The Seahawks Toy With The Eagles, As National Media Defends Andy Reid

It’s just laughable now.  Watching the Eagles this season has been nothing short of a 3-hour sitcom, thinking the protagonist will eventually get his and make the antagonist look silly.  And that’s exactly what is happening.  Except the Eagles aren’t the protagonists anymore.  They are the antagonists because they’re being made to look foolish week after week.

And instead of a drama that hooks us week after week, it’s become a satirical comedy that allows us to wait for a dumb decision, a dumb play, and an offensive line coach turned defensive coordinator to give us many new storylines for this new season.  It’s fall’s hottest new show, and the laughingstock of the National Football League.  Giant and Cowboy fans, you’re welcome.  We’re hoping you’ve enjoyed this hilarious series and hope next year will be different.  Again.  For the 52nd time.

It’s hard to blame just one facet of this team.  The players and coaches all deserve equal blame.  The coaches may work hard, according to Andy Reid and everyone else, but they’re not getting the job done.  Marty Mornhinweg called a pass play on the first Eagles offensive play of last night’s game, which was promptly intercepted and turned into a Seahawks eventual touchdown.

It’s play calls like these that make absolute no sense, even if Michael Vick was playing.  And we are told that they’re playing aggressively and want to score as many points as possible.  Except Marty and Andy probably forgot somewhere in there that a good defense doesn’t need to play 500 snaps a game (exaggerated for emphasis).  Juan Castillo was thrown in the fire, and he’s burning.  Is it his fault?  Maybe.  I can’t blame him 100% because it looks like his players aren’t giving the effort needed to tackle Marshawn Lynch.  But he does deserve blame.  And he deserves another job after this season.  But not here.

And it’s funny that most people picked the Eagles to win this game.  That’s something I did not understand and I actually threw a mini hissy fit over it, but not as bad as DeSean Jackson’s hissy fit in the locker room after the game when he stopped taking questions and left.  It’s obvious this guy doesn’t want to play right now.  He’s hurting the team and the fans by acting like a petulant baby.

Did he deserve to be paid before the season began?  Yes, I firmly believe that.  But that’s over and done with.  And I don’t want someone who quits on his team and coaching staff to be on my team.  He’s one of the most dynamic players in the NFL, but he’s an average receiver.  And he’s proving that right now.  And the Seahawks had something to say about ‘quitting’ the season, possibly directed at the Eagles.

“Maybe some teams could at this time of year, but we’re still trying to do something this year,” said Seahawks coach Pete Carroll when asked if mailing in the rest of the season and just re-charging for next season with four games left on the year.  Many think the statement echoes the Eagles, who were also accused of quitting on the football field by 49ers running back Frank Gore after the 49ers embarrassed the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field earlier this year.

Nnamdi Asomugha suffered a stinger and a concussion, but some people think he was more or less faking the injury to just get out of dodge.  With the newfound action against concussions in the NFL, nobody can be sure except Nnamdi.  Special teams standout Colt Anderson tore his ACL.  It echoes the 2006-2007 Flyers, when Mike Richards broke his leg, Peter Forsberg was traded, and the team had their worst season in franchise history with 22 wins.  This team is about as hopeless as an economic turnaround.

What I, and most Eagles fans, still find embarrassing is the national media’s perspective of Reid.  On the NFL Network, Mike Mayock mentioned the track record of Reid and how he was being “hounded” in Philadelphia for his recent failures.  Let’s mention here that Mayock grew up in the Philadelphia area and knows more about this city than most national media people covering football.

We should think that he knows what he’s talking about, but when he mentions the Eagles fans are crazy for wanting a new coach because nobody is as proven as Reid, that’s available.  And we’re tired of hearing that argument.  We hear it on ESPN, FOX Sports, CBS, the NFL Network, etc etc etc.  It’s frustrating on one end, but comical on the other.  I can’t decide if they’re trying to just get a rise out of those “silly Eagles fans” or if they actually believe what they’re saying.

It’s been noted that Reid has a great rapport with the national media, and not so much the local media.  Nobody on ESPN or any of those other networks have ever said a bad word about Reid.  That’s where their credibility comes under fire because if national media darlings, like ESPN’s Chris Mortensen who is probably receiving checks from Reid, won’t criticize him because they like him as a person, it makes us all look bad.  But Philadelphia knows football.

We know we need LeSean McCoy to run the football more.  We know we need a good defense to even give us a chance to win.  These are Reid’s decisions.  This is why we can criticize his decisions because after that Super Bowl year of 2004-2005, Andy Reid has made decisions that have not made sense in the football sense of reality.  Sure, he’s a great guy by all accounts.  But when the media members cannot look past their personal relationship with the coach, national or local, it ultimately kills their credibility with any opinions they have.