Post by GeorgiaEagle on Feb 15, 2005 1:04:43 GMT -5
Want to know what in the world was happening during the final minutes of the Superbowl, as we were screaming at our t.v.s for the Eagles to hurry the h*ll up? (I specifically remember yelling, "Where's the fire?!") The Eagles aren't saying much....
Bob Ford | Reid still mum on plodding bid to beat clock
By Bob Ford
Inquirer Columnist
The subject was clock management and staying cool in the furious last moments of a football half, and coach Andy Reid was not very happy.
"It should never happen... ridiculous... a lack of concentration and organization," Reid said.
Unfortunately, for several reasons, that burst of honesty and accountability was not delivered after the Eagles finished off the Super Bowl on Sunday with a decided lack of urgency. Reid said those words following his second game as head coach, a Sept. 19, 1999, loss to Tampa Bay that included, among other things, a field-goal attempt without the benefit of a kicker.
While the national media was shocked that the Eagles didn't switch gears at the end of the first half and, more tragically, at the end of the second half against the New England Patriots, it didn't seem like anything too out of the ordinary for close followers of the team.
The Eagles under Reid have never been good at the two-minute drill, never good at knowing when to spend and when to save time-outs, never terribly good at flipping the offensive personality from that of a careful stalker to that of a gunslinger.
To Reid's credit, that hasn't been a crucial oversight very often. In the last four regular seasons, the Eagles won 48 games, tied with the Patriots for the most wins in the league over that span. Most of the time the difference between winning and losing wasn't reduced to a mad scramble for a tying field goal.
Regrettably, the Super Bowl provided exactly that test - and the Eagles flunked.
Reid, through the Eagles' media services department, says he won't address the issue again - or the issue of whether quarterback Donovan McNabb had a physical problem that flubbed what should have been a seamless transition to the hurry-up. Not unusually, Reid has confused being asked a question with actually answering it. He was certainly asked about clock management after the game and again on Monday, but it would be a stretch to say his illumination contained much candlepower.
"We did try to get it going, and I can't tell you in detail the circumstances of why it didn't work as well as it should have," Reid said to one question.
"I'm trying to remember back on that. I've put that away a little bit," he said to another.
Well, I don't know about you, but that sure clears it up for me.
We are left to wonder whether Reid's reticence is meant as a cover-up for McNabb - whether the quarterback was dehydrated, nauseous, hyperventilating from stress, concussed, constipated or whatever - or if that is merely Reid being Reid.
Most likely, it is just a matter of personality, just as not excelling in the two-minute drill is part of the team's deliberate persona.
Reid, and McNabb, like nothing better than a careful consideration of what to do on a football field. The coach and his staff are masters at preparation, and it is no coincidence that (until earlier this week) Reid hadn't lost a game in which he had an extra week to formulate his plan. McNabb is a like-minded student, watching reels of game film and ingesting an opponent's tendencies until each read and move is nearly programmed.
During the game, Reid, often in concert with assistant Marty Mornhinweg, transmits his play suggestion to offensive coordinator Brad Childress in the press box. Childress gives his opinion of the call, maybe suggesting a tweak, and the final choice is then broadcast in the helmet of Donovan McNabb. Occasionally, this sequence will bring the Eagles to the line with a dwindling play clock.
By comparison, Tom Brady of the Patriots got to the line with the play call on Sunday with 15 or 17 seconds in which to consider what he saw. This gave him time to make slight alterations, to point at Jeremiah Trotter and to run the play without the faint whiff of panic.
It is ironic that being relatively hasty in making the play call allows the quarterback the luxury of being composed at the line, while careful deliberation on the play call can lead to the sort of frantic behavior one would like to avoid.
In any case, the Eagles do not appear to be adept at split-second decision-making. Give them two weeks and they're fine. But when to go without a huddle... when to string two plays together... that isn't a strength.
They went into halftime at the Super Bowl with two time-outs still in their pocket and a drive to a potential field goal untried. At the end of the game, they wasted scads of time during the 3-minute, 52-second drive to the touchdown that made it 24-21. Save some time and the low-percentage onside kick wouldn't have been necessary.
"I wish I could give you specifics, but things were kind of crazy then," Childress said of the difficulties in getting the hurry-up to work.
This is a familiar pattern. It bedeviled the Eagles during Reid's first two seasons and has been a recurring problem since. The Eagles do "patient" very well. It is a small failing that they don't do "seat-of-pants" as well, but not so small that it might not have cost them the Super Bowl on Sunday.
"In my first year, we couldn't get the kicker on the field. Game management is a pretty important thing from the head coach's point of view. You're literally there to manage the game, to keep control of it. It's a big part of what I do," Reid said. "We've improved since our first year or two... We've ironed it out over the years."
Reid said that in the week leading up to the Super Bowl. This week, he's not saying anything.
