Andy Reid Doesn't Offer Explanations, But What Explanations Are There?

i am so fuckin’ sick of AR he never corrects shit! FIRE HIS ASS please… Absolute crap 13 years of just being good not great is enough.

He doesn’t know what the explanations are.

Any explanation as to why Juan still has a job? He simplified the Defense by not having one… He can take Pro Bowl players and turn them into “Mr. Irrelevant”. There was no easier piece to the puzzle than just letting Nnamdi do what he does best and play man. Instead Juan has him playing around the safety position or off his man by 8 yards. Even Sean McDermott could have gotten this right… There is no way Castillo should be coaching come Sunday.

The Eagles have a long legacy of giving games away in the most frustrating, ridiculous fashion imaginable. Normally-reliable players will make blunders at the worst possible times and cost us wins. As usual, Andy will blame himself and the fans will blame something irrelevant like the run/pass ratio.

Of course Andy is the blame for some things (every NFL game must have a loser, and that coach could’ve done a better job). But frankly, it’s individual players’ mistakes that kill us week in and week out. We lost FOUR (or five?) fucking close games in which probowl kicker David “Mr. Automatic” Akers missed two mid-range FG’s. It’s been like this all the way back to 06. The Eagles rarely get outclassed in a game. They give games away. Maclin dropped two potential game-winning drives so far this season (despite having an excellent receiving performance)… so it’s hard to blame coaching, inexperience or “lack of desire” when shit like that happens with a star veteran.

We are in the 4th quarter down by 10 with 4 minutes to go and we are NOT playing the Vagiants…lol
Only way we sniff the playoffs if the Cowboys, Skins and Giants all fail miserably. Then MAYBE we can back in. We are not getting in as a wildcard. Its win the division or done.
And right now we are already 3 games behind the skins.

on ESPN thought a coaching change could happen later in the week because when Reid was asked if something could changed, he said “not today”. We’ll see. I could see castillo being gone before next week

Hate to nitpick here but what you are referring to as the second Avant fumble was actually an interception. And while it seems everyone is blaming Avant for that interception, it was not a good throw. It was a hospital pass. Avant barely got his finger nails on the ball when the DB came running full speed from the other side. He never had a chance to pull that in. Most receivers would have never even got a finger on it as Avant was fully stretched out to even get to it. And the DB did not take it away from him, he just hit the ball at essentially the same time. Yes, the bounce off his foot made it an unlucky interception, but if Vick hits Avant in the numbers, it likely would have been a different story. It was a three yard pass to Vick’s left, no reason he shouldn’t be able to hit him in the numbers from that distance. (Although Avant was not even at the first down marker. Would have been 4th and 1. That is all on Avant) My point? The first fumble, 100% on Avant and both maddening and inexplicable. The second was more a lucky bounce and a bad throw than it was an Avant fumble.

Another game, another year of Andy taking responsibility yet no punishment.

Well I just finished watching the game in condensed form, so chances are I will miss some things, but overall here is what I took from the game.

Offense:
- Vick’s four interceptions is a misleading stat. It is debatable that you can only put one of those on Vick himself—the 3rd when he was under pressure, probably released earlier than he wanted, and missed the LB underneath in coverage. The other three were fairly bad luck, but at the same time Vick had one dropped by Buffalo’s D that likely should have been a pick, as well. The 4th one to Avant was not a great pass—it was a bit out of reach—bit Avant still has to make that play. Arguably that wasn’t the best play call to begin with.
- The offensive line is a concern again, I think. It seemed Vick was under pressure and getting hit back there all day again. The Eagles still have not made adjustments to corner blitzes, either—I don’t know that they ever will. Teams know to do this against Vick but the Eagles don’t seem to care.
+ Vick made some great plays with both his arm and his legs. I think he did all he could to get a win. He didn’t play perfect, but to me he looked pretty good for the most part.
- I think the Eagles are mis-utilizing Vick, in a way. They need to get more quick, three-step drop passes so that Vick isn’t back there all day getting killed. They also need to work the run game more—they abandoned the run far too early yesterday. I understand they were down, but there was still time and you didn’t need to commit 100% just yet. At the same time, I realize this is flaw in Reid’s system that will never change (over-emphasis on the QB’s role leading to a severe imbalance in run/pass).
+ The Eagles offense was really good, and I think this is something that is missed in this game. Yes, they turned the ball over a lot, but they only had to punt twice and were absolutely blazing in the 2nd half. You could tell Buffalo’s defense was completely gassed and the Eagles were just too fast for them. They should have put the game away at this point instead of committing errors and just barely losing the game.
- Where is the ball security! This is plaguing the offense badly. Avant had basically two fumbles (realizing the 2nd was actually credited as a pick) that killed possessions on the offense. Maclin has had similar issues, as well as Vick this year. Fundamentals.
- Really big mistakes at the worst times. Two penalties on the Eagles field-goal drive in the 4th completely killed momentum. One was on the rookie Watkins, which isn’t surprising—he’s bound to make mistakes, but this is one of those times you just can’t. Then a hold on Dunlap, another liability on the line. Vick had scored a rushing TD which would have put the Eagles down 3, instead a FG left them needing a TD. This bleeds over into the defense and Parker’s encroachment on 4th and 1.

