Why I’m Hanging On

Posted: October 27th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 23 Comments »

A lot of you are completely fed up with Andy Reid.  I totally understand that.  Big Red can be maddening at times.

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I’m still holding out hope.

Reid is the guy who took this organization from some really bad days to a period of sustained success.  There were NFC title games in 2001-03.  The Super Bowl in 2004.  Division title in 2006.  NFC title game in 2008.  Another division title in 2010.  Last year, so utterly miserable for us, was 8 and freaking 8.

Before I kick this man to the curb, I want to make darn sure that it is the right move.

The 3-3 start was frustrating.  No question about it.  If we make one play, we’re 4-2.  If we make a couple, we’re 5-1.  Would I want Reid gone at that point?  Are a couple of missed plays enough?

For me, no.

The final 10 games will decide this thing for me.  I need to see the Eagles go 6-4 or 7-3.  I need to see the team play good football.  Just winning isn’t enough.  This team is too talented to be piecing together wins.  That was fine back in 2000 when young Donovan McNabb was throwing the ball to Charles Johnson and Torrance Small and handing it to Darnell Autry.  This is 2012.  This team has big time talent.  That means that Reid needs to deliver a big time team, or something reasonably close.  Getting by ain’t good enough.

The Falcons are a good team.  I’m not expecting the Eagles to go blow them out.  I want to see a win, but just as important…I want the Eagles to look like the team I expected.  The offense needs to score points, especially early.  The defense needs to make plays, especially late.  STs needs to contribute in a positive way.  Is that unreasonable?

Reid has 10 games to show us that he’s solved the problems and can get this team playing at a high level.  If not, we’ll all be done with him.

* * * * *

Jimmy Bama and I did a preview of the game for our Helmet2Helmet show.  The conversation bounced around and should be entertaining.  Jimmy confessed that he doesn’t like the Blues Brothers.  I confessed that I no longer like Jimmy.

We did cover one interesting game point.  The Eagles DL was dominant for much of the game last year.  However, the Falcons mixed in the no-huddle in the 4th quarter last season and that wore down Cole/Babin.  You have to wonder if they’ll mix in the no-huddle throughout the game this year.  The goal isn’t to speed up the attack, but just to keep us from substituting our DL.

For PE.com I mixed in a few other thoughts on some of the changes/adjustments we could see on Sunday.

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  • TommyLawlor

    One of my favorite parts of this time of the year is when NFL teams have their cheerleaders dress up.

    http://www.egotastic.com/photos/nfl-picks-with-cheerleader-pics-for-week-eight/picks-titans-getty/full-size/#imagetop

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=565087931 Jeppe Elmelund van Ee

    Even though I am just as tired of Reids flaws as all of you, my concern is this:

    If Lurie fires Reid, and hires a new coach, we will have to find a better coach than Reid. If somehow Lurie picks the wrong guy, we’ll be at the bottom of the NFC East the next several years. If Lurie picks the right guy, who then picks the wrong QB in the draft (every new HC wants his own QB) we’ll be at the bottom of the NFC East the next several years.

    There will be so many very important decisions for this franchise if Reid is gone by the end of the year. And we have to make all the right ones to make it back to the top of the league.

    I am not sure, I am ready to rely on this happening just yet. If we have an 8-8 record or less – then that’s another story. Then I’ll start scouting our next QB between Barkley, Smith etc. instead of looking at next years stud O-line prospect or a great run-stuffer at DT

    • TommyLawlor

      If Reid doesn’t deliver the right results, we’ll have had consecutive years of mediocrity. Has to change the way you look at Big Red.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=565087931 Jeppe Elmelund van Ee

        I guess I am just not sure I want to know the alternative. I became a fan in 2005, and Reid is all I know. I love passing (more in the range of 60-40 ratio), aggresive D and having a coach who stands up for his players and is genuinely a good guy.
        I know it’s early to talk about, but if we somehow drop to a 3-5 record, can you survey the options at HC? That guy from Stanford intrigues me… All I know is, that IF we fire Reid, I want a young offensive minded HC

        • Eagles4life

          Just a thought, can Eagles keep Reid as VP of football operations only and hire a head coach?

