What they're saying about the Eagles: Week 14
We are at the point in the Andy Reid saga that fans and media members are talking themselves into the possibility that Reid will actually be back next season.
What they're saying about the Eagles: Week 14
Andrew O'Brien, Philly.com Sports Contributor
We are at the point in the Andy Reid saga that fans and media members are talking themselves into the possibility that Reid will actually be back next season and, to make matters worse, will receive a contract extension because you just cannot have a lame duck coach.
The talk radio masochists are already hypothetically outraged. Here’s what they’re saying this week, besides “Where art thou, Jeffrey Lurie?”
From the Philly media:
Are you one of the ones worried about Reid returning to the Eagles next season? Eagles 24/7’s Sheil Kapadia is here to tell you it’s all just a bad dream:
“Take a step back and assess the state of this franchise. In a matter of weeks, Reid has fired his defensive coordinator, released a defensive end who had 18 sacks last year and fired his defensive line coach. They have lost eight straight games and are 3-9 on the season. Only two teams – the Chiefs and Jaguars – have fewer wins. If the season ended today, the Eagles would have the fourth pick in the draft.
In other words, this franchise is a mess. And every misstep has come with Reid’s stamp of approval. This has all occurred after a disappointing 8-8 campaign prompted Lurie to demand ‘substantial improvement.’”
Michael Vick’s tenure as starting quarterback of the Eagles will be remembered as a hot start followed by disappointment, CSNPhilly.com’s Ruben Frank writes:
“After his spectacular start, things started to turn for Vick Christmas week in 2010.
As Vick prepared to face the Vikings on Dec. 26, these were his stats: 63 percent completion percentage with 20 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 103.6 passer rating.
Then the Vikings game was postponed a couple days by a blizzard, Leslie Frazier and the Vikings provided the rest of the league a blueprint to neutralize Vick with a ferocious attack of blitzes, and the Vikings stunned the Eagles, 24-14.
And Vick was never really a special player again.”
Ray Didinger and Brian Baldinger are just baffled by the Eagles’ defense.
Bleeding Green Nation’s Jordan Raanan takes a look at Brandon Graham’s performance against the Cowboys, which included 1.5 sacks.
It only took a guy who had not played all season until the Eagles signed him in Week 10 to unseat Danny Watkins at right guard. That guy is Jake Scott. We’re all so surprised.
Do the Eagles have a legitimate chance of landing the first overall pick in the draft?
Brian Westbrook says if Bryce Brown’s fumbling continues, it will land him on the bench.
From the national media:
Was Reid’s decision to name Nick Foles the starter for the remainder of the season solely an effort to save his job? NFL.com’s Steve Wyche and Mark Kriegel debate.
Will Reid be too toxic to hire after this season’s flameout?
What type of coach might Eagles fans embrace?
NFL supreme leader Roger Goodell is reportedly considering eliminating kickoffs. This would make no difference for the Eagles, as they seem to have been operating under that assumption since Brian Mitchell left.
The Eagles’ odds of winning the Super Bowl are a mere 750/1.
From the Tampa Bay media:
The Bucs are ohsoclose to selling out Sunday’s game. Not because anyone is excited to see Nick Foles, but because it is the 10th anniversary of Tampa Bay’s 2002 Super Bowl victory. Wonder if Blaine Bishop is invited.
Jon Gruden said he knew the Bucs “could beat Philly” in 2002:
"The Eagles had a great blitzing scheme and they had dominated the Bucs in recent matchups. I knew we had enough skill at wide receiver to make some plays if we knew what the coverage was. The best thing we did that day was going with two tight ends and two backs. We created a lot of crazy formations and they ended up taking (defensive end) Hugh Douglas out of the game. He had been the guy who drove our offensive line crazy."
On Jim Washburn:
ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano says the Eagles ultimately just got sick of Washburn’s act.
Bold statement: The 700 Level’s Andrew Kulp says the hiring of Washburn was Reid’s “greatest mistake” as head coach.
Reid admitted that he fired the wrong assistant in Juan Castillo on Oct. 16, CSNPhilly.com’s Geoff Mosher writes:
“Reid shouldn’t have fired defensive coordinator Juan Castillo on Oct. 16 when he sought ways to improve his foundering 3-3 team, which had just blown a 10-point lead to Detroit in the fourth quarter and lost 26-23 in overtime.
He should have retained his longtime and loyal assistant and parted ways with defensive line coach Jim Washburn, who had become an unpopular and divisive figure inside the NovaCare Complex, according to several team sources and other sources familiar with the situation.”
Something I didn’t know: Washburn spent three months in a halfway house and three years on probation after being indicted and accepting a plea bargain in the University of South Carolina football team’s steroid scandal in 1989.
#TeamWashburn president Jason Babin chimes in from Jacksonville to confirm that Reid and Washburn did not get along.
Washburn is more to blame than Michael Vick for the current state of the Eagles’ franchise.
