I got to talk football for a while with former Eagle punter Sean Landeta.
There are a lot of professional athletes that excelled at the sport, but didn’t necessarily follow the league and its goings on. That’s not Landeta. Sean knows his stuff and when I need an unbiased, pragmatic opinion, I go to the 25-year veteran.
He raised an interesting point regarding this current Eagles regime. He noted how impressive it is that the Eagles have had a head coach/quarterback tandem in tact for ten consecutive seasons. That’s incredible stability and that only comes with both of them doing their jobs well. If one or both can’t get it done, then one or both is gone.
Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid have been together longer than any other coach/QB combo in the league and I had to do some homework to find out the last time a duo lasted this long. I found some recent examples and if I missed someone, let me know:
John Elway and Dan Reeves were paired up from 1983-1992. Remember that they tried to run Elway out of there for a long time. He couldn’t win the big one. He wasn’t the one to lead them to the promised land. What did a little patience do in that situation? Oh, and for all the people that hate McNabb for his accuracy issues, Elway was a career 56.9%. McNabb is at 58.7% (not great, I know) and 61.5% last year.
So then I came across Dan Marino and Don Shula, who were together from 1983-1995. They never won a Super Bowl, but I don’t blame that on Marino as much as I blame the lack of help around him. What do these names mean to you? Irving Spikes, Bernie Parmalee, Tony Nathan, Lorenzo Hampton, Karim Abdul-Jabbar, Andra Franklin, Woody Johnson, Sammy Smith, Bobby Humphrey? They didn’t mean much to Marino either.
Next, I found Jim Kelly and Marv Levy, who were a tandem in Buffalo from 1986-1996. Call them a failure for never winning the Super Bowl after four trips to the big dance, but show me another team that made it to four straight. Ain’t easy.
I don’t know if this last one counts because he didn’t start until his third year, but Steve McNair and Jeff Fisher were together from 1995-2005.
I know many people can’t stand Andy Reid and many people want Donovan McNabb gone, but you have to admit that this is an impressive run that they have had. Marriages of this sort rarely work for a variety of reasons. And the other examples of coaches and quarterbacks who have lasted this long are certainly quality company.
Landeta and I also talked about the similarities between the 1999 team and this last year’s team. Not many similarities on the surface, but both teams ended the year strong and started the following season with something to build on.
In 1999, the Eagles were 3-11 when the Patriots came to town. The Patriots were fighting for a playoff spot and Drew Bledsoe and company came to town desperate for a win. Koy Detmer was sharp and the Eagles took out the Patriots 24-9.
After the bye week (hey, it wasn’t a loss), the soon-to-be Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams visited the Vet. The Eagles were great even against the starters, and even though they faced the likes of Joe Germaine in the second half, they got the win. I was at the Vet that day and it was absolutely not the same team that started the season with the loss against the Cardinals.
Landeta thinks that, like 1999, the wins at the end of the season weren’t meaningless at all. He firmly believes that those three wins at the end of 2007 are great building blocks heading into the 2008 season. I happen to agree, and for the purposes of moving forward, those last three games are more relevant to now than the totality of the full 16 games in 2007.
micahw@feverpitchmedia.com
