An Eagles game without meaning
About a third of them stayed home, and a bunch more left at halftime, the empty seats making their own statement on a cold November night. A lot of the rest pretty obviously gave the tickets to their kids, as if it were an exhibition game. It is what happens in a season such as this.
An Eagles game without meaning
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
About a third of them stayed home, and a bunch more left at halftime, the empty seats making their own statement on a cold November night. A lot of the rest pretty obviously gave the tickets to their kids, as if it were an exhibition game. It is what happens in a season such as this.
They did not boo the Eagles coming out of the tunnel before the game. It is not what these people tend to do, their reputation to the contrary. They booed busted coverages and the ridiculous touchdowns that result, which is what you would expect. The rest of the time, though, they pretty much kept their well-honed sarcasm to themselves (or their immediate neighbors).
They cheered the good things -- although it took a little more exhorting than usual to get them up for a third-and-goal defensive play, for example -- and they were quiet the rest of the time. The quiet made a statement, too.
It is a little bit unsettling, this life on the edge of football meaninglessness. That the final score on Monday night was Panthers 30, Eagles 22, almost seemed beside the point.
You sit there watching Bryce Brown, running for 178 yards in place of the injured LeSean McCoy, and you think about all of the interesting possibilities. He seems quick and he seems decisive, and there is undoubtedly a place for him to help this team. But you also see him lose two fumbles, and you see a running game that can’t gain an inch on a key fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter, and you wonder what exactly is the point.
You sit there watching rookie quarterback Nick Foles and try to figure out what your are looking at, and it frankly is hard to know. There are no answers yet. The offensive line is an extenuating circumstance, to be sure. The fact that wide receiver DeSean Jackson left the game in the first quarter with a sternum injury is another.
But even acknowledging all of that, Foles has had trouble getting much of anything done down the field. His biggest play of the night came in the third quarter on a 51-yard pass interference call on a pass to Jeremy Maclin that was underthrown. Foles has a big arm, and he had time, and he had Maclin open, but the ball was behind him.
More than once, Foles changed the play at the line of scrimmage, switching to a couple of successful runs. There also were a couple of nice throws along the way, to be sure. But there also were probably three potential interceptions that were dropped by the Panthers.
It is like that -- with Brown, with Foles, with all of them. The good is shrouded in the fog of losing. The all-time example on Monday night might have been Brandon Boykin, who returned a kickoff 44 yards in the fourth quarter -- the longest for the Eagles this season -- and then had the ball ripped out of his hands. The Panthers recovered the fumble.
Brown, Foles, Boykin, rookies, fumbles.
The signs came out at the end. “We Want Chucky,” read one, directed at ESPN analyst Jon Gruden. “Fire Andy,” said another, simply. Then there was this one, directed at Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie: “Jeff, This is on You.”
It is on all of them, of course. But the time between now and the end of the season, when the firing of Reid will likely take place after 14 seasons, cannot come quickly enough. The whole experience is like swimming through molasses at this point -- exhausting, unproductive, seemingly endless most of all.
