Reid: No excuses for loss
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Reid: No excuses for loss
Daily News staff
The theme of Andy Reid’s day-after news conference was “no excuses” as the coach looked back on the Eagles’ 24-0 shutout loss to Dallas and looked ahead to Saturday’s NFC wild-card game against those same Cowboys.
“There are no excuses for anything here,” Reid said. “We’ve got to do a better job of putting our players in the right position and our players have to do a better executing. We’ve been doing a pretty good job to this point. I’m not going to can all that and make a lot of changes. We just have to do better.”
Reid also repeated often that the problems the Eagles had are things that can be corrected.
“The things that can be improved on from a coaching standpoint, substitutions, timeouts – again are my responsibility -- play calls and then performance by the players, dropped balls, turnovers in the red zone, penalties, missed tackles. Those things we need to get corrected. They all can be corrected. We’ll go back to the drawing board and get better.”
Reid said the first step was acknowledging the problems, what he called not “hiding the facts.”
“They were the better team yesterday,” he said. “You don’t hide that fact. You get back to business and do it in a very matter of fact way. If you get caught up in all the what-ifs and this and that, you’re making a mistake. You don’t have time for that. It’s a hurried-up week. We have to get back on the horse and figure out how not to get bucked off again.”
Asked about playing the Cowboys in back-to-back weeks, Reid cited the simple fact that the Eagles are in the postseason.
“Familiarity is the primary thing, but at this point, you’re in the playoffs. It’s a single-elimnination tournament. You don’t care who you play or where. You’re in …
There’s a positive to this among the negative. Positive is you are in the playoffs. It’s very seldom you get to play a team that just got after you. We’ve got that opportunity to correct ourselves. That’s the approach I expect this team to take. With leadership on this team, that will take place.”
Reid was asked about Donovan McNabb's postgame comment about the Eagles' showing their youth.
"I think it’s all of us. I don’t think it’s one group.," Reid said. "I’m an old guy and I could have done better. We’re all in the same boat here, man. We’ve got to pick our game up. That’s what we have to do."
He also was asked about McNabb's struggles with plays he usually makes, but in his response he broadened beyond McNabb.
"They are going to happen," Reid siad. "You’re not going to get hit every opportunity. In big games, the coaches have got to coach good, the players have to play good and that’s everybody, whether that’s to win the NFC East or now in the playoffs. That’s what we’ve done over the years. When we’re in big games, we played and coached well. We have to go back to that. That’s the challenge for this week."
On some other issues:
DeSean Jackson's groin: "He feels pretty good today. I don’t think it’s real serious. We have a few nicks and bruises, things you have to work through at this time of year."
Michael Vick's status: "I didn’t feel as comfortable with him running the football. He was right on the edge. I want to make sure if given the opportunity to carry the football, he doesn’t hurt himself. It’s a judgment call on my side."
False-start penalties and the revamped offensive line: "I didn’t think it was the noise level. Some of it was concentration. We’ve had a few those throughout the season. I’d like to tell you it’s the center. We can do better there ... I thought Nick [Cole] did a respectable job there. He actually played pretty well. Max [Jean Gillies] was OK too."
Brian Westbrook and only 10 running plays by the Eagles overall: "The more Brian plays, the better he will play. We’ll take care of that whole rotational thing. It got a little bit skewed with the score. As I said, there were bunch of things we could have done better. I mentioned playcalling. We probably could have called a few more runs."
Middle linebacker situation: "Akeem [Jordan], it's a new postion for him. He's getting back into the swing of things. We’ve been rotating him in. I thought Trot brought a lot of energy at that particular point in the game."
EAGLES IN LONDON?
There is speculation that the Eagles game at San Francisco will be moved to London next season.
Niners president Jed York did not seem opposed to the idea when asked about it recently by the Sacramento Bee, but he also said that the team had not been approached. An announcement is expected in February.
Eagles in New Orleans?
If the Eagles do somehow win in Dallas, they will play the divisional round at New Orleans on Saturday, Jan. 16, an Eagles spokesman said.
Unless B-West was saving himself, the Eagles did much better without him lately. The team was faster and confident. Oh, can we please stop Whitten...what will it take. Jam the dude at the line and keep with him.— psuwelsh
Comment removed.- I'm torn about this week's game. I think the Eagles were very overrated coming into this week - some were predicting Super Bowl - given that we only beat one team this year that finished with a winning record (Atlanta)and that was done without their starting QB and RB. However, I feel like the Cowboys were way more motivated this week and this will be a huge revenge game for the Eagles. Also, are the Cowboys that much better than us that they beat us three times in the same season? This week will be a blood bath. If we do all the little things right and McNabb is on his game we can pull it out. If not, then we are looking at like a 20-17 loss.— guyguy4
- Thanks Kenny_Junod. Quintin Mikell has had one of the worst seasons I've ever seen a safety have. It doesn't have the same buzz as "Asante Samuel can't tackle" so no one talks about it but his season has been brutal. Hasn't made one big play that I can remember and he has missed dozens of tackles.— guyguy4
- Everyone needs to take a deep breath & chill out. We're deliberately setting-up the Cowgurlz for annual playoff failure. The FO figured we, the fans, would have more pleasure being the ones to give them the 1st Round beat-down. Again, take a deep breath & relax. Saturday night will be a different story- guaranteed.— John Westport, CT
- The coaching was very very poor. Next year, if Andy and the bosses are smart, they might want to start with new coaching for the younger kids and ones who think with new play calling. The Boys seemed to know every play coming up. Same old same old. Sorry, but Sean is not the guy for the D. Where was the blitz? Did he not learn from the Denver game when an Orton almost undid the Birds? Blitz, blitz and perhaps play 5 DB's instead of 3 LB's. Dallas picked them a part with guys wide open all over the field. The Birds seem to be able to stop the runs but they looked like the Sisters of Mercy against the pass.— KGKoons
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- same old same old and he got an extension...I'll expect the Eagles to win sometime in the year 2050...— tralala
- "We/I have to do a better job of putting the players in better positions ....." Take the quote and use it after any loss in any press conference over the last five years. Andy thinks we are all idiots to buy this garbage. After all these years, with an 11 year veteran QB, it should be second nature to be in a better position to win. Andy will never say, "we stunk" or my quarterback can't lead his receiver or my cornerbacks can tackle a woman's team. Start planning all your excuses when Dallas beats your team again on Saturday. And whats worse, I;m an Eagles fan!— RJM16
- It's more important to get D-Jack, Maclin, and McCoy their touches, than feeding the ball to Westbrook. Use Westbrook on third downs and on screens.— TripleOption
- As I stated before, BW being back is the worst thing that could have happened to this team. At this point, BW is not close to getting the same yards as Weaver or McCoy on simple rushes up the middle. If AR wants to use him, he should split BW wide or throw screens to him. Benching Weaver and McCoy in favor of BW was a major mistake.— glroark
- We showed our youth....is McDrabb kiddin' me. Did we show our youth when he failed (once again) to orchestrate a 2 minute drill at the end of the first half (they looked like a high school team)? Did we show our youth when he fumbled the ball in the red zone? Did we show our youth when he consistently threw the ball behind or beyond his "youthful" receivers. At least I don't have to pay for playoff tickets. I never drank the cool aid this year....we are 0-5 against playoff teams. This team will never win the super bowl as long as McDrabb and Reid are here. Banner, will you ever learn?
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- As soon as the Eagles knew they were playing Dallas again this week they bagged the game! C'mon even Bradshaw called it. Who are they trying to fool!— flabird1954
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