The Eagles players consider themselves a “Dream Team”. Team president Joe Banner said the team was “all in”. And the (over)hype machine for Michael Vick is back at full-throttle. So what could possibly go wrong? Two words: Andy Reid.
The only thing worse than Andy Reid, the general manager, is Andy Reid the game-day coach. He can’t pick talent and can’t beat any of the other elite teams in the NFL. Other than that, let’s just make them reservations for Indianapolis in the first weekend in February.
Let’s take a look at the 2011 Eagles and all that Reid has done wrong.
The media have fallen back in love with Michael Vick after he had a good half of a season last year. Yes, he only had a good first half last season. Vick threw 11 TDs and zero INTs with a 115.1 passer rating in his first six games, but everyone seems to forget that he had just 7 TDs and 5 INTs with a lowly 84.4 passer rating in his last four games of last season.
Yes, Vick had a career high in yards passing (3,018) and TD passes (21) last year, but that’s not even good compared to the best quarterbacks in the league. The yardage total ranked 20th in the NFL, which was behind even Donovan McNabb who Eagles fans couldn’t wait to run out of town (for good reason). Even if you add in Vick’s rushing yardage, he still only accumulated 3,694 yards last year in a league where great QBs are measured by 4,000-yard seasons.
Vick is also injury prone, which brings us to the offensive line. For the third year in a row Reid totally revamped his offensive line and for the third year in a row it is a complete mess. Two years ago McNabb got injured in the first game behind a sub-par offensive line. Last season Kevin Kolb got injured in the first game behind another shaky offensive line. Now we have this year’s mess.
The only starter from last year who will be starting in the same position is LT Jason Peters. Todd Herremans moves from LG, where he and Peters actually formed a nice tandem in the second half of the year, over to RT. Did I mention that Herremans has only played five games at tackle in his NFL career and has never started a single game on the right side of the line? And that Reid didn’t move him over until a week before the regular season?
The interior of the line is a question mark at best. Sixth-round draft pick Jason Kelce starts at center and he will be expected to make all the line calls, with two journeymen on either side of him. Evan Mathis starts at LG after having all of 22 starts in his six seasons. And Kyle DeVan starts at RG after signing with the team less than a week ago.
The worst thing about this whole mess of an offensive line is that the team’s No. 1 draft pick was a 26-year-old firefighter who had about as much experience as a football player as Andy Reid has as a nutritionist. He looked awful the entire preseason and is now on the bench. Andy Reid couldn’t pick a talented player out of the NFL Hall of Fame.
The receivers have been getting lots of love from the media for being explosive. The problem is that they might not get a chance to catch many balls if Vick is on his back every play. Also, DeSean Jackson may have game-changing speed, but he has turned into a one-trick pony after he got drilled last season and suffered a concussion. He is definitely afraid to go over the middle. Jeremy Maclin is the better receiver, but he’s barely practiced this year with a mystery illness. He may be fine eventually, but he’ll start the season slowly trying to work himself back into football shape during games that count in the standings. It’s hard to know what they’ll get from Steve Smith coming off of micro-fracture surgery, but if he’s healthy, he could be the best 3rd WR in the NFL. Unfortunately, that’s a big “if”. Jason Avant as the No. 4 is a nice luxury to have. Brent Celek is a decent pass-catcher, but he’ll be too busy helping out the shoddy
offensive line to get out in pass patterns very often.
LeSean McCoy had his coming out party last year. Shady had 1,080 yards on only 207 carries, for an impressive 5.2 yards-per-carry average. Of course that probably has a lot to do with the fact that Reid never runs the ball and defenses are shocked any time the Eagles actually do hand the ball to a running back. Even more impressive is that McCoy led all NFL RBs in receptions with 78 catches for 592 yards. Expect much more of that this season, as Vick will not have enough time to find his receivers down-field and will be forced to check down to McCoy all year.
Before we look at the defense we need to look at the new defensive coordinator. That would be former offensive line coach Juan Castillo, who has never coached on the defensive side of the football in the NFL. Yet another example of Reid trying to prove that he’s a genius. Unfortunately, the real genius behind Reid’s success was former defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. The fact is, Reid hasn’t won a playoff game since Johnson died two years ago. And promoting the unproven Castillo was a colossal mistake.
