IS ON THE TRADE RUMOR TRAIL
Given the chance to gloat with a playoff berth in hand, Eagles coach Andy Reid declined. Reid's good-luck beard was the only bristly thing about the 10th-year coach when he met with the media Monday.
"That’s not how I operate," Reid said. "I know it’s crazy, but we’re all in this together. We’re all doing what we’re doing, trying to make a living, and blessed to be in Philadelphia with a great fan base. In a lot of cities, it’s game to game. In Philadelphia, it’s play to play. You have to love that. You are criticized for the bad and praised for the good."
Reid, of course, has been heavily criticized from his playcalling to his personnel decisions; fired in the media; and derided.
Now, the Eagles, who are coming off a 44-6 rout of Dallas, head to Minnesota to face the NFC North champion Vikings on Sunday in a 4:30 p.m. wild-card game.
The Eagles players were at the NovaCare on Monday for a meeting, will have Tuesday off and then begin a normal practice week Wednesday.
"I think it’s important that we put [the Dallas win] aside," Reid said. "There are plenty of things we can learn from it. We do that and move on to play a very good Minnesota Vikings team in Minneapolis on Sunday. It’s important that we prepare ourselves right. We start Wednesday with that ...
"It’s important that we focus in during the week, eliminate any distraction, which there can be during the playoffs," Reid said. "[We need to] focus in on the game. The better you do that, the less problems you have once it comes game time."
Former Eagles offensive coordinator Brad Childress has led the Vikings to their first postseason home game since 2000. Reid said he and Childress spoke last night, but that he did not expect much communication between them the rest of the week.
Asked what they said to each other, Reid said: “Nice job. It’s one-sided. You congratulate each other and don’t say anything after that.”
Reid credited the environment at the Linc on Sunday.
"Electric day at Lincoln Financial Field," he said. "The energy level was up, maybe the second highest volume that I’ve seen since I’ve been here. It was an exciting, exciting atmosphere. I thought the fans were awesome. The situation with other teams having to win or lose, whatever your side you’re looking at, to give us an opportunity to play for the playoffs added to the flabor of it all."
He also credited his players for the way they bounced back from the loss at Washington.
"That’s not an easy thing to do, especially if you allow your mind to go different places with a couple of games going on, took care of business and got themselves ready to play," Reid said. "Sometimes things snowball on you in the National Football League. That’s what happened with Dallas. They're not as bad as what that score indicated, obviously."
Reid said he had not heard anything about a report that Tom Heckert might be considered for a personnel position with the Detroit Lions. "Tom and I will talk," Reid said.
Les Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News since 2002. Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
Paul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his 27 years at the paper covering the Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo came to the Daily News from the Fort Worth (Tx.) Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually wa s boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose two sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, a University of Oklahoma grad and very dangerous to be around following a Sooner loss, have been married 29 years and have raised 2 terrific daughters – Allison, 26, a lawyer and graduate of Boston University School of Law; and Amy, 23, who graduated from Clemson and works in marketing and sales for a professional baseball team.
