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Howie Roseman: 'We Got To Go From Good To Great'

By Ray Boyd

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In 2013, a 10-6 record punched the Eagles' ticket to the playoffs. In 2014, the same record is sending them home early.

In the NFL, that is the nature of the beast. Few would dispute the fact that a team that wins 10 games two seasons in a row is a pretty good team. To a certain point, good is not good enough.

The Eagles have appeared to reach that point.

"We're a good team," Howie Roseman said on Monday during The Howie Roseman Show. "But we got to go from good to great," Roseman added.

LISTEN: Howie Roseman wraps up the 2014 season on The Howie Roseman Show

Part of taking any franchise from good to great is building that team and replenishing the roster in the off-season. One Eagles free agent who many expect to cash in this off-season is Jeremy Maclin.

"We like to have Jeremy [Maclin] back," Roseman said of the team's top wide receiver.

No one knew quite what to expect from Maclin who was returning from an entire year off due to injury and who was essentially playing for his NFL future given the choice to sign a one-year deal to remain in Philadelphia.

Maclin also had the burden of replacing DeSean Jackson and for the first time in his career be the number one option at wide receiver.

He rose to the occasion.

Maclin caught 85 passes on the season for a total of 1,318 yards. He averaged 15.5 yards per catch and reached the end zone 10 times.

"I'm trying to figure out how we can get better. That's our goal," Roseman said.

Part of making this team better will revolve around the ability to keep productive players in the nest.

If Maclin was the player that made the biggest resurgence on the offensive side of the ball, the same can be said for Fletcher Cox on the defensive side.

Both players were not selected for the Pro Bowl, but were named alternates for the game, something that many who follow the team saw as a snub.

Cox was named a sixth alternate meaning he is waiting at the end of a long line to get the chance to take place in the Pro Bowl.

When he was informed of the team's Pro Bowl players, Roseman wasn't even sure Cox's alternate spot was serious.

"I thought they were kidding," Roseman said of the league notifying him that Cox was a sixth alternate.

Because the Eagles will not be going to the playoffs, the Pro Bowl will be the last game for the Eagles players that were selected.

The margin by which the team missed out on the playoffs seems like a thin one considering some of the team's close call losses to teams like the Cardinals and the 49ers.

Eagles linebacker Emmanuel Acho joined The Howie Roseman Show and spoke about those games in particular.

"Early in the season you don't realize how much that can come back to bite you in the end," Acho said about those two games.

LISTEN: Emmanuel Acho talks about the Eagles season on The Howie Roseman Show.

Acho also addressed the fact that a team like the Panthers, who have seven wins and who the Eagles dominated, will be going to the playoffs.

"We knew what we signed up for," Acho said of the league's playoff rules. The Panthers wound up in a situation where they were fortunate that seven wins were enough for their division. Ten just didn't cut it this year for the Eagles.

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