Castillo will bring a more simplistic approach to the Eagles defense, but it goes counter to what other, successful defenses are doing in the NFL. In case you don’t know, the Eagles have completely junked Johnson’s attacking, blitzing defense in favor of a “Cover-2″ defense. That’s where the defense sits back and plays the safeties deep. Other teams like the Packers and Steelers play a much more aggressive defense. The Eagles will also be setting their defensive line in a “Wide 9″ scheme favored by new defensive line coach Jim Washburn. That means the ends will line up wide and rush the passer every down. The smallish line and inexperienced linebackers will beg opposing offensives to run the ball down the Eagles’ throats every week.
That defensive line does have some impressive pass-rushers. Trent Cole and free agent signing Jason Babin will pressure the QB along with DT Cullen Jenkins, but all aren’t considered run-stoppers. Mike Patterson is the run-stopper of the group, but he can’t do it all alone. Expect opposing teams to use their big-uglies to beat up on this smallish defensive front by running right at them all game long.
Unfortunately for the defensive linemen, the Eagles under Andy Reid place absolutely no value on the linebacker position. The proof of that is in the three guys who will start for the Eagles this season. There is a rookie in the middle, Casey Matthews, and two other inexperienced guys on the outside playing new positions. Strong-side linebacker Jamar Chaney had three whole starts at MLB last year after being a seventh-round pick and Moise Fokou is the grey-beard of the unit having actually played more than a handful of games, but he is moving from the strong side to the weak side this season. This group will get pummeled on the ground and exposed through the air. Remember the Steelers preseason game? Yeah, the rest of the NFL does too.
The Eagles made the biggest splash in the free agent market by signing CB Nnamdi Asomugha. He is a stud, who can completely shut down any receiver in the NFL. On the other side, the Eagles return “The Gambler”. Asante Samuel often plays out of position and gives up a huge cushion to receivers so that he can jump routes to try to pad his personal stats. His selfish play and absolute aversion to tackling are an embarrassment. The team also added another CB, obtaining Dominique Rodger-Cromartie in the Kolb trade. DRC would start on the majority of NFL teams, so the Eagles could easily lead the NFL in pass defense. Of course, that may be due to the fact that teams will never bother to throw the football unless they get down by a few TDs.
Kurt Coleman played fairly well at strong safety last season as a rookie and I expect more solid play from him again this season at free safety. He’ll need to now that the veteran presence of Quitin Mikell is gone. Nate Allen was having a nice rookie season at free safety before he tore his patella tendon and now he’s still hobbling around the field. That means Jarrad Page will start. The CBs better be great with these guys at safety.
For all the other chances that Reid is taking this year, the most puzzling one was his decision to jettison veteran kicker David Akers and waste a draft pick on a kicker. There’s a reason almost every kicker in the NFL is an undrafted free agent, you know. I don’t care if rookie Alex Henery was the most accurate kicker in NCAA history. The NFL is a whole new ball game and Henery will end up costing the Eagles a game or two this season. As if that isn’t enough, the Eagles will also trot out a rookie punter in Chas Henry. He was a good punter in college, but that was in Florida. Let’s see how he kicks a frozen football in Philly in December.
I already told you about the defensive coaches, but the offensive coaches are no better. Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhingwig is married to the same “Four P” (pass, pass, pass, punt) offense as Reid. The only thing more ridiculous than their aversion to running the football is when they call play-action fakes that defenses ignore since the Eagles never run the football. Don’t laugh, the Eagles very first play last season was a play-action fake pass. Think about that one for a second.
Reid is a terrible coach. He mismanages the clock in virtually every game. He usually blows all of his timeouts long before the end of the half and end of the game when they are needed. He has close to a zero percent success rate with challenges. That is, when he actually knows the rules and doesn’t challenge plays that cannot be challenged according to the established rules of the NFL. He is arrogant. He takes the blame when it is obvious to everyone that a player screwed up, yet he becomes a bully with the media when anyone tries to point out the many, many obvious things he does wrong during each and every game. He won early in his career on the back of Jim Johnson’s great defenses. And Reid hasn’t won a playoff game since Johnson passed away.
The national media blasted Philadelphia fans for being too hard on Donovan McNabb. Then they saw all the flaws that we were seeing for years when he went to Washington and flamed out spectacularly. The same thing will happen when Reid leaves the Eagles.
Speaking of which, with Banner’s proclamation that the team has gone “all in” this season, the heat is squarely on Reid’s shoulders. Good regular seasons that end in a crushing defeat in the playoffs will no longer be tolerated. Even the Eagles front office seems to finally be tired of that act.
I believe the Eagles have enough talent to win the NFC East, but they will end their season with a first round defeat in the playoffs for the third consecutive year. That should be enough to finally end the Andy Reid Era in Philadelphia.