Reid gets three more years

by Joseph Birmingham

Wednesday December 9, 2009 

Reid gets three more years thumbnail

Andy Reid got his extension and will now be at the helm of the Philadelphia Eagles through the 2013 season.   In his ten seasons, Reid has led the Eagles to the playoffs five times, with four NFC East championships and 1 superbowl appearance.  BUT, still no elusive superbowl victory.  He is the winningest coach in Eagles history.

When he arrived the team was 3-13 the year before and somewhat of a laughingstock in the perennially tough NFC East.  His first act was to draft Donovan McNabb, and 115 victories and a .611 winning percentage later, these two are still together and winning games, the longest such streak for a quarterback and head coach combination in the league.

Now, Reid has no more distractions, in the family or the team outlook, to prevent him from getting what Philly fans desire most.  Bragging rights over the entire NFL for winning it all, the Superbowl.   After three straight NFC East championships he was the toast of town, but then he lost the Superbowl, had a down year, then last year managed to ONLY get back to the NFC title game where his team lost to the Arizona Cardinals, and since then, fans have been clamoring for both him and McNabb to be replaced.

When the team signed Vick and everyone made such a big deal about it I commented on the fact that this coach and quarterback have never gotten the respect they deserve.  McNabb is the best at this position in team history, and Reid is the best at his position as well.  There are many other quarterbacks and head coaches who have not won the superbowl, yet you rarely hear their fans hollering for them to hit the road.

Of course, this IS Philadelphia.  Apparantly if you don’t win the NBA title or the Stanley Cup, you are still talented and game worthy, (welcome back Allen Iverson !!) but if you fail at the World Series or the Superbowl, get the hell outta town !!  The Phillies finally redeemed themselves with a Series win followed by a repeat invite where they battled those hated NY Yankees, now it is the Eagles turn to do the same.   Beating those hated Giants next week and those totally hated Cowboys to close out the season and get their 5th NFC East title in the past 8 years, followed by a run through the playoffs and a superbowl victory, is probably the only way Reid and McNabb can redeem themselves in the fans eyes and finally get some respect.

Fortunately, we have the quarterback of the future, the running back of the future, the full back of the future, two of our receivers of the future, our safety of the future, our tight end of the future, our cornerback of the future and several key defensive line players of our future already signed, sealed and delivering results on the field.  So even if Reid and McNabb CAN’T get it done, we have hope for the future because the Eagles “B” team is probably nearly as good as their “A” team at this point.

I personally believe the A team is finally in place to seal the deal, and I can’t wait to watch the rest of the season and see how close they come to pulling it off !  I said at the start of the year these Eagles would go 10-6 and be in a fight for a wild card, or get that extra win and at 11-5 take the NFC East again.  They have lost two games they should have won earlier in the year, so now they need to win at least one game they probably shouldn’t in order to win the division.

I applaud Lurie for committing to Reid for an additional three years at this turbulent time in the team dynamic, and hope it proves to be the right decision as this season and next play out.

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Comments

One Response to “Reid gets three more years”

  1. BigGreek24 on December 10th, 2009 4:47 pm

    Actually, Reid has been to the playoffs seven times (2000-2004, 2006 and 2008) while winning the NFC East five times (2001-2004, 2006). He is the best coach in terms of longevity, but if you measure success by championships Greasy Neale is still the best coach in Eagles history.

    I know the Raiders game was one they should’ve won – where was the other one? I felt they should be 9-3 right now as I had them splitting the Giants/Cowboys back to back games, which they did, and I had them losing in San Diego, which they also did. I think they will go 3-1 down the stretch and go 11-5 to win the East.

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