Defense:
- Once again, the D was marred by awful tackling and really bad coverage. The Bills negated the Eagles rush by using screens, shuffles, and quick slants, and they worked like a charm into the 3rd because the Eagles were very late to adjust. I think this can be attributed party to the coaching staff—the rush wasn’t working, but they kept doing it and Fitz made them look bad.
- Samuel and DRC, I think, were exposed in this game. They did not play well and I think it’s fair to say they haven’t thus far. So much for 3 great CBs. I didn’t see Nnamdi at all, so I assume he did his job. On quick slants that Buffalo employed much of the game, none of the corners played tight (bumping guys at the line), nor were they able to get underneath on those routes and make a play. They just weren’t adjusting.
- Weird matchups. I saw Chaney having to cover Stevie Johnson at times—what exactly was that about? Was it just the Eagles playing zone? If so, that’s a mistake, I think, especially given the presumption that they are supposed to have such great cover corners.
+ In fairness, the Eagles fell behind real quick, which put a lot of pressure on the defense to make stops. Eventually they did (after that 80 yard Buffalo drive in the 3rd). They had a Redzone stop (WOW) after Avant’s fumble and put up zeros in the 4th. At the end they looked better.
- The Eagles still can’t stop the run, even when selling out. They let Buffalo gain 10 yards on the ground their last drive (leading up to the 4th and 1) even when they knew Buffalo was going to play hide-and-seek. And Parker jumping is just…unfathomable.

That’s what I took out of the game. There are still lots of fundamental issues that need to be corrected from the top. You also can’t discredit the amount of bad luck the Eagles had in this one—the first two of Vick’s picks were just lucky and athletic plays by the Bills D. With that view, I think it is still too early to panic with the Eagles.

It is probably understated just how good the Eagles offense is. However, because the defense is such a liability, games where they lose the turnover battle will most likely always result in an Eagles loss. Their offense needs to protect the ball. They can nearly score at-will with their speed.

I predicted the Eagles to go into the bye at 2-4, which they can still do if they beat Washington next week. The remaining games after their bye are:

vs. Dallas
vs. Chicago
vs. Arizona
@ NYG
vs. New England
@ Seattle
@ Miami
vs. NYJ
@ Dallas
vs. Washington

I think the Eagles can win all but one of those games (based upon potential). The Patriots game is obviously the toughest, and you have to think Brady could easily expose this Eagles defense. However, aside from them, I think the Eagles can win out. Chicago is wildly inconsistent (we’ll see how they do against Detroit), the Jets are really not that good, and I think they’ll like revenge against the Giants.

The games against Washington end up being crucial. I honestly see them as more of a threat than Dallas, who like Chicago is also wildly inconsistent at best. With that said, those are the two games that may well decide the Eagles season (fittingly that their season ends against the Redskins).

It’s still not over if they go into the bye at 1-5, but it sure is a lot harder. I imagine 10-6 gets you into the playoffs, possibly even 9-7 with this division, but realistically, the Eagles probably can’t afford to lose more than 2 games the rest of the year. If they have to lose more, make sure it is against non-division foes. At this point they can’t afford to lose games to division rivals—they lost that luxury with the 1-4 start.

1. Give McCoy more touches. 11 carries simply isn’t enough for a guy who is probably one of the top three backs in the NFL.

2. Defense needs to abandon the wide nine and play man man and utilize Asomugha and DRC how they should be used.

3. Sign Darren Sharper start him next to Nate Allen. Activate Jaiqwuan Jarrett. You don’t draft a player in the second round to have him inactive each week.

4. Start Brian Rolle Jamar Chaney and sign another veteran or 2. Julian Peterson, Lofa Tatupu, Pisa Tinoisimoa or Keith Bulluck or even Dhani Jones. Simply put our LB group isn’t all ready. Chaney is but Rolle is going to have his up and down times.

5. Get Celek, Steve Smith, Ronnie Brown, Clay Harbor and Riley Cooper more involved, Cooper doesn’t even have a reception this year does he?

6. Better play calling and ball security!

how ‘bout we trade jackson, samuel, and a couple of our defunct LBs for dick lebeau….you think they’d bite? I’d be willing to throw in ronnie brown and devan too…

Just some reasons:
1. Play-design not suited for personnel. Vick, who is 5’11" doing a blind-screen. Run-pass option for Ronnie Brown? Asomugha in zone. Wide 9 in run situations with bad linebackers. Last week someone (Andy, Vick, or Marty) said the first read is to the end-zone, then he is supposed to check down with the other guys. That’s why he’s holding the ball so long! He’s waiting for receivers to get open, with a bad line, and getting nailed. How about we run the west coast? the first read should be 3s or less, 5-10 yards, then go up the field. But we do big-play first, and get lucky occasionally. But what happened in the Giants game and the end of the last two games. Short passes to move the ball and get into scoring position.

2. Lack of a defensive mind in the organization. Haven’t had a good defensive draft in years. Are you telling us, after however many years with Jim Johnson, Andy can’t design a D. Get Rob Ryan in here or something! And get some better scouting for the draft.

3. Arrogance. Besides picking Castillo, Reid picked him before the super bowl (i.e., he didn’t even interview anyone from teams with championship-caliber defenses). Sure we can use 3 pro-bowl corners. Ridiculous.