Section 215
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Morning Phil-Up: Ron Hextall Thinks Flyers Need Better Leadership

By Denny Basens

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Ron Hextall: Flyers Need Better Leadership – CSNPhilly

The Flyers have done well to make things interesting during the second half of the season, but ultimately it appears that their efforts to sneak into the playoffs will fall short.

General manager Ron Hextall spoke to CSNPhilly.com, and questioned the team’s leadership. The team has fallen into too many lulls during the season, coming up small and losing winnable games to bad teams or just failing to snap out of bad offensive funks during the different points of the year.

Hextall’s criticisms are very fair. I don’t know that blame in this case falls totally on the shoulders of captain Claude Giroux, but Hextall may very well put a priority on bringing in some good locker room guys similar to the mold of a Jason Smith or Ian Laperriere.

Just Because Chip Kelly Says Something Doesn’t Mean You Should Believe Him – The 700 Level

One of the first things that Chip Kelly did in his Wednesday press conference was dispel the idea that he would be making a move to go up in the draft and acquire Marcus Mariota.

However, just because Kelly says one thing today doesn’t mean that things won’t change later on.

Coaches talk out of both sides of their mouth all the time in this league. In the past, we’ve seen Andy Reid say one thing one day and do the complete opposite shortly afterwards. Remember after the 2003 NFC Championship game when Reid said he was happy with his receivers? Just a couple months later, he made a trade for Terrell Owens. Or how about when Reid said Donovan McNabb was his quarterback after the 2009 season ended? Several months later, McNabb was dealt away.

Coaches keep their true intentions locked down and close to their heart. They’re afraid of letting their plans out in public and always treat them as though they’re the codes for nuclear warheads.

There are so many different smokescreens that go on this time of year, and you can only take Kelly’s actions seriously and not his words.

Cliff Lee Still Feels Discomfort In His Elbow – Philly.com

Cliff Lee threw a bullpen session on Wednesday, and still felt the same discomfort in his elbow.

Lee is going to attempt to pitch through the injury as long as the pain doesn’t get worse. If it maintains its current level, he believes he’ll be alright, but if it gets worse then he’ll consider shutting things down.

It seems to me that it’s only a matter of time before the ace is forced to take himself out of the rotation and call it a career. Pitching isn’t a natural motion for the body to endure, and repeated throwing will only put more strain on the injury and make it worse.

At this point, the Phils would be lucky to get Lee in their rotation for a month or two, and at this point it looks as though there is virtually zero chance of the team being able to trade him later in the year.

The Eagles’ Propaganda Machine Is In Overdrive – Crossing Broad

One day after making the controversial trade to send Nick Foles and several draft picks to the Rams in exchange for Sam Bradford, the Eagles have been working hard to try and put some positive spins on the trade.

Regardless of what the Eagles put out there, this isn’t a move that is going to sit well with the fans unless they see some results on the field. The idea of turning this offense over to injury-prone Sam Bradford and parting with the team’s best trade chip in Nick Foles along with a second-round pick is very difficult for any follower of the team to accept.

The moves made by Chip Kelly have been (to use Jeffrey Lurie’s words) counter-intuitive. Kelly had a tremendous offensive core to work with, and instead of building around them he tore it all apart and hit the reset button.

Adding all of these new players is going to make it very difficult for the team to contend next year. Even if Bradford works out, its going to take time for these new players to adjust to the scheme.

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