The local peppered Andy Reid with questions about Donovan McNabb in his day after press conference. Should he be replaced? Is it time for Kolb? Is McNabb finished?
"Donovan, for every throw that he didn't make there, he'll get himself back. I know that he has already talked to you (writers covering the game) after the game and put the blame on his back, which quarterbacks do,” Reid said. "He'll continue to fire and get whatever is wrong straightened out and get it right.”
"We'll get through it,” Reid said. "We'll work through it. He'll continue to push. He's a competitive guy. We have to make sure that we are putting him and the receivers, running backs, tight ends, that we're putting them in the right spot in the pass game and that everybody executes. Everybody has had a little piece of it, and we can all do a better job.”
OK fine... But is anyone asking Donovan McNabb if he thinks Andy Reid will "get it right." Does McNabb think Andy Reid is going to "get whatever is wrong straightended out and get it right?"
I'm not writing this an excuse of the play of McNabb on Sunday. We all saw him struggle and it's likely that no matter what offense Reid was running McNabb was still going to be off target and making bad throws that day. Still, his poor play shouldn't cover up the playcalling in the game.
McNabb's poor play shouldn't cover up the fact that the Eagles that the Eagles threw the ball 58 times and ran it 18. It shouldn't cover up the fact that against the 1-8 Bengals the Eagles offense was completely one dimensional and relying on poorly executed trick plays. But when the media does bother to ask about what role Reid might have had in the struggles, he flat out doesn't tell the truth.
"You end up trying to get Brian going is what you are trying to do," Reid said Monday. "With running backs, you try and get it right, and with that we left (Westbrook) in and tried to get it going."
That's just not true. I don't know any other way to say that. Brian Westbrook ran the ball 14 times. Fourteen! When you hand the ball to a guy 14 times you absolutely did not "leave him in and try to get it going." "Just keep firing" only applies to the passing game. If Mcnabb is stuggling Reid he tries to get him going by throwing more. If Westbrook is struggling, the running game is abandoned.
So now we'll endure all these columns where writers say it's time to bench McNabb and start Kevin Kolb... As if that would make any difference. The offense is unsustainable as is. Put whatever QB you like in there, if he's asked to run an offense where we throw 94 times and run 30 the last two games I doubt the results will be much different.