Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - I understand the rancor of the fans, but
if you stop to think about it, doing nothing at the moment makes the most
sense.
We refer today to the situation the Philadelphia Eagles and head coach Andy
Reid are going through as the team continues to struggle.
This same scenario has played out, or will be playing out soon, across the NFL
landscape in a town near you. Firing talk and late November go hand in hand in
the NFL.
The Eagles are getting most attention now because plenty was thought of them,
and their chances, in August.
Unfortunately for the Birds, it's no longer August.
The team many thought, including the wise guys in Las Vegas, would win double-
digit games has just three victories, and they all came in September.
And with only six games left to play, getting to 10 wins obviously won't
happen.
Mired in a six-game losing streak and beset by injuries (usually the lament in
these cases), the Philly faithful are calling for the head of Reid and want to
see the hangman's shadow following him around tighten up (the fact that the
team has quit on the season and their coaches truly doesn't help, either. Of
course, the players will deny this and, as the old saying goes, "You can't fire
the players" anyway).
The anger also is now being directed at the team's owner, Jeff Lurie, who is
being ridiculed for not doing anything.
But, what exactly should Lurie do?
It says here doing nothing for now is the right call.
Of course, the folks who buy the tickets and pay to park and get soaked by the
price of a bottle of suds at the stadium don't want that and you can understand
their anger.
They want a body.
But is there a better alternative?
Before we explore that, for argument's sake, let's look at a couple of options.
Let's say Lurie decides to fire Reid today.
Out he'd go along with his entire coaching staff, leaving the team rudderless
and with a built-in excuse to pack it in the rest of the way.
Or, somebody from Reid's staff could be retained to take over the team for the
final half-dozen games to try to retain some semblance of order.
Good luck with that.
What assistant coach in his right mind would want that mess, plus an 0-6 mark
on his coaching ledger?
And even if one of Reid's boys took over and went 6-0, the chances are good
he'd still be gone the day after the regular season ends.
Maybe bring in an interim coach from the outside, you say?
Again, that's a bad idea because any outside coach worth a darn is going to
think the same thing: this is not my mess and giving me six weeks to turn it
into something half decent is impossible.
If I'm the interim guy, I want two things.
The first would be no interim tag. Either I'm the head coach or I'm looking
somewhere else, thank you.
The second would be a long, guaranteed contract.
Neither of those things would happen because Lurie, or any other owner,
wouldn't make a move that quickly. They would need time and need to do a
thorough search to try and find the right guy.
It all brings us back to the original point, there's really nothing that could
be done today to solve the problems. It's why the day after the regular season
is pink slip Monday for so many NFL coaches.
Vince Lombardi or George Halas couldn't help the Eagles right now nor would
they want to try.
So the fans can whine, and the media can speculate, but leaving Reid where he
is is the only recourse.
Let the stench of this season cling to him and then move on come the New Year.
Drew Markol has been a sportswriter and columnist for several Philadelphia-
area newspapers for over 25 years.
The Sports Network