When Reid made the decision to bench Kevin Kolb in favor of Michael Vick, he sat at the podium and said he didn’t mind being the bad guy. He also said he was paid to make the tough decisions.
Well after the way this football team played against Washington, he should get ready to make a lot more tough decisions.
He’s already begun to answer some questions, but the problems that occured at the end of the first half was such typical Andy Reid clock management it was nauseating. Only Reid could manage to get a delay of game penalty out of a time out, following a challenge that took so long it had Joe Buck questioning the time it was taking.
Reid said after that game that the ball was moved back, and when he got no explanation as to why, he had to pick a new play. I find it hard to believe that a play that is designed to get inches is dramatically different than a little under a yard. Donovan caught a lot of flack during his time here for his 2 minute drive, but I think today we found out that it was 100% Reid that was behind those lazy efforts within 2 minutes. Reid should get ready to face tough criticism all week about what happened.
Next on Reid’s plate is going to be what to do about the quarterback situation. Reid better hope that Michael Vick is a quick healer and can play next week. If not, Reid will have a real mess in front of him. There’s no question that Kolb is not the player that Vick is. He showed today that when the heat is on, he eye’s down his receivers to that point that even Troy Aikman could see where he was going from the booth. Kolb was lucky to not have more of this throws intercepted.
Kolb also checked down way too often today, especially when the game was on the line. He needs to know better to not be throwing a ball 6 yards to LeSean McCoy in the middle of the field with time running down and his team needing to score. Kolb showed that his decision making with the ball still leaves a lot to be desired. Add that to the way he carries the ball in the pocket, and he can be a walking turnover out there.
But with that being said, Kolb still moved this offense at times and kept the team in the game. Kolb was thrown into a nearly impossible situation- down 14 to his former mentor, having already been benched, then having to bring his team back in front of 60,000 people in the stands and 52 on the sideline who don’t believe in you.
However, if it wasn’t for Reid’s poor clock management at the end of the half and McCoy’s fumble late in the game, we could very well be sitting here discussing Kolb bringing this team back. Analysis aside, Kolb still threw for over 200 yards behind one of the worst lines in the NFL. He had close to 80 yards more then Donovan McNabb did.
Next week the Eagles face a 49ers team that is 0-4. What is Reid going to do if Kolb plays well and leads the team to victory? What is Vick misses two weeks, and Kolb plays well enough to win the games he’s in? Kolb excelled in this exact same role last season. What does Reid do then? How can Reid look Kolb in the face and bench him again if he plays well in Vick’s absence?
After Reid figures out his quarterback situation, he needs to take a look at his fellow coaches. Ultimately the players are the ones who are responsible for making plays, but how can Reid ever feel confident his team had a chance to win when two crucial units of your team- offensive line and special teams- continue to cost them games. Bobby April’s unit allowed McNabb to start his first drive inside the Eagles 40-yard line. After the Redskins score, Jorrick Calvin proceeds to bring the ball out 4 yards deep in his own end zone. What is Calvin thinking there? Why is Bobby April’s voice not in his head telling him not to bring it out?
I wrote about it earlier in the week, but this offensive line is getting to the point that it’s going to end up costing Juan Castillo his job. Better coaches have been fired because their unit simply can not perform. If I had a dollar for every time this offensive line had a stupid penalty that killed a drive, Jayson Werth would be a Phillie next year. It’s getting to the point that you can’t have Jason Peters on the field.
Andy Reid says he doesn’t mind making the hard call. But as this season goes on, and McNabb isn’t here to take any blame, the questions he is faced with are just going to get harder and harder.
Reid created this mess- let’s see if he can get himself out of it.
Well said G…not only will it cost castillo his job but AR should be outta there too. this has gone on too long, week after week after week we hear the same excuses but see no improvement. at some point plain ol common sense has to kick in. AR is not getting the job done anymore period!!!! our special teams are atrocious! we cant stop the run and our SS Mikell is garbage. AR has been the eagles HC for 11 years and he doesnt know clock mangement by now what gives???? who is teaching tackling on this team?? and running the football is an attititude that is learned in training camp, not in the middle of live games you cant just dive left and dive right and expect success when you dont even take it serious in camp!!! WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP IN PHILADELPHIA!!! FIRE ANDY REID NOW!!!
