Opinion-Burned out on Andy Reid

    I've been supporting Andy Reid for a long time. When people told me he was a lousy coach, I ignored them. When people ridiculed him for his game planning and time management in games, I would always scoff and say, "He's the winningest coach in Eagles history. Obviously he's doing something right." Unfortunately, my desire to defend the man affectionately dubbed "Captain Andy" and "Big Red" has subsided as I am now simply fed up with the man.

    I feel awful for the man for what he went through this off season with his two kids Britt and Garrett. Those are two people with some very serious drug problems and no father would ever want to see his kids go through the kind of thing that the Reid boys went through this summer. This is especially upsetting given the fact that Andy is a big family man. I remember seeing something on the Eagles website completely devoted to how close Andy is with his family. This is strictly in regards to Reid's coaching this year, which has been nothing short of atrocious.

    Now I know what some of you are probably thinking, especially if you aren't an Eagles fan. "Oh here we go. Another example of the Philadelphia sports fans running someone out of town." This is nothing like that. The reason why I am burned on Reid and no longer supporting him is that he is unbelievably stubborn and that adversely affects his ability to coach this team. At no time during Captain Andy's tenure has that been more obvious than this year. Reid seems to live in his own universe when it comes to coaching and follows a unique "Reidian" ideology of coaching. Here are the 10 Commandments of the Reidian ideology:

    1.) Thou must not run the ball when trailing a game by 10 or more.
    2.) Thou must believe that anybody with arms and eyes can return kicks
    3.) Thou must not invest any time, thought, or money into who plays wide receiver
    4.) Thou must believe that the linebacker position is irrelevant to defense
    5.) Thou must clear thy throat at least 15 times during a press conference
    6.) Thou must not answer any questions in a direct manner during a press conference or interview
    7.) Thou must have the assumption that time is irrelevant in a football game and thus time management is not important
    8.) Thou must use draft picks on people who don't amount to anything
    9.) Thou must have at least five questionable play-calls per game.
    10.) Thou must not develop a game plan each week for they are overrated anyway.

    The fact of the matter is, Andy Reid is good at a few things such as managing the salary cap and making sure his guys aren't spouting off to the media or getting arrested. Terrell Owens is the lone exception but we all know that T.O. is a tad loco. However when it comes to the 10 Commandments of the Reidian ideology, Reid makes those mistakes all the time. He made them in 1999 when he took over for Ray Rhodes and now it is 2007 and Reid is still making the same mistakes! It is unbelievable to me how when Reid was asked by tv and radio personality Jim Rome about possibly moving a tight-end over to help the struggling Winston Justice during week 4's embarrassment to the Giants, Reid responded, "Winston gave up six sacks. There were twelve sacks in the game. It's not all Winston's fault." Yeah, okay Andy, say it as if a guy giving up six sacks to the same guy in one game is normal. While we're talking about the week four game, how about when Reid allowed almost twenty seconds to waste off the clock when it looked as though the Eagles actually had a chance to do something on offense. Reid had two timeouts to play with while Donovan McNabb and Co. looked confused as to why Reid wasn't doing anything. Andy, your time management was what your critics pounced on you for following Super Bowl XXXIX. Didn't it ever cross your mind that maybe, just maybe time management does matter and that sometimes by using time outs when they aren't necessary or not using them at all when they are can really mess your team up in the long run? Of course it didn't, because Andy is stubborn and he's the first one to admit that.

    Let me end this by discussing what turned the tide in my mind about Andy Reid. Even when the Eagles lost those games last season to the Giants, Saints, Buccaneers, Jaguars, Titans, and Colts the team (especially the offense) played well enough to win in most of them. Offense is there to score points and most of the time they were able to do that whether it was McNabb, Jeff Garcia, or AJ Feeley playing. This year, the defense is playing well enough to win but the offense has completely hit a snag. It is particularly troubling when you get a solid defensive effort for three of the four games so far (I didn't consider the Lions game a very good defensive effort) and yet your team is 1-3. I can't blame McNabb entirely for this because Reid is the one who draws up the game plans and this team keeps coming out like it has no game plan. Every single week we see Reid make the same mistakes where this great team on paper comes out inexplicably flat and ill-prepared, such as this year against the Giants and Redskins and last year against the Titans and Jaguars. Then we go to the off-season where Reid has got to be one of the most overrated draft minds in the NFL. It is troubling to look at how many of Andy's draft picks are no longer with the team. Corey Simon, Freddie Mitchell, and soon to be Jerome McDougle. When you really think about it, how this team has been successful might have more to do with the people around Reid (i.e. Tom Heckert and Jeff Lurie) than Reid himself. Either way, this year Reid looks as though he has lost his zeal for coaching and the results have shown themselves this year as the Eagles offense turns in one listless performance after another. I sincerely hope that Andy's family life gets better and that he remains the good person that I think he probably is. However, it is time for a change in Philadelphia and we might see that pretty soon.