Open Letter In Defense Of Andy Reid

I hear a lot of fans criticize Andy Reid and the way he does things in Philly. Mainly his stoic ways and very political press conferences.

But when we really look at it, do we fans care about press conferences… at all? Do we really need to hear why Reid thinks we lost or what he thinks about the opposing defense? Would we agree with him anyway? If you’re being truthful as an Eagles fan, you know you wouldn’t.

Here’s how this whole situation got started.

Reid really gets under the skin of the mainstream Philly media because he doesn’t give them the juicy headlines or reactions worthy of a Coors Light commercial for a few years after he retires.

Then what happens? Philly fans log onto philly.com or tune into 610WIP and listen to the mainstream media bash Reid. But why are they bashing Reid? They bash him because they don’t like the way he treats them and operates with them.

So then we fans let these people in the Philly media get us into an uproar to the point where we’re ready to grab our torches and pitchforks with the sole purpose of running Andy right out of the NovaCare complex forever.

And for what? Because the Philly media feels shunned by Reid. He doesn’t cry for them like Dick Vermeil or create infamous quotes like Buddy Ryan’s, “I’d trade him for a six-pack; wouldn’t even have to be cold.”

I hear things all the time along the lines of, Andy Reid insults our intelligence as fans because of the interviews and press conferences he gives us.

What?

At what point did the press conferences become a reflection on how he feels about the fans and not just simply about how he obviously doesn’t trust the Philly media not to misconstrue something he says to try and make a story out of it.

Now yes, Reid has come out and publicly said that he doesn’t really care about fan reaction. But you know what, Philly? I’m okay with that. In fact, I applaud it.

Buddy Ryan once said that if a coach listened to the fans that he would wind up sitting in the stands with them. Buddy hit the nail harder on the head than when he nailed Kevin Gilbride.

Another well-respected coach, Tony Dungy, talked about how at one point in a press conference he said, “Our defense played soft against the run today.” Which in turn lead to the headline, “Dungy Calls Defense Soft.”

Now is that what he said? Of course not. Is that what the media heard? You bet.

It’s just an example of how any coach who gives the media anything on a Sunday after the game will pay for it Monday morning in the papers.

Andy Reid does what he does because he believes it’s the best thing for this football team. He bleeds green just like the rest of us. He stays up until all hours of the night working and working just to see this team on the winning side come Sunday night.

The front office may be another story. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about them anymore. I’m just as confused and angry as everyone about some of the things that have gone down this offseason.

But the one thing I will never do is say that Andy Reid is somehow this lying, conniving, evil man who is just out to irritate and annoy Philly-nation.

He wants that Lombardi just as bad as we do. It kills him just as much as it kills us when we lose in the playoffs and come up just short.

We may not agree with how he handles the team sometimes, and he deserves criticism just like everyone else, but to somehow imply that he doesn’t care about this team or the city of Philadelphia is just plain wrong and that idea can not be allowed to continue to run rampant through our wonderful city.

So I beg you Philly, yell at him because you don’t agree that our receivers are fine the way they are. Yell at him because he doesn’t run the ball enough (I’ve lost my voice more than once doing that). Even yell at him just because we lost, he’s the head coach, and that comes with the job.

But whatever you do, don’t yell at him because the vindictive Philly media tells you to. Continue to bleed green Philly-nation, and let’s go Eagles.