The Philadelphia Eagles are running out of people to blame, luckily for them the season is coming to an end. They fired defensive coordinator Juan Castillo, fired defensive line coach Jim Washburn and benched quarterback Michael Vick but they’re still struggling. So what’s the problem now? Read more after the jump.
Head coach Andy Reid basically blamed it on his rookies.
Asked about a blocked punt against the Bengals on Thursday night, Reid said that the problem was rookie receiver Marvin McNutt getting beaten by his man so badly that he was pushed into the path of punter Mat McBriar, who ended up punting the ball into McNutt’s butt. Reid also said that a rookie was to blame for the Eagles’ punt team not having the correct personnel on the field on that play: Ryan Rau, a rookie linebacker, wasn’t on the field because he was with the defense on the sideline instead of being with the punt team.
Reid also said inexperience is to blame for fumbles. Rookie quarterback Nick Foles and rookie running back Bryce Brown had a misconnection on a handoff, and Brown has had a number of problems with fumbles, losing three in his first two NFL games. Reid said that’s just a matter of inexperience on the part of Brown, who is not only in his first NFL season but doesn’t even have much college experience, with just 104 carries in his entire college career.
“He needs to play,” Reid said of Brown. “That’s why I haven’t sat him down because of the fumbles.”
Earth to Andy Reid but your rookies didn’t cause you to lose eight games straight. Also its week 15 and your rookies still have no idea what they’re doing? Right now he’s looking like the common denominator.
