Andy Reid has done it again.
I’m always amazed at how many times the Eagles coach comes around to something the fans have already realized.
This time it’s his linebacker. Specifically the set he decided to start last year with. In a word, it was a disaster. Most football “experts” knew it. The fans knew it. Now Reid agrees.
The Eagles were changing their alignment, featuring the so-called “Wide 9” fashioned by line coach Jim Washburn and lorded over by defensive coordinator Juan Castillo. You know, the guy who used to be the offensive line coach who hadn’t done anything with defense since his college days.
The linebackers, starting with the choice of Casey Matthews as a decidedly undersized starting middle linebacker, were a disaster. The gaping holes in the Wide 9 are supposed to be plugged by linebackers. Instead the Birds’ backers got steamrolled.
Watching Rams tailback Steven Jackson go 51 yards for a TD – without an Eagle as much as breathing on him – was probably an omen. It’s a problem that dogged the Eagles for weeks.
Matthews lost his job. The Eagles lost their shot at the playoffs in those first eight weeks.
“I goofed,” Reid admitted to the media at this week at the owners’ meetings in Florida.
We know, coach. We could have told you that.
Maybe you should listen to us once in awhile.
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