It seems like years since the media was talking about the Philadelphia Eagles as the NFL’s version of the Miami Heat. Speculation abounded about the possibility of the Eagles making the trek to Indianapolis for the Super Bowl. In hindsight, it would appear that we were putting the cart before the horse. There will be no Super Bowl this season for the Eagles. No celebrations. There will simply be time to reflect on where it all went wrong.
The Eagles dropped to 4-8 last night after being manhandled for 4 quarters by the Seattle Seahawks, otherwise known as an NFL powerhouse. Sarcasm. Vince Young is the easy target of criticism in the loss, throwing 4 interceptions and just a single touchdown pass. His opposing counterpart, Seahawks QB Tarvaris Jackson, had probably his best game for the Seahawks. He was a respectable 13 of 16 passing, 190 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions.
The final score as compared to the number of total yards in the game pretty much sums up the Eagles’ season. The Seahawks had 347 net yards, and the Eagles had a very similar 330 net yards. While that battle was close, the final score indicates a game in which the outcome was never really in doubt after the Seahawks jumped out to a quick 17-7 first half lead.
With the Eagles floundering to stay relevant, despite one of the NFL’s most talented rosters; at least that’s the perception. What do we make of the situation? Someone has to take the fall in Philadelphia, and that guy is looking more and more like Andy Reid. However, I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, as we’ve done in the past. Let’s look at the decisions that have led us to this grim point.
Just a season ago, everyone was praising Reid and the Eagles for parting ways with Donovan McNabb at the exact right moment. McNabb was a free agent flop with the Redskins, and the Eagles looked great behind the legs and arm of Michael Vick. Good move right? Wrong.
Today, Vick still isn’t back. Vince Young has taken the roll of our new found Rex Grossman, and the Eagles defense is awful. What has happened is very simple. The Eagles got too close, and they couldn’t handle it. The Eagles took that “we’re one or two guys away” approach, and it has backfired in a big way.
There are some teams that are constantly operating while they are just “one or two players away” from being in the Super Bowl. The Steelers, Patriots, and more recently, the Packers are operating, rather successfully, in that range of talent. The difference is that they don’t mortgage their team’s cohesiveness to obtain those players. The fact of the matter is that the Super Bowl champion almost always is the team that gets hot at the right time of the season. The Eagles took the free agent route to pushing their team over the top. That doesn’t work.
Ultimately, the decisions made by Andy Reid have to fall on him. Effectively, Andy Reid has all the powers of most teams’ general managers and those personnel missteps have to fall on him. So, here’s what may happen. Reid won’t be fired. I think most people would agree that he’s had too many great years to simply part ways after one very, very disappointing season. It’s far more likely that the Eagles go out and find an actual general manager, then they’ll strip some of Reid’s managerial powers.
Let’s be real. The Eagles won’t fire Reid. It simply can’t happen, but they can take away some of his powers that have made him the most powerful head coach in the NFL within his own organization.
