The Eagles didn't just back into the playoffs, they moonwalked in. And then Reid outcoached Brad Childress from here to Minnetonka and the Eagles whipped the Vikings. Now they've got a shot, you should excuse the expression, at the Giants and a chance to move on to the conference championship where Reid's teams gagged for so many years.
Whose side am I on, anyway? You don't usually have to wait to the fifth paragraph to find out. Reid is a very good coach. He has to be, when you analyze the roster the personnel guy hands him each year.
You loved Buddy Ryan because he swaggered onto the scene, growling, "You've got a winner in town." You loved him more when he described his boss, Norman Braman as "the guy in France."
But Buddy didn't win a playoff game. Not one. And now Reid has won nine in 10 years and you still can't wrap your arms around him. Is that his fault, or yours?
Reid hasn't heard a Monday question he can't stonewall. He has been known to call for a pass on 16 consecutive plays, which ought to be an NFL record if it isn't. You're a blue-collar guy in a blue-collar town and you want to see smash-mouth football because it gets colder than a witch's snit in December. And there is Big Red throwing the football hither and yon to receivers who are stealing money.
Get over it. Remember when the Eagles started winning again and Reid seemed downright giddy at one of those Monday seances? My guess is that his agent called him that morning and read aloud the paragraph in his contract that says he has final say over all personnel decisions.
Reid wasn't going anywhere or having his powers diminished. The owner doesn't have the stomach for that kind of stuff. I just wish they'd schedule Jeff Lurie's press conferences at the Helium Club, which is where they belong.