If Reid's careful system was the problem, the fans deserve to know that. If McNabb was the problem, they deserve to know that, too.
The truth can set you free, even if it can't turn back the clock.
www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/10881073.htm
Bob Ford | Reid still mum on plodding bid to beat clock
By Bob Ford
Inquirer Columnist
The subject was clock management and staying cool in the furious last moments of a football half, and coach Andy Reid was not very happy.
"It should never happen... ridiculous... a lack of concentration and organization," Reid said.
Unfortunately, for several reasons, that burst of honesty and accountability was not delivered after the Eagles finished off the Super Bowl on Sunday with a decided lack of urgency. Reid said those words following his second game as head coach, a Sept. 19, 1999, loss to Tampa Bay that included, among other things, a field-goal attempt without the benefit of a kicker.
While the national media was shocked that the Eagles didn't switch gears at the end of the first half and, more tragically, at the end of the second half against the New England Patriots, it didn't seem like anything too out of the ordinary for close followers of the team.
The Eagles under Reid have never been good at the two-minute drill, never good at knowing when to spend and when to save time-outs, never terribly good at flipping the offensive personality from that of a careful stalker to that of a gunslinger.
To Reid's credit, that hasn't been a crucial oversight very often. In the last four regular seasons, the Eagles won 48 games, tied with the Patriots for the most wins in the league over that span. Most of the time the difference between winning and losing wasn't reduced to a mad scramble for a tying field goal.
Regrettably, the Super Bowl provided exactly that test - and the Eagles flunked.
Reid, through the Eagles' media services department, says he won't address the issue again - or the issue of whether quarterback Donovan McNabb had a physical problem that flubbed what should have been a seamless transition to the hurry-up. Not unusually, Reid has confused being asked a question with actually answering it. He was certainly asked about clock management after the game and again on Monday, but it would be a stretch to say his illumination contained much candlepower.
"We did try to get it going, and I can't tell you in detail the circumstances of why it didn't work as well as it should have," Reid said to one question.
"I'm trying to remember back on that. I've put that away a little bit," he said to another.
Well, I don't know about you, but that sure clears it up for me.
We are left to wonder whether Reid's reticence is meant as a cover-up for McNabb - whether the quarterback was dehydrated, nauseous, hyperventilating from stress, concussed, constipated or whatever - or if that is merely Reid being Reid.
Most likely, it is just a matter of personality, just as not excelling in the two-minute drill is part of the team's deliberate persona.
Reid, and McNabb, like nothing better than a careful consideration of what to do on a football field. The coach and his staff are masters at preparation, and it is no coincidence that (until earlier this week) Reid hadn't lost a game in which he had an extra week to formulate his plan. McNabb is a like-minded student, watching reels of game film and ingesting an opponent's tendencies until each read and move is nearly programmed.
During the game, Reid, often in concert with assistant Marty Mornhinweg, transmits his play suggestion to offensive coordinator Brad Childress in the press box. Childress gives his opinion of the call, maybe suggesting a tweak, and the final choice is then broadcast in the helmet of Donovan McNabb. Occasionally, this sequence will bring the Eagles to the line with a dwindling play clock.
By comparison, Tom Brady of the Patriots got to the line with the play call on Sunday with 15 or 17 seconds in which to consider what he saw. This gave him time to make slight alterations, to point at Jeremiah Trotter and to run the play without the faint whiff of panic.
It is ironic that being relatively hasty in making the play call allows the quarterback the luxury of being composed at the line, while careful deliberation on the play call can lead to the sort of frantic behavior one would like to avoid.
In any case, the Eagles do not appear to be adept at split-second decision-making. Give them two weeks and they're fine. But when to go without a huddle... when to string two plays together... that isn't a strength.
They went into halftime at the Super Bowl with two time-outs still in their pocket and a drive to a potential field goal untried. At the end of the game, they wasted scads of time during the 3-minute, 52-second drive to the touchdown that made it 24-21. Save some time and the low-percentage onside kick wouldn't have been necessary.
"I wish I could give you specifics, but things were kind of crazy then," Childress said of the difficulties in getting the hurry-up to work.
This is a familiar pattern. It bedeviled the Eagles during Reid's first two seasons and has been a recurring problem since. The Eagles do "patient" very well. It is a small failing that they don't do "seat-of-pants" as well, but not so small that it might not have cost them the Super Bowl on Sunday.
"In my first year, we couldn't get the kicker on the field. Game management is a pretty important thing from the head coach's point of view. You're literally there to manage the game, to keep control of it. It's a big part of what I do," Reid said. "We've improved since our first year or two... We've ironed it out over the years."
Reid said that in the week leading up to the Super Bowl. This week, he's not saying anything.
If Reid's careful system was the problem, the fans deserve to know that. If McNabb was the problem, they deserve to know that, too.
The truth can set you free, even if it can't turn back the clock.
www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/10881073.htm
