When last we saw the wide-nine alignment along the Eagles defensive front, line coach Jim Washburn was being escorted out of town late in the season by Andy Reid, accompanied by a large civic following bearing torches and pitchforks.
It was 2012 and, to be fair, there was quite a run on torches and pitchforks that year. Reid himself was at the front of the final parade as the team and his era finished with a 4-12 record and everyone agreed it was time for something new.
Of course, new didn't work out quite as well as planned for the next three seasons, and here we are, back to the future with Reid protégé Doug Pederson and his defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who favors - you know what's coming - the wide-nine.