“This is my fault; I need to put my players in a better position to make plays.”
For more than a decade, Eagles fans have been subjected to that patronizing statement from coach Andy Reid after every loss.
This is one week we must accept that line simply because it’s true. Sunday’s embarrassing 13-9 loss the the Raiders — a team whose only other win was against a winless Chiefs team — started with Reid the GM and ended with Reid the coach.
Coach Andy Reid is to blame for Sunday's 13-9 loss to the Raiders.
From purely an Xs and Os standpoint, the Eagles were not ready to play. Granted, the Raiders have talent on the defensive side of the ball, but their offense is putrid.
Outside of Justin Fargas, Michael Bush and Zach Miller, they don’t have an offensive player who would play a prominent role on the Eagles, the Giants, the Saints or any other winning franchise. Even Fargas and Bush are pushing it.
Yet, the Raiders beat the Eagles.
The Raiders don’t have a legitimate NFL quarterback or receiver.
Yet, the Eagles were so bad that Raiders signal caller JaMarcus Russell was one of Peter King’s offensive players of the week in his Monday Morning Quarterback column.
On defense, the Eagles’ ineptness at covering the tight end was again demonstrated when Zach Miller shaked-and-baked his way past the Axeman and the Eagles defense on the way to an 86-yard touchdown.
The offense couldn’t do anything because the offensive line looked like Hiroki Kuroda pitching against the Phillies line-up. Jason Peters left the game with a knee injury in the first quarter and didn’t return.
King Dunlap replaced Peters and the Raiders took the Santa Monica freeway to Donovan McNabb the rest of the day. The Eagles offensive line at that point had just one projected starter playing — center Jamaal Jackson. Peters was out of the game and Todd Herramans has yet to suit up this season.
Then, there are the Andrews brothers — Shawn and Stacey. This is where Reid went wrong. He counted on Shawn who has been bothered by back injuries and depression the last two years. We all know that Shawn is in Los Angeles right now. Stacey was coming of of ACL surgery, yet Reid signed him to a six year, $40 million contract. Stacey started the first game, but then was relegated to the second team because he couldn;t get his blocking technique down.
Reid the GM is responsible for the Eagles lack of depth on the line that resulted in yesterday’s loss.
Reid the coach was responsible for not having his team ready, and not taking advantage of the one thing that did work — the running game. Brian Westbrook rushed the ball six times for 50 yards, an eight yard-per-carry average.
Reid is quoted on PhiladelphiaEagles.com as saying they should have run more.
“Coming out, I thought we could have run a little bit more, yes,” Reid said. ”I think we had 14 runs, we could have had a few more than that. But we did what we thought would help us win the game. But looking back we probably could have run the ball a little bit more.”
Not running the ball is purely the fault of coaching; personnel is purely the fault of the GM.
For the Eagles, they are both Reid. They are both why the Eagles loss to an inept, inferior organization yesterday.
Frank,
Do you think the Birds were maybe a little apathetic about playing the Raiders?
I’m not sure who it was, but I heard that an Eagles player said earlier in the week that playing the Raiders would be like a preseason or a scrimmage game.
Any given Sunday, I guess.