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Andy: We can't do this, can we?
Marty: Look at the numbers.
Andy: But we can't.
Marty: Will you look at how hard it is to run the ball against them? Will you look?
Reid picked up a pile of paper and began to rifle through the stack. A closeup from the camera revealed what Mornhinweg was talking about. The numbers showed that the Minnesota Vikings have the No. 1 run defense in the National Football League. The numbers showed that only the Baltimore Ravens have had to defend fewer running plays this season than the Vikings.
Many teams give up on the run very, very early against the Vikings - that was on another of the sheets that Reid was studying. A couple of teams really didn't even try. And now, with a playoff date against the Vikings coming next on the Eagles' schedule, the angst was writ large on Reid's face.
He shuffled through the papers some more, then looked up.
Andy: But what about the last 5 weeks?
Marty: I know, I know - it's worked out well. A couple of more runs in the first half have made a big difference.
Andy: So we have to keep doing it.
Marty: I agree.
Andy: So what are we arguing about?
Marty: We're arguing about what we should do when the run doesn't work.
Andy: Aren't you the optimist.
Marty: Just a realist.
Reid went back to the paperwork. Again, the camera revealed the numbers. They painted an interesting change in Reid during the course of the season, an evolution of falling expectations for his passing game.
Everything changed on the day the coach benched quarterback Donovan McNabb at halftime in Baltimore. Before that game, the numbers show an offense that tried to function when it called passing plays 69 percent of the time in the first half. It worked great for a long time. The Eagles averaged more than 16 points in the first half of their first nine games.
But then came the disasters against Cincinnati and Baltimore. After that, Reid and Mornhinweg got religion. Their playcalling changed to 57 percent passing plays in the first half in the last five games. That amounts to four more runs in each of those first halves - more than a tweak, not quite a revolution but definitely noticeable. It worked well in four games out of five, the scoring almost returning to the Eagles' pre-Cincinnati level.
The town likes the better balance. The team likes the better balance.
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