Dana Pennett O'Neil | Despite troubles, Birds stick together
CHICKEN LITTLE hasn't visited the Eagles' locker room.
Apparently the puny poultry is so busy spreading woeful news around the rest of the city he hasn't quite made it down to the NovaCare Complex just yet.
Because inside the inner sanctum that is the Eagles, there is urgency and purpose, but the ceiling is intact. The sky isn't falling.
"No, not on this team, never on this team," tight end L.J. Smith said.
Ordinarily about this time in a spiraling season, someone starts turning on someone. When the wheels spun off the Giants last season, Tom Coughlin stood alone in the face of an all-out mutiny.
Four games into 2006, Terrell Owens screeched his way out of Lincoln Financial Field, distraught with and disgusted by his Dallas Cowboys.
Notre Dame quarterback Demetrius Jones started the season opener and bolted 2 weeks later.
In Nebraska, Bill
Callahan is the only man in an entire state endorsing Bill Callahan for head coach.
Heck, the Flyers ran beloved Broad Street Bully Bill Barber from behind the bench.
It happens everywhere but in the building where the group lobotomy is handed out with the uniform. Say what you want about the Eagles' play-calling, offensive
ineptitude, quarterback, wide receivers, linebackers, secondary, punter, returners, cheerleaders, parking prices, concession options and de-inking of Signman (and wouldn't he be a welcome diversion right now?).
They do control the groupthink well.
The chances of finger-pointing among the T.O.-less Eagles are about as good as Andy Reid doing standup.
"We don't do that," offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said (finger-point, not standup). "We don't whine or cry or point fingers or anything. We admit our mistakes and find a solution and we
correct it and move on. That's how we
approach things. We don't care who gets credit when we do well and we all take
responsibility when things are going poorly. We're 3-5 at the midway point, and
we've got a lot of football ahead of us."
Some might argue the Eagles right now more closely resemble ostriches, failing and refusing to see the disaster that is laid right before them. Their all-out refusal to confront the problem, critics would argue, is like an alcoholic failing to take the first step on the road to sobriety.
