drop-back pass. They’re going to be a team that utilizes Wentz in the run game, utilizes play-action pass as a weapon, and they have to have a run game for that play-action pass to be something that actually gets some respect from defenses.
Adding McCoy would be fantastic for them. They have to do it, and I don’t care if they overpay for him.
It’s almost like two slam dunk trades, and if those phone calls aren’t being made … that’s not good. That needs to be something that at least is being discussed by both parties.
They need to take a page out of the Patriots’ playbook and go get a player before the deadline who can really impact their teams.
New England, that’s a team that already has done it, that has consistently won and consistently been in the playoffs. Brandin Cooks is in L.A. now and he was the Patriots’ down-the-field explosive-play guy last year. When they have a chance to make a deal to improve their team, they make it because they want to win a championship. Gordon is a perfect fit for Tom Brady and that offense with Julian Edelman coming back and Rob Gronkowski.
At the end of the day, that’s what all teams should aspire to. That’s one of the things that I learned when I went to the Giants. It was one of the main things that stuck out to me. Every other team that I had ever been on, they were content with playing well. Obviously, they wanted to win the games. But it wasn’t openly talked about where our only reason for playing this game is to win a Super Bowl.
If you don’t make moves like that, then I think you are just playing for a good season.
Maybe you aspire to win a Super Bowl, but right now, when there is opportunity and a player out there that that can really help your team, your actions have to equal to that.
David Carr answers your questions
Each week, David Carr will answer a reader’s question in his column. Submit your questions by email to sports@fresnobee.com (please put “David Carr” in the subject line)