In the wake of the win over the Cowboys, there's been a bit of a backlash against the Eagles positive mood from the local media. They seem to want to write about how the Eagles have no perspective and there's "spin" coming from the NovaCare complex. But it seems that they've one again fallen into the trap of putting too much stock into what Andy Reid says. Or maybe this time, they're not putting quite enough stock in him...
Reid told reporters yesterday that he was happy to see the team coming together and seeing some of the young players improving. He said that this strong final stretch from the Eagles could serve as proof of what they could accomplish next season.
However, he was very clear that he didn't see this year as a success.
"I'll never sit up here and make excuses; that's not how I operate, so I'm not going to start now. I'll take full responsibility for that. I think we all expected-players and coaches-to have a better record than we have today. So that's my responsibility, and to say anything less I'd be wrong saying that."
So to say he's "spinning" this year as anything other than what it was, just isn't true. And he reiterated that a successful season can only end with a Super Bowl.
"Well listen, if you're shooting for the Super Bowl every year and you don't win a playoff game, then that's a disappointment - I know it is to our fans, our coaches and our players... [snip] So that part's a disappointment; however, you get older as a team so you put new players in. And listen, I've appreciated the growth that's taken place in some of the things I've seen. I have to do a better job at getting our guys to finish a game, win the game and so on. And these are things we can work on and I think we have. Those are important things we can take into the offseason and some of the things that we've accomplished down the stretch, here."
Some have taken this to mean that Andy will just stick with the status quo thanks the delusion that three strong games at the end of this year are a signal of success next year. However, we know that what Andy says and what he does are two different things. Just because "coach" Andy says he appreciates the work his team put in, doesn't mean "GM" Andy does. Coaches defend their players, that's what they do. But as we've seen, public support doesn't mean changes won't be made.
In 2009, Andy said repeatedly that he was committed to Donovan McNabb as his starting QB. After the season, McNabb was dealt to the Redskins. In 2010, Andy offered his public support for defensive coordinator Sean McDermott one more than one occasion. After the season, he fired McDermott. Those are two fairly major changes.
In both of those seasons the Eagles made the playoffs and finished with 11 and 10 wins respectively. So do we really think that after a year with no playoffs and 7 or 8 wins that Andy is planning to stick with the status quo?