Happy Andy
Andy Reid was animated and chatty in his Black Friday news conference. Amazing what a four-touchdown win will do for you.
Happy Andy
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
For once, the need to do a better job putting players in positions to make plays was nowhere to be found at an
Andy Reid postgame news conference. No pieces of blame-sharing pie were served.
On Black Friday, the Eagles' coach was as bubbly as a shopper waving discount coupons. It was the morning after a 48-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in which Reid said he believed his team "played well, probably for the first time this year, with all three phases playing at a high level."
In case you dozed off early after a hearty Thanksgiving dinner, Donovan McNabb shook off his recent funk, completing 27 of 39 passes for 260 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. He also took off four times, gaining 24 of the Eagles' 185 rushing yards. Brian Westbrook, somehow revived just four days after limping off the unforgiving Baltimore turf in a blowout loss, gained 110 yards on 22 carries and became the first Eagle to score four touchdowns in a game since Irving Fryar in 1996.
The Eagles' secondary, missing $57 million corner Asante Samuel, handled the league's best wideout corps, intercepting Kurt Warner on his first two drives. Anquan Boldin had several drops and a crucial fumble.
McNabb, as always, was the focal point. Reid referenced "the things that he went through," including Reid's decision to bench his 10th-year franchise quarterback at halftime in Baltimore. "He just showed again what makes him a great quarterback," Reid said.
Reid said right guard Max Jean-Gilles will undergo season-ending right ankle surgery either Monday or Tuesday. Shawn Andrews is back in town after what the coach described as a painful flight from California; Reid was scheduled to sit down with Andrews to assess his condition, but don't hold your breath there. Nick Cole will start at right guard and the Eagles will make a roster move, quite possibly promoting practice squad offensive lineman Chris Patrick. Fourth-round rookie Mike McGlynn becomes the top reserve guard.
Reid was jovial about the standing ovation the Linc crowd awarded a third-and-1 conversion by Episcopal Academy alum Kyle Eckel in the early going. Reid said he thought maybe the crowd was just cheering Eckel since "he'd bought about half the stadium" for his Eagles debut. But the coach knew better. "I was cheering with them," he said.
Reid talked about the fact that wideout Reggie Brown didn't catch a pass Thursday, noting that he felt one of the offensive problems in recent weeks was too many different packages, too many players in and out. "Things were getting too diluted there," Reid said. With the short preparation week, Reid decided to winnow the wideout rotation (which, of course, says nothing good about where Brown stands right now). It was hard to argue with the results.
The Eagles will take the weekend off before reconvening at NovaCare Monday for a brief practice, as they begin preparations for a tougher test, Dec. 7 at the Giants.
this eagles victory will hurt more than any other since the SB loss. the momentum was building to crumble a failed regime. and now, if they again grab a few meaningless wins late in the season, it will be enough for banner/lurie to bring back a coach and QB that are .500 in the past four years. every eagles fan should hope they dont win again. this would be like bush amending the constitution and getting another term. the regime must crumble. and those of you who disagree are too easily content with mediocrity. raise the bar.— jb99- gordy, you took the words from my mouth. Absolutely on target. Reid won in an extremely weak NFC East. His antiquated approach to the game, not to mention his stubborn attitude towards change, has doomed the Eagles to living in the past and losing in the present.— eagles7777
- I have to agree, Reid is not the answer when it comes to (a) player selection and (b) play-calling and over all offensive concepts...my only concern is whether it's really necessary to completely rebuild, and that's the chance you take with a new coach...personally i think this team is better than its record ( not really an a great revalation), which i blame on reid totally...we need someone who is really in charge of the player selection and all that entails and absolutely someone who can run the offense in its entirely!...does that mean "reid must go"...probably, but i think McNabb deserves a chance to win it all here...if he stays that can happen quickly..."if he goes, who knows??"...as many of the posts have made clear, in a sense, Reid has screwed McNabb...for all the reasons i will not bother to reiterate...keep 5, give him a sane and sensible game plan, get him the addtional help he may need e.g. a Kyle Eckel, give Booker a chance...(Reid keeps drafting/trading for Westbrook backups and then giving them the toss e.g. Moats, Booker, et al)...plz don't let McNabb go to the mid-west and win a super bowl...that would be too humiliating...keep him, pay him like you really want him and save at the other end by canning Dr. Frankenpass/reid...if that is what is ultimately needed...get Spags if you can...a well conceived offense with a spags/johnson D....oh yeah!!!. if on the other hand you keep Reid and trade McNabb....well....pithers and catchers are coming none too soon.....— jachanin
- He punted in New Orleans...Goodbye!!!— davefromfrankford
- I really enjoy your writing and analyis of the Eagles, When the Eagles run the ball more than their opponent, they are 5-0.Since 2000, when Andy does call more runs than passes, his teams are 52-10. When he decides to run the ball more than 30 times in a game, the Eagles are 37-5. What is WRONG with the head coach? If everyone in the world understands that running the game more helps your quarterback, your winning percentage, and the morale of your team why does this coach feel that he must pass the ball 65% of the time?— mellogman
- Andy (What me worry?) Reid was happy and joking like he was after the Detroit game last year. He is 6-5-1 has practically no shot for the playoffs again, his quarterback of choice is like the little girl with the curl, when he is good, he is very good, but when he is bad he is horrible, who thinks that his bad play at quarterback is just a slump and Jeff Lurie has no clue and will give Eagle fans a few more years of disappointments. This could be a good comedy if it wasn't hurting the city of Philadelphia and its fans.— marioP
- Simple: my friends first comment is "how many rings do you have?" Naturally I say we have 4 NFC champoinship rings. Naturally they laugh and pray we keep fat andy. Now that is hard to keep dealing with, and I go back to the Timmy Brown days. Andy really need to be line coach, not head coach. I must hate the cowboys and giants more than lurie does.— starman
- Running up a big winning percentage as a coach in a timeframe when every other team in the division stunk to high heaven is not impressive. Andy's shortcoming with time management, play calling, inability to dress even a minimum number of players at certain skill positions, inability to make in-game or half-time adjustments and rarely having the team ready to play at the start of a game have been apparent for years. Donovan has played so poorly this year, I really didn't think he had a game like the Cardinals game still in him. Let's see how he plays next game. Reid still must go at the end of the season. He's probably the third best Eagles coach of the last 30 years, behind Vermail and Ryan, which isn't saying much, considering the drek other than those 3 that have have coached them in the last 3 decades.— pa_and_va
- Yes, amazing how the team plays better without Reggie Brown and Greg Lewis, 2 of Andy's overated signings. Either way, the Birds will lose again to a better running team, and better at stopping the run team, and pressure quarterbacks, this is not the Cardinals!— GalRand
- pardon me for being rude it was not me it was my food, it just popped up to say hello and now it went back down below,,, same with the season! back in the basement.— osi is hurt boohoo
- To say Ryan was a better coach than Reid is a joke. Ryan never won a playoff game EVER. He is a better coach than Vermeil although I wish that Reid would take a page out of Vermeil's book and sign a big, tough, RB to use in a punishing ground game ala Montgomery.— WCPhan
starman, 4 NFC Championships? I've seen that factoid tossed out on these boards a lot lately, mostly in defense of Reid and McNabb, but refresh my memory; I recall 3 NFL championships (premerger) and only 2 NFC Championships (in 1980 and 2004).— tornadoh