Well said ESP…not only will it cost castillo his job but AR should be outta there too. this has gone on too long, week after week after week we hear the same excuses but see no improvement. at some point plain ol common sense has to kick in. AR is not getting the job done anymore period!!!! our special teams are atrocious! we cant stop the run and our SS Mikell is garbage. AR has been the eagles HC for 11 years and he doesnt know clock mangement by now what gives???? who is teaching tackling on this team?? and running the football is an attititude that is learned in training camp, not in the middle of live games you cant just dive left and dive right and expect success when you dont even take it serious in camp!!! WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP IN PHILADELPHIA!!! FIRE ANDY REID NOW!!!
The decade-long debate over whether Andy Reid or Donovan McNabb was more responsible for the consistent string of clock-management gaffes that highlighted their tenure together with the Eagles has been settled.
Redskins 17, Eagles 12 Eagles 28, Jaguars 3 Eagles 35, Lions 32
With Reid and McNabb on opposite sides for yesterday’s Eagles game against the Washington Redskins, we were going to find out whether the coach or his former quarterback was more responsible for clocks always running a bit faster than the Eagles were thinking.
It was Andy. It was always Andy.
McNabb did burn two timeouts less than 2 minutes into the third quarter, but the most damning time-management miscue in the Eagles’ 17-12 loss belonged to Reid.
It was definitive.
How could Reid let happen what happened at the end of the first half yesterday?
How does a coach get so disjointed that his team ends up getting a delay-of-game penalty coming out of a timeout because he can’t decide on a play?
Reid’s blunder turned a fourth-and-goal from inside the 1-yard line into a fourth-and-6. It was a change that might have cost the Eagles the game.
Nothing McNabb did could have trumped Reid not being able to come up with a play and get his team prepared to run it in what essentially amounted to 6 minutes of dead time.
If the Eagles score a touchdown, they are down by seven at the half. Instead, they settled for a field goal and trailed, 17-6.
“I take full responsibility, in particular, for what happened at the end of the first half,” Reid conceded, as if anyone else could have been at fault. “I thought the play initially started out as [fourth-and] inches, but after the review, the play we had for inches ended up being a yard.
“The clock was well into it when we were aware of that.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
“What is Reid going to do if Kolb plays well and leads the team to victory?”
What would Reid do if pigs could fly?
The Niners will blitz Kolb all day long, and once he gets hit, he’s done!! Kolb plays like a girl.
McNabb threw 3 TDs on a broken ankle – just sayin.
Best Quote from Another Site:
NasallyNutter
Johnny Smalls…what you don’t appreciate is that for every .54375 inches, the play calling changes. For instance, had the ball been .54375 inches closer, it would have been a quarterback sneak out of the shotgun formation. Had it been .54375 inches further away, it would have been a quick kick. At this distance, it would have been a screen pass to the 2 yard line. The real difficulty is that it takes more than six minutes to break out the micrometer to determine the precise distance and angle of the dangle. So we’ll need to give Andy a break as he takes full responsiblity for this.
drummer – I don’t think we’ll really need to worry about a tough Reid decision due to excellent Kolb play. Even though I still have patience to see if Kolb develops, he simply will never out perfrom Vick behind this offensive line. Without the extreme run threat Vick brings, this offense returns to the same predictable self it has been for many years and no matter what Kolb does, that won’t change. The problem has always been Reid and now more locally and nationally are beginning to see many of the miscues have always been Reid.
reid is the worst game day coach ever
bobby april sucks too
LOL “if pigs could fly” funny drummer. We might as well laugh, because it’s going to be a season full of drama. But to our advantage, we have coach duffess in Dallas, and a moron in NY. We will have company this year. The Eagles usually get stronger as the season goes on, so if we hang around with the rest of the bums, we’ll make the playoffs.
