Rankings: Firing Reid would be mistake by Eagles




There are a whole lot of Eagles jersey fans wistfully screaming, “We’ve got next!”
Some of those fans were the ones chanting “Fire Andy” at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field last Sunday as the Eagles absorbed a 38-20 defeat to the Patriots, dropping Philly to 4-7. That, of course, was in reference to Andy Reid, who was hired as the Eagles’ head coach in 1999 and is the longest-tenured person in his profession.
Reid’s ouster may happen, especially given the meltdown quality to Sunday’s defeat, which included a sideline shoving match between two of his assistants, the benching of disgruntled and arguably disengaged Pro Bowl wideout DeSean Jackson(notes) and the all-but-official elimination of a team that openly loaded up for a Super Bowl run.
I can see why Eagles fans are demanding change – it’s obviously needed. However, I don’t think firing Reid is the best move for the franchise, nor do I think he’s the person who deserves the bulk of the blame.
The first thing to consider is that Reid, while influential in the organization’s football hierarchy, is not nearly the force he once was. In recent years the balance of power has swung to team president Joe Banner and the young general manager he groomed, Howie Roseman. They’re the ones who constructed this current Eagles team, engaged in the contract-related stare down with Jackson and unwittingly messed with the camaraderie within the locker room.
Reid, to his credit, rolled with the changing times and kept the Eagles #29 LeSean McCoy black jersey competitive through last season, when he produced what might have been his greatest coaching job. That included a sudden but prescient audible from entrusting the post-Donovan McNabb(notes) quarterbacking duties to carefully groomed successor Kevin Kolb(notes) to riding the sublimely revived Michael Vick’s(notes) scorching-hot passing hand.
The surreal trip ended in the first round of the playoffs, when Philly suffered a narrow defeat to the eventual Super Bowl champion Packers. As they looked ahead to 2011, all three of the Eagles’ power brokers were understandably convinced that an elusive title was within their grasp.
So Banner, Roseman and Reid decided to go after it by any means at their disposal. The lockout essentially left them paralyzed through most of the offseason, except for the tweaks Reid made to his coaching staff, including the firing of defensive coordinator Sean McDermott and the surprising naming of offensive line coach Juan Castillo as his replacement. That turned out to be a move that hurt the Eagles on both sides of the ball – Castillo has struggled in his new role, and his replacement, Howard Mudd, has had trouble reaching Philly’s younger linemen – and it’s absolutely on Reid.
The rest of the moves, however, were driven by Banner and Roseman. Once the lockout ended, as Roseman had predicted, the pink Philadelphia Eagles jersey action was fast and furious. The Eagles were the unquestioned aggressors of the compressed free-agency period, landing former Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha(notes) and a slew of other well-known and highly regarded players. Roseman also traded Kolb to the Cardinals for a second-round draft pick and talented cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie(notes).
When one of those high-profile acquisitions, former Titans quarterback Vince Young(notes), threw out a cavalier comment likening the Eagles to a “Dream Team,” the outside world seized upon it, and a slogan was born. Many of us bought into the hype, though in my case there was a caveat: The Eagles as they’d been in 2010, even without any of the splashy additions, would have struck me as a serious Super Bowl contender.
Not that the caveat really matters. I picked the Eagles to win the Super Bowl. Obviously, I was wrong, and now it’s time to deconstruct.
First of all, we should have known better: In the 21st-century NFL, that whole winning the offseason thing is a sucker bet, as Philly’s NFC East rivals, the Redskins, are painfully aware. Like Washington owner Daniel Snyder a decade ago, Roseman is a fresh-faced, well-intentioned executive eager to Women Cheap Toronto Maple Leafs jersey make a name and build a winner. I don’t fault him for having been aggressive, but I believe his inexperience may have blinded him to some side effects.