I think I speak for every Philadelphia Eagles fan when I say that this season has been a huge disappointment. We spent the offseason salivating over our free agent additions, and now we’ve watched in stunned silence as our Eagles have been run over again and again, both figuratively and literally.
With all of this pent-up anger mixing with our lingering grief over the end of the Phillies season, we can’t help but wonder, who is to blame? The obvious answer is Andy Reid.
Though we’ve had issues on all sides of the ball, everything that the Eagles have accomplished (or failed to) comes down to Andy Reid. We had possibly the largest offseason additions in our team’s storied history, yet we’ve gone backwards, heading to our worst start through 9 games since starting 2-7 in 1999. This team has easily been the worst I’ve ever witnessed, not that I can say I’ve ever witnessed an absolutely terrible Eagles team, the worst being our 6-10 team in 2005.
The worst part about this season was our bloated expectations. A wonderful offseason led to talks of the Eagles as Super Bowl favorites, but also led to a bloated egos and a massive target on our backs.
Our defense was supposedly going to become among the best in the NFL, after key additions of cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and defensive end Jason Babin. Instead, it ranks a mere 13th overall and 17th against the run. This puts them at a point slightly worse than they were last season, 12th and 15th respectively, despite these additions.
Most of this blame falls on Juan Castillo, an offensive line coach who was converted to defensive coordinator by Reid in the offseason. This seemed like a bad idea just on the face of it. Why would an offensive line coach be more effective than an experienced defensive coordinator or even an assistant coach from the defensive side of the ball? Common sense tells you to take the defensive guy every time.
But of course, Andy went the way we didn’t expect him to go, because that’s just how this season has been. We were supposed to go from a middling contender to an elite team and improve upon our 10-6 record last season. Instead, we’ve already equaled our loss total from last year and it’s only week 11.
While this all may just sound like the ranting of an angry Eagles fan, which it is, this also serves as an expression of the general disgust the fan base as a whole has felt this season and in seasons past. Though Reid has clearly been a good thing for Philadelphia, which is 120-77-1 under Reid, he’s continually made key mistakes.
Most of these mistakes have involved the usage of timeouts, as Reid finds ways to waste timeouts in the 3rd quarter and ends up one short when it comes down to kicking the tying field goal or saving time for that final drive. He also finds ways to use challenges in the most inopportune times. Though there is no official statistic kept for challenges, as of November 9th, 2009 the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that he had won a mere 32.6% since 2000.
We’ve put up with these mistakes for years, but now that the Eagles are in such a disappointing position, it has all become too much to handle. If the Eagles manage to lose their key rivalry game tonight against the Giants, consider Andy’s tenure over. The only reason you can even consider keeping him is his past success, but we’ve given him 13 years and one of the most talented rosters in the league and he hasn’t won us a championship. Now, in the midst of what could be his worst season as a head coach, would be the prime time to replace Andy Reid.