Oh well what else is new? times yours lol— tobyjoe- The Loser Fan request to "FIRE REID" continues! Way to go Panthers!— MRD
- The Phillies have more wins in Oct/Nov than the Eagles. The Eagles also have the same number of wins as the Flyers in that span. Sixers, our lonely sports eyes lie on you.— palmyra21
- It was east to see why both of these teams are 3-8. Watching this game was painful after watching all the good teams playing on Sunday. The truth is, neither of these teams looked like NFL pro teams. Jeffreey Lurie has to not only start with a new coach, he has to start rebuilding this team from scratch and I'm afraid it will take several years. Why Reid never saw this is proof he has lost it.— mario1239
- Philles didn't play much better this year!!!!!!!!!— MRD
- Play the rookies and back-ups and shoot for the 1st pick in the draft. If I had my way, Nnamdi, DRC, Nate Allen and Coleman wouldn't see the field again. They are the worst secondary in the NFL by far.— fammarlin
- EAGLES DEFENSE SUCKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!— SJ2AZ
- The oblivion of irrelevance with next Sun our last nationally televised (embarrassment) game for years.— frustrated1
- No problem. Howie Roseman will figure it out. However, I think what they really need is another injury prone 5'9", 170 pound receiver with bad hands who can't run routes. You know, like another Jackson.— baabyrrej
- This was a definite sign that the players gave up on Reid.— exrec9
- A mercy killing is long overdue for Andy Reid. Please don't let me wake up and see he is still the coach. 8 and 8 was the mark before the season that was deemed unacceptable. We are now officially there as a best case scenario. Follow through, Lurie, and release Reid of his duties.— Iron Giant
- Why is Lurie waiting for the end of the year. What more does he possibly need to see that the decisions made by Reid and Marty are getting our players killed..or concussed... McCoy in the game with 1:14 to play down by 25? That alone should have had them fired on the spot. Shady is worth a dozen Reid's.
And if Reid had any real feelings or emotions, he should have taken a leave of absence when his son died.
But no, not Andy..he took 2 days off..
As horrendous as his decision making has been the past 4 or 5 years, it was magnified 10 fold this year. His head and his heart were not in this.. and rightfully so. But by hanging in, he put on a brave face and all but destroyed the team and a few players along the way. To say nothing of the fans and their investment in the team.
Yes I feel bad his son died, but he didn't need to kill the team too.— dedhed - I was sure that once they fired Zeiger and McDermott, they would run the Panthers right out of the stadium.— dasher
- I've been saying this for 5 years, and now it's come to pass. Reid's atrocious drafting and criminal neglect of the O-line has sunk this team. It may take three years of good drafting before they become competent again. Jeffy needs to hire a real football pro and keep that nincompoop Howie Baby miles and miles away from the entire draft process. But you know that won't happen. Maybe next year they'll be $40 million under the cap. Go Gold Standard, Go Gold Standard!— NM Eagle fan
- Poor Panthers. They've been suckered into believing their on the way back when all they did was beat the Eagles. THE EAGLES. Boy, are they in for a rude awakening when they run into a REAL NFL team.— essell
- Pee Wee Roseman, Jeff Lurie, Gold Standard...what could possibly go wrog with that combination? Times yours.— kelprod2-freemarket
- Pee Wee Roseman---ha,ha,ha. Good one. Thought he looked like someone familiar. Probably has that same laugh too on every Eagles mis-play. — TEDcGEGI
- Jeffy was right,m The eagles are the "gold standard" of the NFL, all they care about is how many millions they are under the cap. that what happens when you have accountants and lawyers running the team instead of professional football people— your_mom_says_hi!
- Jeff, it's well beyond time to take out the garbage.— SteveCatr
- They had a couple of plays where they actually almost kinda looked like a football team. Kinda. Almost.
— TexColorado - Lurie would be Silly to fire Reid now when his bad coaching is securing a top 5 draft pick.. I ould only fire the guy if they started to win— Dutch10
- I feel so bad for the fans at the game and the national TV audience. They were all disappointed because,once again, Lurie didn't fire Reid during halftime.— TEDcGEGI
THIS SEASON IS A SIGN OF THE COMING OF THE ZOMBIE APOCAPLYPSE!!! LOAD UP ON DUCT TAPE, BATTERIES AND GUNS LOTS OF BULLETS.. THE END IS NIGH.. THE MAYANS PREDICTED THE COMING OF THIS TEAMS SEASON!!! IT ALL ENDS IN DECEMBER..- Reid is only the best coach the Eagles has ever had. Who do you want to replace him with? The next Skorich, Kuharich, Williams, McCormack,Campbell, Bruney, Kotite or Rhodes? It's the players not the coach. After a nice 10 year run any team needs to rebuild, even new england. You don't see them donig much after they took away their video camera?— psd
