I know that I’m going against popular demand but I’m glad Andy Reid is here and I hope he stays another year until the Eagles win the Super Bowl. So bring on the comments, all haters are welcome, I’m ready for you. Here’s why I say Andy stays. Last season saw:
- 3 new offensive linemen, Evan Mathis, and 2 rookies, Danny Watkins and Jason Kelce, that got a lot better as the season went on. Todd Herremans is a quality tackle and some say Jason Peters is the best in the game. They also had a new O-Line coach in Howard Mudd.
- The O-Line development led Shady McCoy to Honolulu after a tremendous season both rushing and receiving.
- A crazy season of DeSean Jackson antics and average play that will change next season. Jackson can be a great player again but he hurt this team.
- Brent Celek and Jeremy Mackiln are good solid players. Jason Avant and Riley Cooper are serviceable reserves.
- Injuries and turnovers to Michael Vick. You can’t help the injuries but Vick will protect the football much better next season. The Vince Young experiment didn’t work and it hurt this football team. There was a new QB coach in Doug Pederson.
Overall I think this is a good, maybe great offensive football team if they don’t turn the ball over. Not many teams have these weapons!!
- The defensive line was pretty decent. Jason Babin was a Pro Bowler. Trent Cole is solid and the guys in the middle, Cullen Jenkins and Mike Patterson did a decent job but some depth is needed up front. Jaqua Parker might have run out of gas but showed spurts.
- The LB’s got better but need some major help. The Casey Mathews experiment didn’t work out, however he played much better later in the season. The jury’s still out whether he can be a full time player. I’d like to see them pick up a gap filler like London Fletcher a free agent from the Redskins and use the #15 pick in the draft on a LB, preferably Boston College’s Luke Kuechly. That would add some experience and toughness to the group that has to do a better job stopping the run.
- The DB’s were a mystery. Nnamdi Asomugha was pretty bad. He was pretty a guarantee to get burnt at least once a game for a TD. That won’t happen again this year. Every team in the league couldn’t have been wrong on the guy. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Asanti Samuel, if he’s back, Nate Allen, Kurt Coleman, Jaquawn Jarrett, Josilio Hansen will be better next year.
Again there were an awful lot of new faces on defense. Add to that a new Defensive Coordinator, Juan Castillo, new DL Coach, Jim Washburn, new LB Coach, Mike Caldwell, new CB Coach, Johnny Lynn, whose been replaced and new Safeties Coach Mike Zordich and not having any offseason practice time to get to know the new players and new coaches hurt this team badly especially early in the year.
- The Special Teams added a rookie kicker, Alex Henery and a rookie punter, Chaz Henry to go with solid long snapper Jon Dorenbos. I can’t say you can upgrade from David Akers but these guys did a nice job.
All of these things bring us to Andy Reid. Here are a few facts and figures for you to consider:
- 5th Winningest Active Coach. Bill Belichick (175 wins – 17 seasons), Mike Shanahan (157-25), Jeff Fisher (142-20), Tom Coughlin (142-16), Reid (126-13).
- Reid is 2nd among active coaches with 45 more wins than losses. Only Belichick is better with 78.
- Reid is tied for 1st among active coaches for years taking his teams to the playoffs with Belichick with 9. Remember Belichick has coached for 17 seasons to Reids 13.
- Reid has also coached the 2nd most playoff games and won the 2nd most playoff games to only Belichick.
- Reid has been to 5 NFC championship games and 1 Super Bowl as Head Coach of the Eagles.
- If Reid coached another 13 seasons with the same 126 wins, his 252 wins would rank him 3rd all time behind Don Shula and George Halas and 2 win ahead of Tom Landry. That’s pretty serious company.
The only thing that is not on this Andy Reid resume is a Super Bowl Championship. The team is set up to make a run at the Super Bowl with the players they have and a possibly a few slight additions and there’s no one better than Andy to take them there.
E-A-G-L-E-S!!!!!
phillypressbox 
Bill, when is enough time enough.Maddon took 7 years, Landry 11 years, Dungy 9 years with two different teams to win a SB. Bum Phillips 11 years and never won, Don Coryell 13 years never won, George Allen never had a losing season but never won a Super Bowl. Don Shula coached 21 more years after winning his last SB.
How do you measure success in the NFL?
Great analysis. So much is made of winning the Super Bowl. Are Brian Billick, Jon Gruden, Tom Flores and even Dick Vermeil better coaches than Andy. In Vermeils case he took 2 different teams to the SB. Not sure I would put Coughlin ahead of him although he’s building a legacy. Dan Reeves?? Did he make Elway or did Elway make him?? If Andy wins a SB he’ll be the greast coach ever in Philly, which his record already indicates that he is but he’ll become a hero just like Charlie Manual who the fans and media wanted to run out of town.
Andy may be The Eagles greatest coach. The last coaches to win championships in Philly had HOF players on the field, how many HOFs has Reid brought to Philly?
Vermeil brought two losing franchise out of the basement and to the SB.
Coughlin took an expansion team to two AFC championship games and the Giants to two SB wins.
They are ahead of Reid in my opinion.
Elway will be named the greatest QB of all time on Friday, so Reeves is below Reid.
Flores and Seifert I am not sure about.
Gruden and Billick need to coach again and have success.
It will be a lot easier to rank Reid on your all time list if he wins one SB.
Dick is an outstanding head coach and I feel he is better than Reid. He took three NFL and 1 college team out of the basement and turned them into Championship contenders including 1 Super Bowl title. Andy needs a title to get to that level. Dick also gets credit for taking a long hiatus from coaching and still being able to build a winner.
Dick Vermeil could flat out coach but never had the longevity to get the credit he deserves.
At the end of the season, I felt it was time to make a Coaching change. I changed my mind after I saw the hires in Miami, Oakland, Tampa, Indy and Penn State. I would rather have Reid than any of the guys they hired. If the Eagles could bring in a proven winner like Cowher, Fisher or Gruden, I might have felt differently. Not that those guys are significantly better than Reid, I just think they need a new messenger.
Would you rather have Chuck Pagano, Greg Schiano or Andy Reid coaching your football team? Pretty easy answer don’t you think. Norv Turner is still coaching the Chargers because of this. They brought the list of candidates to the owner’s office and he was like “I’ll pass and stick with the guy I know.”
Here is another question. Your PSU Season Ticket payment is due. Do you pay or throw it in the trash can? With Bill O’Brien as the coach it gets filed under G for garbage. If Andy Reid was the coach at PSU the invoice would be paid without even thinking about it. Be careful what you wish for, Rich Kotite could be behind door number 1.
I think everyone felt the frustration of an 8-8 finish when the expectations were so high. Making a quick knee jerk change could have been easily understood but I’m with you as far as replacing Andy. Not having someone to replace him may not be a good reason but the news guys that come in the league aren’t usually successful, Steve Spagnola, Spaz in Miami unless they have a strong QB in place, Mike McCarthy/Aaron Rodgers. The other option could’ve been we could’ve hired another talking Ryan who can’t get the job done in New York or Dallas.
The invoice came in today. I will read this tonight along with the invoice.:)))))
You’ll be call your boy Angelo in the morning telling him whay we should keep Andy!!!