          • TommyLawlor

            Yes…if he’s interested. I have no idea what his reaction to that would be.

          • iskar36

            I would think AR remaining here would undermine a new coach implementing what he wants. At the very least, any good coach would hesitate based on that dynamic and very possibly take a job elsewhere. If AR is fired, I want him completely gone and a new coach allowed to come in and develop his own team.

        • austinfan

          I like Howie as a football guy better than Reid, look at the lousy job Holmgren did in Cleveland. Different skill set to be GM/VP, you need someone who understands the business side as well as scouting and team building, and who knows how to negotiate rather than order.

          What I don’t want is a coach who wants full power, the number of HCs who are capable of running the whole show is extremely small, the number who THINK they can is much larger.

  • MichaelFloyd84

    “I need to see the Eagles go 6-4 or 7-3. I need to see the team play
    good football. Just winning isn’t enough. This team is too talented to
    be piecing together wins. This team has big
    time talent. That means that Reid needs to deliver a big time team, or
    something reasonably close. Getting by ain’t good enough.”

    I going to remember this come offseason time. I wholeheartedly agree, but expect the excuse train to come rolling along when we finish 4-6. From everybody, not just you.

    Heres to hoping that Reid makes me look like a fool for not believing. But i fully expect Vick to be his downfall. Straight up fact, Vick is not good anymore.

    • TommyLawlor

      I said during the offseason that Andy Reid used up his goodwill in 2011. He’s judged on 2012…as is. There is no more buying time. Deliver or else.That doesn’t mean a SB title, but the Eagles must look like a genuinely good team.

  • Steag209

    “Jimmy confessed that he doesn’t like the Blues Brothers. I confessed that I no longer like Jimmy”

    How can you NOT like Blues brothers?? But love the line Tommy

  • ACViking

    T-Law:

    Reid’s real success principally occurred in the first 6 years of his tenure here (save the 2008 run) — by which I mean winning playoff games and improving the team every year.

    Even when D-Mac had T-Small and CJ at WR, he was protected by an O-line anchored by Tra Thomas, Jon Runyan, and Jermaine Mayberry.

    When we talk about how talented the 2012 Eagles are, I think its worth noting — whenever that word “talent” is used — that the 2012 O-line may be the worst in Reid’s tenure. By a lot.

    The other point I’d make is the Eagles have leveled off as a team since 2004. There was the great playoff-run of 2008. But it seems to me the Birds have been a 2nd-tier team since the 2004.

    Has there been any season since 2004, besides the 2008 run, when we looked back and said the Eagles SHOULD HAVE won — or at least made it to — the SB?

    That was the mantra here for five years from 2001-2004.
    _________________

    Bottom line: I guess we’re all in the “Show Me” state now. As you said, Reid needs to this team (with it’s sub-par O-line) into the playoffs and close the Super Bowl.

    Otherwise, let’s just move on. What’s the point of being 9-7 or 10-6 but not posing a real threat of winning the SB?

    (As noted previously, I suffer from “Reid fatigue.”)

    • TommyLawlor

      You state the case very well. We’ve discussed the peaks and valleys of his career quite a bit.

      As I said to someone else…the goodwill of the old days is gone. Reid will sink or swim on what he does this year. If he can get this team to play at a high level, then he’s worth bringing back. If he can’t, then making a change finally does make sense.

    • sonofdman

      Reid somehow transporting us all to Missouri might be the worst thing he has ever done.

      • Jason_E

        It could be worse. It could be Kansas.

  • austinfan

    Reid had a great run from 2000-2004, he built the OL (inherited Tra and Miller, rebuilt Mayberry andadded Welbourn, Runyan, Hicks, then Fraley, He chose and groomed McNabb, drafted Bucky and Westbrook, and endangered his sanity with TO.

    He picked JJ as his DC. So you have to credit him with that choice.

