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.
the giants will destroy the Andy and Donovan show.— Bob65S- I think the best news of the night was Greg Lewis not playing on offense. Hopefully that's a trend that continues.— coatesvillain
- that play calling last night was amazingly good and way to go and run the ball on 3rd & 1— augustus.j
- wow what an amazing concept keeping your best players on the field? they need to keep andy now hands down!— matty H
- The Birds have officailly started playing with urgency.....yippie. I do believe they can and will beat the Giants because of the urgency. I don't think they can win the last 4 games in a row though. Play calling and talent are way too "iffy." Should be a unique off-season.— jearnha
- The winningest coach and most prolific qb in the history of the franchise and you jokers want to run them out of town. Get a clue. They've both made some horrendous errors this season, no doubt. But do you people forget what it was like in the pre-Reid and McNabb era?— bryneb
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- Reid has been mediocre for a long time, but some fans are happy just because he's better than his predecessors. They can live with him, even though in 10 years he has never won a Super Bowl. I can't. Ten years! And that's with McNabb (a great talent) and Westbrook (a greater talent) and Dawkins - man Dawkins really returned to form as the human torpedo last night. It is this talent that has carried Reid. Reid has the audacity not to give McNabb receivers or someone to share the load with Westbrook, and to trade out of the first round in back-to-back years, and to run less than any other NFL team, and some fans think Reid deserves more time? I want to see McNabb and Westbrook and some bona-fide 1st round pickups for the next 5 years without Reid and his pass-only offense. Reid will only default to a balanced attack in an emergency, not because he believes in it. Reid and his approach are wrong. Give me a head coach who can surround McNabb, Westbrook, and Dawkins (winners all) with real help. Then I will like our odds of winning a super bowl or two or three. Players win championships. More often than not, coaches just get in the way. Andy needs to get over himself. The game isn't about him. More than needing to put players in the position to make plays, Andy needs to extract himself from the play-calling. Let someone who knows how to put players in a position to make plays, and does not default to a pass in every decisive instance, do it. Why was Garcia so effective when McNabb went down? Because Reid let Morningwheg call the plays. Marty mixed up runs and passes very effectively to keep defenses guessing, and back on their heels. That is a huge advantage to McNabb, Westbrook, the receivers, and the offensive line. Reid has hurt the Eagles for a long time now. I would like to have confidence in him, but he does not strike me as sincerly believing that a balanced offense is necessary - and we cannot win without it. So, Reid is in the way, and must go.— Scoop
- Come on, give andy a break. How long did it take Bill cowher to win a superbowl in Pitts? Andy did bring us to four NFC championships and one superbowl. Who else besides Bill Belechic did that for their team? If we got ride of Andy, who will be the next coach? The only one I would be happy with it bill cowher. If we got rid of andy, then he will win a superbowl with another team, then everybody would cry becuase we didn't have him anymore.— radicaleaglesfan
- Radical...u r a plain moron— whatthe?
- Radical, in the 10 years Reid has been a head coach, he and 16 other men have been head coaches in the Super Bowl. Replicating Reid's performance isn't that tough. You set the bar pretty low. In those 10 years 7 different men have been victorious in the Super Bowl, so exceeding Andy's performance isn't that tough either. What makes you so sure he can win a Super Bowl somewhere else when he can't win one here?— Scoop
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- 2nd and goal against Baltimore. Of all the ridiculous decisions Reid has made over the years--and God knows there are a ton of them--this one is really all you have to look at to realize that Big Red must go. You just called a QB sneak on 1st down at the one and got half. So, the next logical call is any of the following: FB plowing through, Westbrook over the top or run the SNEAK AGAIN. Instead, he drops what amounts to a rookie quarterback in his first real game situation back to pass--against the entire Ravens defense stuffed into the end zone. Seriously? Ed Reed baits Kolb and goes 108 the other way. Game over. At a time when everyone is (rightly) criticizing the play-calling and inability to get one stinking yard, Reid basically thumbs his nose at everyone by calling a play that no head coach in his right mind would call--even in good times. It would have been ridiculous with McNabb, let alone a rookie who hasn't even PRACTICED with the first-team (ever!) and came in at halftime. Putting your players in a better position to win? REALLY? The window of opportunity has closed for this team and this coach--time to start over. Reid must go.— LunchBox
- 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
