Renewing the Call for Reid to be Fired
I don't write much about the Eagles anymore because there's basically been nothing new to say about them for the last several years. Andy Reid continues to think he can re-invent football by passing the ball a ridiculous amount of times while virtually ignoring the running game. He does this despite pouring draft picks and free agency dollars into offensive lineman who would likely excel at driving off the line of scrimmage to fuel a run game. He also has stayed with a quarterback who has proven for more than a decade that he is not accurate enough to perform in the West Coast offense in the most critical times, and, until recently, receivers that have been proven unworthy of starting for any other team.
But a stat that has been discussed a lot this week caused me to revisit this dreadful team in a little more depth for the first time, I believe, in about a year. The Eagles are an absurdly bad 1-8-1 in their last 10 games decided by 6 points or less.
1-8-1.
I don't know what more evidence is needed that Reid is completely inept as an NFL head coach the minute he is forced to think on his feet.
I said it a while back (as have plenty of others) and stand by it: Andy Reid needs to be fired. Even people who are defending the coach talk about how prepared and organized he is going into a season or a game, which merely emphasizes the point that once things don't go as planned Reid is lost. Then his supporters go back to the fact that he's the most successful coach in franchise history, referencing the five NFC Championship game appearances and the one Super Bowl appearance.
First of all, this franchise essentially has a history of failure in the Super Bowl era, so it's ridiculous to defend Reid based on being the most "successful" coach in team history. The argument amounts to him being the best of the worst. It's meaningless.
More importantly, the Super Bowl appearance was in 2004.
Since then the Eagles are 32-28-1 in meaningful games with McNabb starting.
As I wrote last season after the Eagles dropped to 2-3, they were 8-8 in 2007 with 3 consecutive meaningless wins to end the season. In 2006, they were 11-5, but only 6-3 with Donovan McNabb, and Jeff Garcia won a playoff game. In 2005, the Eagles were 6-10, with McNabb going 4-5 as the starter despite the absurd suggestions that he was off to a great start. This year they are 4-2 with McNabb.
After that 2-3 start, the Eagles squeaked into the playoffs thanks to a set of unlikely outcomes miraculously coming together, and the Eagles made the NFC Championship Game. So, everyone forgot about what a terrible year they really had and, for the fourth time in five tries, the Eagles lost that game.
Now, the Eagles are 5-3, yet I still feel very comfortable with my 8-8 prediction based on how they have looked. Even if the Eagles go on yet another run as they are apt to do in the second half of the season, which I think has little chance of happening, it will be yet another hollow run that will end in disappointment once they play a good team. How do I know? They're 1-8-1 in close games, and they are not going to blow out a good team.
Finally, as mentioned, Reid must go due to his handling of the quarterback position. Garcia, A.J. Feeley, and Kevin Kolb have all shown signs of being more suited to run this offense than McNabb. Feeley certainly faded quickly, but Garcia was jettisoned to save McNabb's psyche and there's little question Kolb will get a chance to start once he can escape the Eagles if Reid continues to coddle McNabb.
That falls well short of the much needed leadership by the head coach.
The scariest thing about the situation for Eagles fans is that all indications are that Jeff Lurie continues to live in his own world where the Eagles are a gold standard. He seems quite pleased by the "stability" of having had the same coach for 11 seasons.
Until Andy Reid is fired, Lurie will also have the stability of ending each season without having to attend a Super Bowl parade.
But a stat that has been discussed a lot this week caused me to revisit this dreadful team in a little more depth for the first time, I believe, in about a year. The Eagles are an absurdly bad 1-8-1 in their last 10 games decided by 6 points or less.
1-8-1.
I don't know what more evidence is needed that Reid is completely inept as an NFL head coach the minute he is forced to think on his feet.
I said it a while back (as have plenty of others) and stand by it: Andy Reid needs to be fired. Even people who are defending the coach talk about how prepared and organized he is going into a season or a game, which merely emphasizes the point that once things don't go as planned Reid is lost. Then his supporters go back to the fact that he's the most successful coach in franchise history, referencing the five NFC Championship game appearances and the one Super Bowl appearance.
First of all, this franchise essentially has a history of failure in the Super Bowl era, so it's ridiculous to defend Reid based on being the most "successful" coach in team history. The argument amounts to him being the best of the worst. It's meaningless.
More importantly, the Super Bowl appearance was in 2004.
Since then the Eagles are 32-28-1 in meaningful games with McNabb starting.
As I wrote last season after the Eagles dropped to 2-3, they were 8-8 in 2007 with 3 consecutive meaningless wins to end the season. In 2006, they were 11-5, but only 6-3 with Donovan McNabb, and Jeff Garcia won a playoff game. In 2005, the Eagles were 6-10, with McNabb going 4-5 as the starter despite the absurd suggestions that he was off to a great start. This year they are 4-2 with McNabb.
After that 2-3 start, the Eagles squeaked into the playoffs thanks to a set of unlikely outcomes miraculously coming together, and the Eagles made the NFC Championship Game. So, everyone forgot about what a terrible year they really had and, for the fourth time in five tries, the Eagles lost that game.
Now, the Eagles are 5-3, yet I still feel very comfortable with my 8-8 prediction based on how they have looked. Even if the Eagles go on yet another run as they are apt to do in the second half of the season, which I think has little chance of happening, it will be yet another hollow run that will end in disappointment once they play a good team. How do I know? They're 1-8-1 in close games, and they are not going to blow out a good team.
Finally, as mentioned, Reid must go due to his handling of the quarterback position. Garcia, A.J. Feeley, and Kevin Kolb have all shown signs of being more suited to run this offense than McNabb. Feeley certainly faded quickly, but Garcia was jettisoned to save McNabb's psyche and there's little question Kolb will get a chance to start once he can escape the Eagles if Reid continues to coddle McNabb.
That falls well short of the much needed leadership by the head coach.
The scariest thing about the situation for Eagles fans is that all indications are that Jeff Lurie continues to live in his own world where the Eagles are a gold standard. He seems quite pleased by the "stability" of having had the same coach for 11 seasons.
Until Andy Reid is fired, Lurie will also have the stability of ending each season without having to attend a Super Bowl parade.
Comments
I have been saying the same thing for 3 years now. It is time to turn the page on both the head coach and quarterback.
The last 11 years the Eagles have won a ton on games but it cannot be judged a total success without a Superbowl championship. They certainly have fallen far short of the "gold standard". Look north to New England and west to Pittsburgh for said standard.
One of the definitions of insanity is making the same mistake over and over again. It is literally the same story every year. Reid never learns, at least it is not permanently implanted into his head, that a balanced attack HELPS Donovan.
As for Donovan, he was the best QB of all time yesterday between the 20's and played like Mike McMahon in the red zone.
Don't even get me started on clock management. Finally, the national press is beginning to notice what we have known for years - Reid and McNabb tighten up at the end of games. In Reid, in surfaces in horrible clock management. With McNabb it is the "happy fee" syndrome.
Enough is enough - please Lurie, let's move on!!!
MDefl