    Since then he’s still around .550 winning %. The current coaches with close to 50 wins who have a better winning %, Smith (ATL), Harbaugh in Baltimore and Tomlin in Pitt, McCarthy (GB), Payton (NO), Belichick, Phillips and Ryan (not for long). So his worst years puts him near the top.

    I wonder how much his sons took out of him the last few years, but I think the real problem is it’s hard to come up with a starting QB when you win on a continual basis. Smith got to draft Ryan off a 4-12 season, Harbaugh drafted Flacco off a 5-11 season, Belichick hit the jackpot with Brady, Payton (or his GM?) traded for Brees, Tomlin inherited BIg Ben, McCarthy inherited Rodgers, Phillips gets Romo and Schaub.

    Reid wasn’t in position to draft a top QB without trading up with a big deal, even last year, who was left at #12-14, no way Eagles could compete with Redskins or Cleveland when putting a deal together. So you have to work with the Kolbs, Daltons and Foles of the world (or trade up for the Quinns, Weedens, Ponders – is there a lot of difference?). So gambling on Vick was not crazy, just trying to make the best of a bad situation.

    Same way JJ dying put him in a tough spot, he had lost potential DCs in Rivera, Spagnola, Harbaugh, Frazier over the years because JJ was a fixture, now he was left with Sean. Irregardless of Juan’s qualifications, I don’t think Allen was that great, and Horton was a poor fit, I think he now has the guy he wanted in the first place in Bowles.

    So .550 is nothing to sneeze at for your “bad stretch” of coaching. Problem is he’s completely rebuilt this team, and it’s simply too talented to be a 9-7 team (which is what .550 comes down to). You can blame injuries on the OL, and Vicks struggles, but it’s the responsibility of the OC and HC to adjust to circumstances. You can blame Juan, but it’s Reid’s responsibility to replace him.

    Which is why the next 10 games will decide Reid’s fate, this team, with a relatively weak schedule ahead of them, should go 7-3. That’s equivalent to 11-5 over a full season, which is what they’d be if they didn’t choke the Lions game. We know Vick can play well if the play calling is balanced and doesn’t hang him out to dry, we know the defensive talent can shut down good teams because it has this year. They have to do it consistently, but isn’t that what coaching is all about, getting your players to execute?

    • sonofdman

      I agree with most of your points, especially about the quarterbacks. Brees was signed in New Orleans as a free agent not acquired in a trade. Also, Wade Phillips is the defensive coordinator for Houston not the head coach. Kubiak is the head coach of Houston.

    • http://www.facebook.com/michael.w.cho Michael Winter Cho

      AF, Tommy, I’ve been following your posts since about 2004. This is the least optimistic I’ve heard either of you (that I remember). Win or lose today, I have a feeling this is about it for Reid. Too bad, I kind of like the guy. And I like the Eagles being, well, at least pretty good.

  • BC1968

    Are you kidding me with The Blues Brothers? Top 15 movie at least, awesome music, geez. I’m not and never have given up on Andy,
    I remember the 90s all to well. Still, anything less than a deep playoff run would end it and I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I’m site he’ll be successful somewhere else though.

    • BC1968

      Sure not site lol

  • Eric Weaver

    Tommy, I’m as optimistic as they come, but saying they are a play or two away from 4-2 or 5-1 is simply glossing over the fact that if it wasn’t for a dropped INT late or an offensive pass interference or a very-unlikely-against-the-Eagles missed FG; this team could be 0-6.

    • TommyLawlor

      Dude, I get that angle as well.

  • Toby_yboT

    One reason that I want Reid gone after this year, if we don’t make the playoffs at the least, is this:

    I like Andy Reid, and he’s had a very rough couple years. A break or permanent vacation is probably better for him than keeping his job.

    For some reason it never really occurred to me, until reading this piece, how hard JJ’s death must’ve been on Reid. I’ve thought of the impact to our defense of course. Just never really pondered the personal effect on Reid. Tough to lose a friend and partner (in a sense).