Andy Reid Still Puts Philadelphia Eagles in Best Position To Win in 2011

Following the Wild Card loss to the Green Bay Packers that sent the Philadelphia Eagles, well, packing for the offseason, there has been much written and debated around town that Andy Reid is the root of all evil postseason sour endings from the last decade.

Over the course of his tenure in Philadelphia, one of Reid's famous postgame press conference lines has been: "I have to do a better job of putting guys in position to make plays."  The thing is, Andy, that you did put your guys in a position to win on Sunday last week. 

I know the stat sheet says LeSean McCoy only received 17 touches, but if you watched the game you'll notice that the Eagles ran the football effectively and schemed successfully to give Mike Vick enough time on most plays.  Yes, he took some hits in the game, but he definitely had more time than in recent weeks to make plays.

It was not Andy Reid that allowed an 80-yard momentum killing touchdown drive with 13 minutes in the third quarter, following a quick score that the Eagles much needed.  It wasn't Reid that completely botched two money field goals that would have changed the course of the game. 

The only coaching mistake I saw on Sunday was perhaps the 4th-and-1 field goal attempt, but I think we're sitting here second guessing it because it was missed.  Did anyone think David Akers would miss two field goals in clutch moments?  Neither did I, and neither did Andy Reid.

It wasn't Andy Reid that stepped out of bounds on a two-point conversion; that was a great play call and otherwise well executed. 

The way I saw it, the loss was more a result of poor execution by the players on the field—Dropped passes, missed tackles.  These are basic things that a professional athlete should be better at.

Next season, it doesn't make sense to blow up the whole project and start fresh.  It is more advantageous for the Eagles to stick with Reid for a few more seasons and see if he is able to pull off a Bill Cowher.  Cowher won the Super Bowl late in his Steelers career, and I am sure the fans were impatient by the end.  It usually doesn't work out well to replace a good coach and cause the team to learn under a new system. 

So rather than pointing to Andy Reid, I am pointing to the players on the field.  Not one of them, but all of them, did not execute the perfect gameplan to defeat Green Bay.  It's unfortunate, too, because they were put into a position to win the game.

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