Power Rankings
Here’s where the Eagles ranked in polls of varying importance:
Philly.com - 28
ESPN - 30
NFL.com - 29
Sports Illustrated - 29
Pro Football Talk - 29
CBS Sports - 29
FOX Sports - 30
Yahoo! Sports - 30
Sign Reid for 4 more years.— easy- I keep reading/hearing that Reid won because of Jim Johnson.
So, let me ask, exactly how many points did Jim Johnson score when we were one of the top scoring teams in the league?
Even insofar as field position is concerned, Johnson had a bend-but-don't break defense and stiffened inside the 20. So, he rarely won the battle of field position. He was great at shutting the door.
McNabb and Westbrook were responsible for the years of success. They won in spite of Reid (as you can now all see), not because of him.
- 2002 was just another playoff year when Andy got thoroughly outcoached— banned
- Give Reid a chance to start with his new QB, Vick had to many bad habbits to break, you cant teach and old dog new tricks.— mamba710
- Gee,exact same thing can be said of your timeout guru Reid: "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". Fire that floundering fish already. — TEDcGEGI
- What's he talking about? It may be a new quarterback (which he and his idiot sidekick, MORONweg will promptly proceed to ruin) but it's the SAME OLD SYSTEM. Reid will employ the same old loser system familiar to EVERY NFL team in the entire UNIVERSE. So what will change other than the quarterback? The ONLY positive solution: LOSE REID. — essell
- Foles can't save Reid's job. Why?? Because Foles can't do it. Last week, the game was carried by Brown. Reid what he does now is to satisfy the fans for the rest of the season, because they want to see Foles. In the end, historically, no new coach will ever start a third round #88 as their starter. Reid, what he does now, is to see what the new coach will have next season and nothing more.
To be fair to Reid, the new coach will have good players in running game. This credit will go to Andy because he will be the one who built the team, and not a new coach. So whatever positive outcome to Foles, McCoy, Brown, all of this will be because of Andy. That means, Andy legacy still in Philly.— fairfan63 - Reid will be but a footnote, if that, as soon as Jon Gruden takes these SAME players and wins Philadelphia's first Super Bowl. The difference between a pretender (Reid) and a REAL football coach (Gruden). Thereafter it will be, Andy WHO? — essell
- Nobody who knows football thinks much of Gruden's ability.
Gruden's record as a coach is significantly worse than Reid's. The only thing that made Gruden look good was winning a superbowl based on someone else's team.
If they hire Gruden, the eagles will go 7-9 continuously until they fire him 2-3 years later.— fmMD - Andy is showing his loyalty to Lurie by making the right decisions for the team's future. Nothing else.— Sidewinder7
- If Foles saves Reid's job, he will get sucker punched next year by Reid. Reid tied the knot with undesirables, and Vick will always be Reid's QB.— Taser
- Vick is still a special player... hes been playing behind a joke of a line the past two years... Think about it Obrien we have three starters in two years largely because of injury because of lack of protection for the QB as well as the OC not using the run game to there advantage!!! It doesnt matter who you put back there behind the lines we've had the past two season the qb wont have enough time to be affective this town media and fan base is a joke!!! you only wanna acknowledge that to be the case when you have nick foles back there or kevin kolb lol!!! but because vick is vick was dubbed special he shouldnt need to have adequate o line to protect to be affective lol give me a break!!! He's never had a real Oline even when he took over kolb so how can you honestly say he hasnt been the same player since the vickings game??? I hope he let him go and he goes somewhere that cares enough to protect him to really give him a chance to shine and you know the NFL league office is going to schedule him playing against the birds lol can't wait!!!! Im actually lookin forward to it lol!!!!— DJ_Bootleggah
- Line was good last year, Vick just stunk. Every year he has played he has taken more sacks then the league average. Its him not the line. — Sidewinder7
- DJ Bootleggah, are u nuts? Vick is not and never has been a special player. He's 32 freaking years old, and if you look at his entire career (which by the way is now over), Vick had a run of 6 games where he played really well AND THAT'S IT. Otherwise he was below average in ALL aspects of being a QB except rushing yards. And rushing yards is the least important part of being a QB. GREAT QBs have extremely low rushing yards because thats the RB job. A special player? His career is over and I seriously can not point to ANY year he was special.
- So Reid decided that Washburn was disruptive,huh?It may be true,but did anyone ever think that maybe there are headstrong people who simply cannot stand the current state of the team,and that maybe inside their mind that they know Reid is the reason behind it?Should they all just assume a nice smile and simply say..........yes sir,Mr.Reid!!?? There are always two sides to the story,right?Don't assume that Washburn was the 'bad guy' until we consider the overall performance of Andy Reid.It is strange,to me,that it is everyone around him who gets fired and not Reid himself.Did he just this week figure out that Washburn was a bad egg?Yeah,right!Something smells here..........— aloha gary
