Eagles-Redskins Up-Down Drill
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Eagles-Redskins Up-Down Drill
Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
LANDOVER, Md. -- The lows and lows from the Eagles' 31-6 loss to the Redskins on Sunday:
Jeffrey Lurie
↓ His off-season decisions to retain Andy Reid and give Howie Roseman more authority have backfired on him. Lurie will have to fire Reid now to pacify an angry fan base. It’ll be the right move, but can the owner be trusted to hire a replacement?
Andy Reid
↓ We were about done picking on Big Red at this point, but then he had LeSean McCoy carrying the football down 25 points with less than two minutes left in the game. Lurie won’t likely fire Reid during the season, but he can’t be happy with his franchise running back getting a concussion during garbage time.
Nick Foles
↓ Hold the phone on the Cantonization of Foles. The rookie quarterback did not solve the Eagles’ problems, nor should he have been expected to. The team’s issues are far too great for anyone to fix. And Foles doesn’t appear anywhere near to being a consistent starter in the NFL.
Robert Griffin III
↑ Wow. Now that’s a quarterback. It wasn’t so much Griffin’s dazzling runs that amazed, it was how he picked apart an Eagles secondary with just 15 pass attempts. The Redskins have plenty of issues, but they aren’t as screwed as the Eagles because they at least have a franchise quarterback.
DeSean Jackson/Jeremy Maclin
↓ The game plan called for high-percentage throws and lots of screens, but there is no excuse for the Eagles’ starting wide receivers finishing with a combined two catches for five yards. Jackson caught just two of nine targets and Maclin did not have a single reception. He was thrown to only three times all game.
Nate Allen
↓ When a defense allows a big play or a touchdown the blame can usually be sprinkled around. The same holds true for the Redskins’ first two touchdowns. But Nate Allen was directly responsible for not reacting fast enough on the first score and for once again biting on a play-fake that resulted in a long score in the second.
Brent Celek
↓ He’s been one of the few Eagles to stand up at his locker loss after loss and be held accountable. But Celek has just been making way too many errors during the six-game losing streak. The tight end’s two first-half dropped passes were killers.
Todd Bowles
↓ You have to wonder how good of a coach Bowles really is considering that he ended up with the Eagles in the offseason. He didn’t create this mess, but he’s done a rotten job trying to clean it up. It’s fair to say he regrets coming here.
Kurt Coleman
↓ The Eagles safety plays with a lot of fire, but effort accounts for only so much at this level. Coleman isn’t a starting NFL safety, so it’s difficult to criticize him for not being what he can’t be. Getting out-jumped by the 5-foot-10 Santana Moss for a 61-yard TD summed up his career to this point.
Bobby April
↓ There weren’t any major breakdowns on special teams – minor victory! – but how about the Eagles getting called for having 12 men on the field on the Redskins’ field goal attempt before the half? April just hasn’t been the coach he was billed as being.
LeSean McCoy
↓ A shook-up McCoy was spotted walking into the Eagles locker room after he suffered a fourth quarter concussion. Here’s hoping the team’s best player doesn’t have a significant head injury. His fumble before the half, though, showed that even McCoy isn’t immune to the ineffectiveness that has spread through the Birds.
Mychal Kendricks
↓ The linebacker has officially hit the rookie wall. There were signs Kendricks was breaking down earlier, but he just hasn’t been the same player he was in September. The angle he took on a Griffin run in the second half was forgettable. You got to wonder if he’s the stud linebacker everyone thought he could be.
Jeff, and how do you rate Howie Roseman? He's the one who along with Reid put this pathetic mess together. I pray Lurie isn't ignorant enough not to fire him as well. SOON!— Ballgame- Not getting better anytime soon...I just can't believe they fell so far so fast..Recievers not running routes, defenders making arm tackles or giving half-assed efforts to bring a guy down; this team quit. The only ones who don't know it are the Eagles themselves.— iskabobpatel
- wow, we might get a top ten pick this year. I have respect for Reid because of his record, but somehting has been lost here and he is accountable. A lot of things have been speculated but I wonder if we'll ever know what really happened, maybe in a few years people inside this disaster will speak openly. For now, I am extremely nervous about the choices to be made in hiring a new regime. The odds for success are not in our favor. Back to '72.— EagleEye61
- They had a formula that worked well for 10 years more or less, but they had a not quite great head coach who wasn't good enough to take that formula to a SB win.
So they changed the formula to see if they could get there some other way, and blew it all up in the process.
The spinning wheel turns— banned - The Eagles didn't fall so far so fast---this has been predictable for years. Most fans started to recognize it but Lurie couldn't believe it. They stunk last year and had to win 4 meaningless games against mediocre teams last year to finish 8-8. Remember, last year, their offensive line was basically intact. If their defense sucked last year, it was because Reid hired an offensive line coach with no defensive coaching since his high school coaching days to be defensive coordinator. With their poor drafting record, it was inevitable that they would become a bad team.— Drumgoole
- No one is reading my posts. This is exactly what Lurie wants. A lot of controversy, a lot of sports talk, and still sold out stadium and waiting line for season tickets. Cubs haven't won in 100 years and they sell out games and have fan base. WInning isn't as important to Lurie as keeping the talk going. It's a business after all, and we are all the fools for lining is pocket.— BigMike100
- Lots of down arrows for eagle players - and of course they deserve it - but at some point you have to wonder how much coaching plays into their lack of production and development.— Mr. Magee
- My biggest fear is they won't get the coaching pick right and there won't be a viable QB pick for them if Foles doesn't pan out. Unless you have a top QB you can't win in this league...— iskabobpatel
- Next year, they need a S, two OL, a DE, a CB, and a WR, (you didn't think Maclin was going to ever be effective again I hope) and that's BEFORE you get to the QB situation.
They never effectively replaced the McNabb generation of players— banned - First off, I'd fire Roseman. Then I'd offer Reid the option of staying on the condition that he gives up his GM role, that he replace his offensive coordinator, and a new defensive coordinator would be chosen for him.— p-diddy
- To p-diddy: Are you kidding me????? Keep the FAT MAN???? In what bar did you spend the afternoon? Once you sober up, I hope you come to your senses and retract your comment.— oneway
- i totally believe 3-13 is here.
anyone, coach or player that says this team is still trying is full of it.
this coaching situation is really downright abysmal.
as reid goes over the cliff hes making sure he takes it all with him.
that is for sure.— bloodymess - I was never thrilled with the Kendricks pick - not with Lavonte David still on the board. Why pick an LB from Cal when David from Nebraska was still available? So far this year - Kendricks, 48 tackles, 27 solo, while David has 90 tackles, 70 solo.— Bobphxville
