IS GLAD SPRING TRAINING IS FINALLY HERE
Last week's Eagles' loss to the Cowboys was televised in primetime on NBC, meaning it was a chance for the national media to observe the two teams.
And in the Birds' case, the sports scribes across the country were not impressed.
Specifically, Andy Reid has been the subject of quite a bit of criticism this week.
Here's a roundup of some links:
Mike Lombardi of the National Football Post called Reid the "worst game manager in the NFL":
There’s good Andy and there’s bad Andy, and bad Andy always has the red flag. Someone needs to get that flag away from him. His judgment at critical times in critical games makes every Eagles fan doubt his ability to lead this team to a Super Bowl. And even diehard Reid fans know this is an area of great concern.
Jason Whitlock of FoxSports.com calls Reid the most frustrating coach in the NFL:
The Eagles had two eight-play, 30-yard drives in the fourth quarter. Dallas eliminated Philly's big plays and Reid had no counter. The Eagles are 4-13-1 in their last 18 games decided by seven or fewer points. The reason is Reid is a poor strategist.
Yes, I'm letting Donovan McNabb off the hook. But I've watched too many Philly games and seen Reid make bad clock-management and run-game decisions repeatedly. If I could talk with Reid during games, he'd be the Bill Belichick of this era.
ESPN.com's Bill Simmons suggests that Reid get a clock-management closer:
Every coach has a flaw or two. It's impossible for them to be perfect. In Andy Reid's case, he knows how to handle the media, build a roster, come up with game plans, delegate to assistants, get his players playing hard for him, keep them prepared and keep them motivated. It's a eight-step job and he nailed seven of the steps. But he's helpless with clock management -- as we saw last Sunday in painful detail -- and since he's been doing this since the mid-90s, it sure seems like he will always be helpless. It's his Achilles' heel. So why not fix it? Either have the Clock Management Closer come in and stand next to him, or even better, just have Reid actually leave the sideline and head into the locker room like a baseball pitcher. He could even get a standing O on his way out. I would love this. Who wouldn't love this?
And finally, Freddie Mitchell just won't go away. He was on WIP with Howard Eskin and Ike Reese this week, back to his usual schtick of slamming Donovan McNabb.
I thought about listening to the podcast and transcribing it, but the fine folks over at Sports Radio Interviews already took care of that.
Nothing really new. Mitchell pointed to McNabb's inconsistency as the reason the Eagles haven't won a Super Bowl, saying he can be Joe Montana one week and Ryan Leaf the next.
Mitchell added that McNabb has called players and teams around the league, bad-mouthing him.
“You know what it was funny…I was with the Kansas City Chiefs and I was in the elevator with Tony Gonzalez and Trent Green and they’re like ‘Fred, man I never would expect you to be this type of player," Mitchell said. "When Donovan called us and we talked to Donovan he was saying that you’re kinda like a media whore’. I’m like this dude is calling around and stuff like that."
Click here for our earlier post on the Eagles' line, along with my Week 10 picks.
