Redskins 23 - Eagles 17 - Monday, October 06, 2008
227 Views :: 0 Comments :: :: Team - Eagles, Joe DeCamara

Like most people my frustration right now with the Eagles seems to zero in on Andy Reid.  The Eagles loss to the Redskins was just another example of a game that slipped away largely because of mistakes made by Andy Reid.  Something is seriously wrong.  It's hard to imagine how Andy Reid has led the Eagles to the playoffs 6 out of the past 8 years.  If we all didn't know that was a fact we never would believe it's possible.  But it actually happened.

So that leaves me and all of us wondering what has gone so wrong?  What has changed?  What specifically is occurring that is holding the Eagles back?  What do the Eagles need to do to correct this situation both for this season and future years?

With those questions in mind amongst other things here's the reality that I am seeing: Andy Reid does not coach to his personnel.  It's the old square peg in a round hole analogy.  Instead of understanding and working with the strengths and trying to avoid the weaknesses of his personnel Reid imposes his philosophical approach by doing what he wants to do regardless of who is on the field.  He's like a mad scientist gone wrong.  It's as if an Eagles game is his own personal science experiment.  It's so dumb.  It's so backwards.

A team with Brian Westbrook and Correll Buckhalter should fundamentally be a strong running football team.  The passing game should work off of the running game.  But it's all backward.  The Eagles don't have the Wide Receivers to run the kind of offense Andy Reid wants to run.  It just doesn't make ANY sense.

How about the fullback position?  It's treated like a throwaway spare part by the management of this football team.  Just like the return game was last year.  We saw what that got the Eagles in '07 and we are certainly seeing what not having a real NFL fullback can do down at the goal line in '08.  It's pathetic.  This issue, like all of these issues, goes back to Andy Reid.

I could just go on and on and on and on.  Here's what it boils down to: it is time for Jeffrey Lurie to have a serious face-to-face sit down with Andy Reid.  I can't believe I am advocating this because I hate owners that interfere, but the reality is that it's time for Jeffrey Lurie to state some things in a stern way to Andy Reid.  It's time for Lurie to start putting some pressure on Reid in a way that makes the big guy realize, probably for the first time ever, that this is not a lifetime position that he holds.

I still believe Andy Reid can be a good coach in this league.  Maybe that is absurd, but the track record is there.  It's as if Reid needs a sports psychologist.  Just like how Brett Myers had to go to the minors to get things straightened out (both from a mechanics standpoint and a mental standpoint), so too does Andy Reid need to work on the mental part of his coaching.  He desperately needs someone to step in, grab a hold of him, make him realize there are real issues at hand and help guide him back to some form of sanity from a coaching standpoint.  And I don't believe Joe Banner is the guy to attempt this.  There's only one other man above Andy Reid in the pecking order of the Philadelphia Eagles.  And that's the owner of the football team, Jeffrey Lurie.

Jeffrey, it's time to have a talk with your guy!  It's time for you to try to talk sense back into him.  Please do this because our season and seemingly the whole franchise is going down the drain right before our eyes.

Joe DeCamara hosts the 950 ESPN Eagles Pre-Game Show in addition to being the Assistant Program Director, Sports Update Anchor and an internet columnist for the radio station.  You can read Joe’s blog after every Eagles game and at other points throughout the week.