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Eagles coach Andy Reid still issuing non-denial denials

Andy Reid has been a convenient and a predictable piñata in the aftermath of the Eagles meltdown against New York on Sunday. The public face of the team brings it on himself, of course. He becomes snippy and impatient with those trying to elicit information that he most certainly isn't going to give and opinions that he will never share.

Andy Reid's press conferences have been a source of frustration during his tenure with the Eagles. (David Maialetti/Staff Photographer)
Andy Reid's press conferences have been a source of frustration during his tenure with the Eagles. (David Maialetti/Staff Photographer)Read more

Andy Reid has been a convenient and a predictable piñata in the aftermath of the Eagles meltdown against New York on Sunday. The public face of the team brings it on himself, of course. He becomes snippy and impatient with those trying to elicit information that he most certainly isn't going to give and opinions that he will never share.

It isn't a pretty face; at once smug, sarcastic, and exasperated, but it is one he has perfected after terrible losses. He's had some practice. Then he takes the ensuing criticism with the stoicism of a former offensive lineman who accepts that pain and punishment are part of the job.

Reid's philosophy on how to handle this stuff is one of the reasons players like to play for him. He will do everything he can not to show them up, and if that means bending or breaking the truth in the message he sends to the paying public, that's fine, too.

Last week, for example, when asked if the same three linebackers would be starting for the Eagles against the Giants, Reid paused and said, "Um, yeah," neglecting to add they all would be starting in different positions, a fact that reporters were very shortly going to find out for themselves on the practice field and in the locker room. Whatever he thought that bought doesn't matter. He just couldn't help himself.

So, anyone who still believes some magically formulated question will open up Reid - like a T.S. Eliot cat that begins to speak upon hearing its secret name - hasn't been paying attention. Fans who rail against the local media for not "holding his feet to the fire," a favorite if trite complaint, should try it themselves sometime. This is an obdurate man with asbestos feet.

Far beyond the failings of the players, who are trying their best, Reid's biggest gripe, if he were ever to voice it, should be the failings of the organization that put together the roster. If the Eagles aren't good enough this season, it won't be because Reid goes for it on fourth down (although that was a dumb one), or because he wastes timeouts, or because he selects an offensive line coach as his defensive coordinator, or throws too often, or any of the litany of standard criticisms. He has done those sorts of things for 11 years and, like it or not, won a lot of football games.

If the Eagles aren't good enough, it will be because they aren't good enough, and much of that will rest with the organization that declared itself "all in" during training camp. If the front office and personnel department were all in for the praise, those folks have to be all in for the criticism, too.

A great example will be on display again Sunday when Michael Vick, swollen hand willing, takes the field against the 49ers. Reid was hooted at a year ago when he said having both Vick and Kevin Kolb was a "great situation," or a "great problem to have," or whatever it was he said. We might be about to learn how great it actually was.

The team traded away Kolb in a training-camp deal that was universally applauded, getting cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round draft pick from Arizona. Not satisfied with that, the front office got smarter still and signed free agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, a move that turned Rodgers-Cromartie, a career starter, into a situational player for the nickel and dime defenses. (The second-round pick could prove useful, but this isn't exactly the time for the front office to crow about finding gems in the draft.)

A good part of how well the Eagles would do this season was being gambled on the premise that Vick would stay healthy. How's that going so far? If Vick misses significant time this season - and it's certainly trending that way - the Eagles will be left with an inexperienced Mike Kafka or a gimpy Vince Young, who sources say has not been a playbook maven. Neither alternative looks promising at the moment.

Individually, either the trade for Rodgers-Cromartie or the signing of Asomugha made sense. But now that one-sixth of the salary cap is tied up at the cornerback position, it doesn't look as smart to have done both and to have left other areas of the roster in such tenuous circumstances. Those were showy moves, though, and the clicking of the chips as they were pushed into the pot certainly sounded good.

The defense, despite those additions, is weak at safety and linebacker, as previous "finds" aren't working out. Castillo can probably do a better job of masking those weaknesses, but he can't run for his players and he can't tackle for them. As was the case in the fourth quarter when the Giants picked apart the Eagles, sometimes better players play better. It doesn't get more basic than that.

What does that leave? It leaves Andy Reid, his face growing increasingly red, avoiding or giving non-answers to questions that he doesn't like. Maybe someday he'll break down and say what Tampa Bay coach John McKay said when asked about his team's execution. "I'm in favor of it," McKay said.

Don't hold your breath for that. Instead, Reid will merely sigh, throw another sandbag on the foxhole, and take all the responsibility. He has company in there, though, even if none of them are sticking up their heads right now.