If you've watched the Eagles at all over the past decade and ever heard Andy Reid speak before, then it's likely that this press conference was exactly you expected to hear. In fact, I daresay I could have predicted pretty much everything the coach said before he said. I'm sure most of you could have done the same.
Here are the highlights. 8-8 isn't good enough, he believes in his coaches, he was never going to fire Juan Castillo, he likes Todd Bowles, they haven't made any conclusions on DeSean Jackson, he wants to win, he knows the fans are frustrated and he offered Steve Spagnuolo a job. Not a specific job, but some sort of job.
"Steve Spagnuolo was another topic and one that I understand and is a fine football coach. Steve and I talked throughout the season as we do every year. When Steve was released from the rams, I did offer him a spot to coach here if he needed one, a place to land, with open arms. My feelings was if you can have two great coaches on defense, that's even better than just having Juan himself. That's about as far as it went there. We didn't talk about titles. He had opportunities to look at other places and I completely understand that and he wanted to go to New Orleans. That's a positive for him."
I'm sure there's truth and half truths in here. I don't think he'd ever flat out say that he offered Spags the defensive coordinator job even if he did because that would undermine Juan Castillo and belie his assertion that he was never going to fire Juan.
Either way, does it really matter that much? He's not here either way and New Orleans is a better job either way. I can see how people would be frustrated if they see the reason that Spags didn't come here being that Andy didn't offer him a coordinator job... but like I said, who knows whether this is true? We know that Peter King reported that Spags was offered the coordinator job but was too scared of Jim Washburn to take it. I don't particularly buy that, but the point is that it's hardly a sure thing that Andy didn't offer him the chance to run the defense.
But like I said, what difference does it make? They didn't get him and we wanted him.
In the end, Andy says, he hears you all.
"The fans, they want to win a championship. I completely understand it. When I'm out in public at different events, the fans have been good to me. I appreciate their support, showing up to games. One of the things we've looked at is our home record. We've got to do better at home throughout the season. I understand. I've always said the fans and myself are on the same page. When we stink, I'm probably the first one who knows we stink and the fans are right there with me. And when we do good, it's the same way."