Reid Gingerly Juggles Weapons
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Reid Gingerly Juggles Weapons
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
Eagles coach Andy Reid talked Monday at his day-after news conference about trying to spread the ball around among his sudden plethora of weapons, a tough task in a game such as Sunday's, when the Birds ran just 19 plays in the first half, 48 in the game, including garbage-time snaps.
Asked about DeSean Jackson, whose only catch was a 1-yarder from Michael Vick, Reid said: "He's a competitive little guy, man ... you're going to run into games like that every once in a while. You work through it. We'll get back at it on Wednesday, and keep trying to design ways to get him the football."
Reid and Donovan McNabb said after Sunday's 33-14 victory over Tampa that the Bucs rolled their coverage to Jackson, a big part of why rookie Jeremy Maclin always seemed open, to the tune of 6 catches for 142 yards and his first 2 NFL TDs.
"Those things happen," said Reid, who quoted slot receiver Jason Avant's assertion that "when one of the receivers makes a catch, they all make a catch -- it's all for one there."
Musketeer allusions aside, Jackson left the locker room Sunday before reporters were allowed in. Brian Westbrook
made it clear in his postgame news conference that BWest expects more than 8 touches a game going forward, now that his ankle is healthy.
This is not a problem Reid has had to worry about very often in the past. In 2004, there were some games when Freddie Mitchell was grumbly over being ignored for Terrell Owens, but most observers just rolled their eyes at that. Freddie had no platform for complaint. Westbrook and Jackson kinda do.
The Eagles might want to add a fulltime ego masseuse to their training staff.
Speaking of injuries, Reid said cornerback Sheldon Brown suffered an abdominal strain in Sunday's game and was day-to-day. Brown said afterward he expects to be fine for this week's game at Oakland. CB and special teams gunner Dimitri Patterson (quad) probably won't play, Reid said.
For now, wideout Kevin Curtis remains sidelined with a kneee problem. Reid said LG Todd Herremans is "making progress" with his repaired foot. It will be interesting to see if Herremans practices this week.
Asante Samuel's calf problem apparently is no big deal, which is what Samuel said after the game.
Say goodbye to BWest, he will be gone next year.— ZOSO
Once again, we must explain to the scribes who prowl for problems what is what. 1) The assortment of offensive weapons is not at all "sudden." It's been comprised of these very individuals since Maclin arrived 9 days late. 2) The Eagles hardly ran the ball yesterday, so Westbrook had 8 touches. He'll get over it, especially since he held up. But the ground game was shelved for a week. 3) Maclin stepped up, and the team took advantage of the attention to Jackson. Now that it's proven to be futile to try that, Jackson will be fine. 4) 33-14. Game over at halftime. 3-1, heading into Oakland matchup. That massages egos.— montgomeryhopkins- Once again, we must explain to the scribes who prowl for problems what is what. 1) The assortment of offensive weapons is not at all "sudden." It's been comprised of these very individuals since Maclin arrived 9 days late. 2) The Eagles hardly ran the ball yesterday, so Westbrook had 8 touches. He'll get over it, especially since he held up. But the ground game was shelved for a week. 3) Maclin stepped up, and the team took advantage of the attention to Jackson. Now that it's proven to be futile to try that, Jackson will be fine. 4) 33-14. Game over at halftime. 3-1, heading into Oakland matchup. That massages egos.— montgomeryhopkins
- Good post montgomery - I would add that the sooner Reid shelves his "Wildcat" aspirations the better. Running little DeSean Jackson in that formation runs the real risk of getting him injured. An occasional end-around, fine, but the kid is not built to be an NFL running back. Please.— CarpGuy
- When you good, you get attention. Simple as that. These guys all want the ball all the time and want to win. It doesn't work like that. You want 30 touches a game, go play for St.Louis or Oakland.— albertpa
- Please do NOT start any trouble where there is none. I did not see anywhere that DJack was upset. YOu guys really amaze me. The fact that he left before the press arrived does not mean that he was mad. He will be catching many passes going forward. #5 will NOT force passes into very tight spaces when others are getting 1 on 1s.— Bigbadrookie
- Much as I love B-West, he has no cause for complaint. If the number of carries bothers him, he should seek to offer his services elsewhere. Looks to me that the new full-time ball-carrier will be Shady McCoy. I was not that thrilled with the kid until I saw that he could handle a blitz pick-up PROPERLY. He has shown that he can do this. B-West will, and should, tend to keeping his comments team oriented instead of me-oriented.— TBear
- There's nothing wrong with wanting the ball. I don't see it as ego, just competitive. But that won't stop the junior psychologists/columnists from over-analyzing quotes, facial expressions, breathing patterns, body posture ....— tbone pickins
- use bwest too much reporters point out the risk of using him up; fail to use bwest enough and you run the risk of alienating him; run when a team can't defend the pass, reid is being too cute; pass when a team can't defend the pass, reid is being arrogant; win when you are supposed to win, you are supposed to do that; lose when you are supposed to win, the coach is a bonehead; failing to play rookies means you lack talent; playing too many rookies, you lack experience. I swear, wtf are these hacks thinking? Do they write articles based on the "South Park" ruse about "Family Guy", that otters gather up "though balls" and they are just run togoether for a random article? Go pack to peddlin' wheat, Les.— Dopespotter
- Dopespotter - You are spot on! Why does there alway need to be a problem or a this looming spectre of a crisis? What is with these guys? And to the people that think the Wildcat (really just a variation of a spread offense package) is useless and think they should just ditch it b/c their regular offense was making big plays and moving the ball so well... not so fast. No one can be certain how effective their "regular" offense would be if the opposing defense was able to allocate 100% of their prep time to stop it. Instead they must split their preparation time to stop the Wildcat. This last game, it certainly appeared as though the Bucs were well prepared for the Wildcat, but ineffective in stopping the deep ball. So remind me again why this was a problem?— WatchOut4DirtyRollerSk8rs
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- The more weapons you have the more options you have. Consequently there's a little less burden on an individual player.Players should be happy.Less wear and tear on the body. It's a long season— MJPD345
- I was watching the game thinking about how reid needed to dial up number 10 a few times, I had a feeling he was going to get jealous. here is this kid maclin, drafted higher than him, paid more, but up until now its been jackson that is producing. he didnt have the spotlight on him for one game and he is already getting chilly. not a good sign.— ChampAnderson
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