Eagles Win Likely Means Little
While the national media can’t wait to fawn all over Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid after yesterday’s 48-20 victory against Arizona – including one dope named James Walker on ESPN reaching all the way back for the classic Santa Claus reference as if the Eagles ridiculous play of late was the fault of fans – the fact is that yesterday only proved how obvious it is that Reid needs to go.
Reid isn’t a genius because he suddenly realized that running the ball is a key to winning in the National Football League. The whole town has been screaming for the Eagles to run the ball for years. It hasn’t been since Rich Kotite that fans could legitimately say they were smarter than the coach.
The saddest thing may not even be that Reid destroyed this season simply because he didn’t feel like running the ball until now. The saddest thing may be that it will be a one week aberration, and the Eagles will try to re-invent football yet again by throwing the ball 50 times a game next week.
Not only have we already seen that very thing from Reid, a comment from his post-game press conference reveals the coach’s fatal flaw. I can’t even find the quote on philly.com, but when asked about running the ball more Reid indicated that the key was that the run started out well and that was why he stuck with it.
That just doesn’t cut it. (Well, it shouldn’t cut it.) It’s simply dead wrong.
Just two weeks ago on the Sunday night nationally televised game, Marion Barber gained 66 of his 114 yards in the fourth quarter allowing the Cowboys to hold the ball for 10:52. They won 14-10 against Washington, and had one other rush for 6 yards.
The rush wasn’t working early. But they kept pounding away at it, and put away a key division game by simply keeping possession of the ball. Reid likely comprehends that concept; it’s not exactly rocket science. Yet, the fact is his team consistently fails to do it.
Ray Didinger even quoted a stat on last night’s post-game show (I admit, this post would be better if tryptophan and my favorite beverage from our Thanksgiving celebration wasn’t kicking my butt last night, and I’d written this stuff down) that the Eagles are perfect when they have more rushing attempts than passing attempts. Didinger is in the football Hall of Fame as a writer, I believe, and certainly wasn’t quoting the stat to praise the play calling this season.
The Eagles don’t lose when they simply attempt to rush the ball more than they attempt to throw it. That would be attempts, not yards. Overall, they are currently 6-5-1, and in the NFC East basement.
Go figure.
Seriously, go figure, because despite last night the odds are that the Eagles have not figured it out, and neither have butt munches like James Walker that prefer to make ancient references about Philadelphia fans.
Reid isn’t a genius because he suddenly realized that running the ball is a key to winning in the National Football League. The whole town has been screaming for the Eagles to run the ball for years. It hasn’t been since Rich Kotite that fans could legitimately say they were smarter than the coach.
The saddest thing may not even be that Reid destroyed this season simply because he didn’t feel like running the ball until now. The saddest thing may be that it will be a one week aberration, and the Eagles will try to re-invent football yet again by throwing the ball 50 times a game next week.
Not only have we already seen that very thing from Reid, a comment from his post-game press conference reveals the coach’s fatal flaw. I can’t even find the quote on philly.com, but when asked about running the ball more Reid indicated that the key was that the run started out well and that was why he stuck with it.
That just doesn’t cut it. (Well, it shouldn’t cut it.) It’s simply dead wrong.
Just two weeks ago on the Sunday night nationally televised game, Marion Barber gained 66 of his 114 yards in the fourth quarter allowing the Cowboys to hold the ball for 10:52. They won 14-10 against Washington, and had one other rush for 6 yards.
The rush wasn’t working early. But they kept pounding away at it, and put away a key division game by simply keeping possession of the ball. Reid likely comprehends that concept; it’s not exactly rocket science. Yet, the fact is his team consistently fails to do it.
Ray Didinger even quoted a stat on last night’s post-game show (I admit, this post would be better if tryptophan and my favorite beverage from our Thanksgiving celebration wasn’t kicking my butt last night, and I’d written this stuff down) that the Eagles are perfect when they have more rushing attempts than passing attempts. Didinger is in the football Hall of Fame as a writer, I believe, and certainly wasn’t quoting the stat to praise the play calling this season.
The Eagles don’t lose when they simply attempt to rush the ball more than they attempt to throw it. That would be attempts, not yards. Overall, they are currently 6-5-1, and in the NFC East basement.
Go figure.
Seriously, go figure, because despite last night the odds are that the Eagles have not figured it out, and neither have butt munches like James Walker that prefer to make ancient references about Philadelphia fans.
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