With all the bonehead stuff that happened yesterday, if Avant makes that catch we win! The NFC East is the weakest it’s been in a while and is still anybodys for the taking.
Reid has 2 nightmare timeout issues already this year. In game one, he gave away a timeout when the refs had already stopped the clock for a measurement. At the time, I thought “I’ve seen it all now”.
Yesterday’s was even worse.
Reid’s failings are starting to mount. Imagine this for a minute; what if the Eagles had been able to trade Vick in the off-season as most people believe they tried? They were so convinced that Kolb could play that they traded McNabb and attempted to trade Vick. It’s pretty clear that Kolb really has no redeeming quality’s, he has a weak arm, he makes poor decisions, he’s a deer in the headlights, he’s not accurate, he’s not mobile, he turns the ball over a lot, he stairs down his receivers, he goes to his checkdown too soon. Kolb had time in the pocket yesterday on a lot of plays and he was still awful.
I’m starting to think that with Banner and Roseman as the new braintrust of the desalinization, this season may be the end of the road for big red.
Yeah one of Vick’s big advantages is that he is mobile and can run with the ball
Well you can see where that got us
BTW Kolb though not Vick is far from immobile –He had 2 scrambles for 21 yards
BUT that will lead to Kafka coming in
Inches to go it is probably a QB sneak
Yard to go it is probably McCoy
So despite all the wailing I can see why there might have been a different play needed
That still doesn’t excuse the mix up over the clock
MSMVIDEO
YEP
Avant makes that catch he is hero for a week and has the headline highlight play on ESPN
And the mood is definitely better today
The Eagles horrid defense will have to stop Frank Gore next week…good luck with that….
I think the Niners will finally get their first win next week….going to be a long season people…
Yep Kolb did move the team for one TD using short chunk plays and was moving again on the next to last series when another holding play stopped the momentum
And the author is right coming in down 14-0 –coach blows a goal line play–McCoy fumbles away a TD series –Avant drops a Hail Mary TD –Hell get real Kolb didn’t lose this game
Hey Drummer
Kolb plays like a girl and Vick doesn’t
You saw where that got Vick –Did you really think he would last the season
BTW Kolb scrambled twice for over 20 yards
And that will end up with Kafka coming in
Do you see Brady or Peyton Manning running around
I wonder what McNabb was thinking on the delay of game after a timeout. I know he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.
In all that time in Andy and Marty should have had 2 plays ready to go depending on the spot. There’s no way it should have taken that long. That was a prime example of how a coaching “goof” cost of the game. Instead of being ready and potentially getting the first down which has a good chance of leading to a TD, you have to trot Akers out there to kick more red zone field goals. He’s probably kicked more field goals in the redzone this last decade than anyone.
1. Who was the Qb that threw the TD to Celek
2. Who was the QB that got them to the 1 yard line when Reid blew the TD
3. Who was the QB when McCoy fumbled on the 2 yard line thus probably losing another TD
4.Who was the QB that was moving down field when boob Peters stops the momentum with another holding penalty on the next to the last series
But then I guess he doesn’t get credit for “Engineering” those drives
RCP good point. BSM also goodpoint, as I’ve said before every team in this conference right now has damming issues going on with their team. What is up with that highly praised Packer D, they nearly got beat by the Lions. Saints fending of the panthers? Niners will beat us? Please. We got serious issues my friends, but like BSM said we got AR drones in our division. Even Shanahan is not coaching up to expectations so how about that uh.
Keep the faith homeboys I saw a lot of teams sunday dealing with issues and demons, we will come through in spite of coaching. Vick will be back and we can full press once again, with the certainty that he has found a brand new appreciation for the baseball art of sliding.
If anyone is overly impressed with any team in our conference right now, then stand now and state your case to us the jury, yeah right sit down man there is none. So Eagles Defense and offense man up and play bal,l the hill can be taken if you want it more.
Bring on the damn niners who gives a #%$% let them run, what else they got. The heck with the coaches, lets play ball.
As always LONG LIVE THE EAGLES