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Eagles-Cardinals Postgame: Fire Andy Reid NOW

B-Dub Written by B-Dub, Sunday November 13 2011
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Fire Andy Reid NOW.

The Philadelphia Eagles "Dream" season is over and Andy Reid needs to be fired immediately.  Everything that is wrong with this team and this Lombardi-less franchise is Reid's fault.  Now it's time for Reid to pay the price for his gross incompetence.

With an unthinkable 21-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, the "Dream Team" is now 3-6 and all but eliminated from playoff contention.  That would be a terrible 3-6 Cardinals team led by a backup quarterback who wasn't even good enough to start on a decent college team.

Backup quarterback John Skelton completed 21 of 40 passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns.  Until I saw those numbers, I thought the former Fordham QB was the worst player in the NFL.  He threw two ugly interceptions, one of which was returned by Asante Samuel for a touchdown, and generally looked like he couldn't have found his receivers with a guide dog.  Yet, he drove his team to two fourth quarter touchdowns, each covering over 80 yards.

Luckily for Skelton he was facing an Eagles defense that has now blown a fourth quarter lead five times this season.  A defense led by a guy who had never coached on the defensive side of the ball before Reid thought it was a great idea to give him the job.  A defense that looks like it has absolutely no heart when it matters the most.

All those Pro Bowl cornerbacks keep allowing receivers to get open for first downs and touchdowns.  All those fearsome pass-rushers suddenly can't generate any pressure in the fourth quarter.  And somehow, the defensive coordinator dialed up a blitz that left rookie safety Jaquan Jarrett making his first NFL start in single coverage on Larry Fitzgerald.  Fitzgerald (7 catches for 146 yards and 2 TDs) didn't score on that play, but the Cardinals did eventually score on the drive to end the Eagles season.  

As much blame as the Eagles defense deserves in this nightmare season overall and this game in particular for blowing yet another lead, the offense was even worse.

Michael Vick is even worse than I have been saying for the last three years now.  He stinks.  Let me say that again for those of you who are clueless enough to think he is a good quarterback.  He stinks.

In his last 11 games with the Eagles Vick is 3-8 with a 57.0 completion percentage, along with 13 TDs and 13 INTs.  And for that he was rewarded with a contract that could net him $100 million.  Yet another reason Reid should be fired immediately.

Vick was putrid in this game.  He completed a paltry 16 of his 34 passes for 128 yards, with zero TDs and 2 INTs.  For those of you keeping track, that equates to a pathetic 32.5 quarterback rating.  Yes, Vick carried 8 times for 79 yards rushing, but so what.  He once again couldn't lead his team on a winning touchdown drive with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter.

This is the kind of failure that got Donovan McNabb Booed unmercifully.  So why is Vick still the darling of the national media and those Eagles fans who don't know the first thing about football?  Oh wait.  I guess I just answered my own question there didn't I?

With Vick obviously off from the start completing only 3 of his first 9 passes for all of 21 yards, certainly the Eagles brain-trust would lean on the NFL's leading rusher right?  Uh, no.  What part of Andy Reid deserves to be fired did you miss?

LeSean McCoy is the best weapon that the Eagles have and he got all of 14 carries that he turned into 81 yards and he caught another 3 passes for 12 yards.  Reid deserves to be fired just so LeSean McCoy can be allowed to become one of the best players in the NFL.  Andy Reid can do what opposing defenses can't seem to do, stop McCoy.

Another brilliant move by Reid was to finally discipline receiver DeSean Jackson for his lackadaisical play and habit of missing or showing up late for team meetings.  Reid suspended Jackson for the Cardinals game for being late to a meeting this week, but reports surfaced that he was frequently late to meetings all year.  

Apparently Reid thought this was a great time to try to send a message to his team.  Hey, they're only playing the Arizona Cardinals without their starting quarterback and two members of their defensive secondary.  The Cardinals were 2-6 and just playing because the NFL was making them finish out the season right?  Wrong.

Hell, the Cardinals even tried to give the game to the Eagles.  While Vick was missing receivers and Reid was shutting down McCoy by not giving him the ball, the Cardinals were justifying their 2-6 record.  Kicker Jay Feeley missed two chip shot field goals and running back Beanie Wells wasn't generating much yardage against the Eagles porous run defense.

But being an Andy Reid-coached Eagles team, a gutless loss was inevitable.

After Samuel's 20-yard interception return for a TD, the Eagles immediately let the Cardinals drive 82 yards for a tying TD.  Fitzgerald scored a 11-yard TD when the Eagles decided to play zone defense in the red-zone and tried to cover Arizona's best player with a linebacker.  Vick was then saved from a horrible interception he threw into the endzone by a defensive holding call.  That lucky break allowed the Eagles to score on McCoy's 1-yard run.  Too bad that was it for the Eagles highlights.   

Vick actually did throw a red-zone interception that counted right into the chest of a defensive lineman in the second half.  That missed scoring opportunity was critical since the Cardinals tied the score on another Fitzgerald TD catch on yet another 80+ yard TD drive.  

The Eagles did get three more points courtesy of one of the ugliest overthrows you'll ever see by Skelton that Nnamdi Asomugha caught.  Of course Vick had the wind knocked out of him on a scramble and the Eagles had to settle for a field goal and a 17-14 lead in the fourth quarter.  That's when the Eagles defense let up an 11-play 87 yard drive to blow their fifth fourth quarter lead of the season for the loss.

The Eagles got the ball back with 1:53 left in the game and two timeouts.  Plenty of time for an actual franchise quarterback to drive his team down for a winning touchdown.  Vick failed as usual, since he is not a great quarterback.

As usual the Eagles played sloppy, with 11 penalties for 97 yards.  That is the mark of an undisciplined team and that reflects poorly on the coaching.  The Eagles had several costly penalties, such as when McCoy was called for holding that negated a first down at midfield on the final drive.  After that, Vick threw yet another horrible pass up for grabs that was intercepted to seal the game and effectively end the Eagles season.

And Reid needs to be fired immediately.

His team plays with a complete lack of heart and emotion and that is the fault of the head coach and his staff.  All the talent in the world doesn't matter when they are poorly coached.  I mean, how do you not give the ball to the NFL's leading rusher for 12 minutes in the second half when you have the lead?  A good coaching staff wouldn't do that, but the Eagles threw 9 straight passes after they scored at the end of the third quarter.

Reid's Eagles lost to an inferior Cardinals team that had lost their previous 11 road games.  A Cardinals team with an undistinguished backup quarterback who threw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns.  There is simply no excuse for this one.  Andy Reid needs to be fired now.

I wonder if we can get the Penn State Board of Trustees to fire him since Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie doesn't have the stones to do what's right.


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2 comments


0 up down 0
B-DubB-Dub, 6 months ago said:

Hey at least Paterno is smart enough to give the ball to his best player, unlike Fat Andy.

1 up down 0
TNMTNM, 6 months ago said:

Yo Dubster, maybe they should hire Paterno!