Listening to sports talk radio and seeing the number of comments in each post on this site and other similar sites, it seemed that heading into the big Eagles-Giants game on Sunday Night Football that more people were talking about where Matt Holliday would land than the Birds' chances of knocking off the defending champs.
After the game, sure there was anger. There was angst. There was the 'here we go again' comments from people who are irate at the fact that when they need to, this football team cannot manage to gain one yard.
But all the vim and vigor we usually hear on the Monday after an Eagles loss like that seemed to be a little bit subdued. As horrible as Mondays after losses are on the psyche, spirit, and in some cases body, it just seemed different now in a post World F'n Champion world.
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Andy Reid has been the head coach of the Eagles forever. It seems that way at least. Watching the game, you can see Reid on the sideline and can't imagine him as a young up-and-coming quarterbacks coach for the Packers. He's Andy Reid: Head Coach, now. There are a lot of guys out there who can go back to being an assistant coach if and when they lose their head coaching gigs. Mike Martz had no problem swallowing his Super Bowl pride and taking coordinator job after coordinator job. There are some coaches you can imagine taking a demotion in order to stay in the game.
Andy Reid doesn't seem like that kind of guy, does he? I found myself watching the game on Sunday thinking that if he gets fired – be it this year or any time soon – he's not going to coach ever again. I suppose he could get another head coaching job somewhere if he wants it, but Reid is one of those 'total control' guys that owners have finally begun to skew away from. At least in other towns. Maybe if Reid resigns at some point he'll get moved into the Eagles' front office.
Now, before Eagles fans go nuts, I know the season is not over. Washington isn't great and Dallas is a mess. The Eagles are 5-4 but 0-3 in their division and looking up at as many as five teams for the two wild card slots. Sure, optimistic Eagles fans look at the schedule and still think 12-4. But realistically they are looking at three division games, two of which come on the road, and games against upstart Baltimore on the road and a first-place Arizona team that can score a lot of points.
But wait, even if they finish the season 7-9, Reid is not going anywhere. Reid is safe now thanks to the Phillies. Seriously, it will hurt in this town if the Eagles don't make the playoffs, but are we still at the point of calling for coaches heads? We're happy fans now. Let him stay as long as he wants. We've got our trophy across the street, right?
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PHOTO PHUN
Here are some of the best comments on yesterday's photo.
He wanted a cool title like "The Minister of Defense" so he went with "The Pope of Punishment" - not a fan of five
Weapon X Napkin Holders - $19.99 Set of 4 - BigRig
Nice reference by our own Matt P with the Clayton Bigsby joke. And gophillygo, I almost wrote shmata but they give me crap enough around here for the Jew references (oops).
As for today's photo, why not caption up the top image?What could that smile be about? Here it is bigger for ya?
-Photo courtesy philadelphiaeagles.com