“This is fixable”
Posted: October 28th, 2012 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 91 Comments »So says Andy Reid. He called the performance embarrassing, but said that he thinks the problems can be fixed. He still believes the team has the talent to win. Reid said he knows some people will doubt that after a game like today.
There are 2 perspectives to this. First, Reid is right to say that. He’s a coach. He can’t think long term in late October. He’s got to focus on the game that is in front of him. He needs to coach his butt off and try to figure out what this teams needs to get going.
The other perspective is for those of us on the outside – fans and media. We bench, cut, and trade players all year long. We hire and fire coaches all the time. We mix long and short term thinking based on what we’re feeling at the moment. FakeWIPCaller had a great line on Twitter a ways back about trading a bunch of resources for a star player, but also making sure to keep an eye on the future. Don’t recall if that was Phillies or Eagles, but such a perfect message.
We’re all sitting here now talking about whether this is the beginning of the end of the Reid era. We can think and talk like that. Reid can’t. He’s got to coach. He’s got to try to solve problems. We analyze and speculate because that is all we can do. We’re on the outside.
Today was a stinging loss for the Eagles and Reid. The team drops to 3-4. This was Reid’s first loss after the bye. That makes those of us on the outside wonder if this is going to be the year when things do fall apart. In the past, Andy was able to solve problems. He got his teams to play good football down the stretch. Was today an anomaly or a sign that the Eagles are in big trouble?
I know a lot of you are going to answer that the team is in big time trouble. I can’t blame you for thinking like that. I’ve definitely got my doubts. I’m not ready to go all-in on that line of thinking when the team is 3-4.
This isn’t some spin job or sales job to tell you everything will be okay. We very well might be seeing the Reid era fall apart. I’m just hesitant to fully buy in right now. Tom Coughlin was under serious heat last year in late November, but saved his job in a big way. My hesitance may mean that I’m late to the world of Fire Andy!, but that’s okay. I’d rather be late to a coach’s funeral than early.
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I know a lot of you want to talk about coaching candidates for the future. I’m not getting into that in October. Talk to me closer to Thanksgiving. You can speculate all you want, but I’m not going there right now.
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Should we bench Vick and go with Foles? I won’t complain if we do, but Vick wasn’t the Eagles main problem today so I don’t know that move would make the most sense. I just want us to win. I don’t care who the QB is. Get me someone who can win us games.
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What do we make of Todd Bowles vs Juan Castillo? One game is too small a sample size. Last year the Falcons beat us 35-31. They were 5 of 5 in the Red Zone. It wasn’t like Juan stifled that offense.
I think the biggest problem today was the DL. Need to watch tape before I say too much, but they were quiet again.
And DRC played his worst game as an Eagle. Very, very disappointing. He hurt us big time.
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I’ll write more about the team and game later. I’m in a crappy mood right now. I’m not sure how much insight I can offer until I have a cooling off period. If I had to write a game review at this point, I might borrow Col. Kurtz’s line and say “Exterminate them all”.
Simply a miserable day.
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