In the immortal words of Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights, if you ain’t first you’re last.
That’s pretty much the attitude of Dave Fipp’s Eagles special-teams units. After finishing as the NFL’s top-ranked special teams in two of the previous three seasons and fifth the other year, they slipped to 13th in 2017.
For many of the league’s less ambitious special teams, finishing 13th would be considered a fair accomplishment. For the Eagles, well, it was a badge of shame.
“Thirteenth might be good for other teams, but for us, that’s unacceptable,’’ said linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill, who is one of the Eagles’ top special-teams players.