Personally, I think the Eagles’ coach made a major tactical error to just walk away from the last game in order to “preserve” his best players. You want to enter the playoff season with energy and momentum, not walking across the finish line like it’s just another day at the office. You especially don’t want to walk across and hear your fans boo you, even if you’re guaranteed a medal.
Reid should remember that the fans paid good money to watch their team. It was a packed house and he cheated them. Sponsors paid really good money to cover the game and he cheated them. Just because the Bengals are out of contention does not mean that they should be relegated to playing the Eagles’ understudies. Fuck Reid. It’s his job to give everyone a good match and he played the coward.
Kudos to Bill Cowhler for playing today’s game like it was the SuperBowl. That’s what I want to see. I actually do believe that the Steelers are marching to the SuperBowl. And if they meet the Eagles, I hope they send Andy Reid a message about how real men play football.
Gad that was awful. I haven’t read the Buffalo paper yet today, it will be interesting to see if the pundits say too little too late, but good job on an exciting season? Or rip into the Buffalo offence for screwing the pooch in the first half and not getting the first downs.
15-1 – woooo! Sorry Bills fans…I’m not being a prick here, just speaking honestly. If you couldnt beat out 2nd and 3rd string teams you do not deserve a spot in the playoffs.
What a season, still hard to believe.
This is right.
For the Indy/DEN game:
If the Colts win, they go New England. If the Broncos win, they (DEN) come to Pgh.
for the NYJ/SD game:
We get the winner of this game in Pgh unless Den upsets indy, in which case the winner of SD/NYJ goes to play the Pats.
He did the same thing last week against the Rams. It was the worst Monday Night Football game of the year . . . pathetic! Even Madden and Michaels commented on the Eagles uncompetetive performance, saying something to the effect of how they’d never seen a team actually try and lose before. This strategy hasn’t worked for Reid in the past so I’m not sure why he thinks it’s going to be any different this year.
No Owens, two unmotivated games and their timing’s off. I’m thinkin’ Philly’s out PDQ.
No it’s not. It’s his job to win the Super Bowl. If he thinks the best way to do that is to play scrubs and keep his starters fresh, that’s his prerogative. It’s more important to me as a fan that the team is still playing in January than it is to see the starters in meaningless, late season games.
And the sponsors don’t enter into it at all. Sponsors know when they sign on that late season games might be meaningless and might be incredibly important. It’s a crapshoot. Sometimes they come out ahead and sometimes they don’t, but they go into it with their eyes open. If they don’t know the possbilities ahead of time, they need a sharper marketing department.
I do agree that it’s a tactical error, especially given the (lack of) depth on the Philly bench, but I’m also not an NFL coach. If Reid thinks resting his players gives him the best shot, then that’s what he should do.
Cowher did the same thing. You think Maddox would start the Super Bowl just because Big Ben’s ribs are sore. He didn’t do it to the same extent, but the team he put on the field was not the team that gave the Steelers the best chance to win.
Several coaches did it yesterday, making the television experience one of the worst in recent memory. Indy/Denver sucked and I’m guessing most of the upsets I saw on the ticker were starter holdout borefests as well.
I understand the strategy but with the end of the season winding down and soon to be over I hate seeing any game be wasted. Man, the offseason is soooo depressing . . . and sooooo long!
I want a championship. We already lost one key player; if McNabb or Westbrook get hurt the Iggles are dead meat.
It’s his job to win a championship, not meaningless games.
Thank you for demonstrating that you know absolutely jack shit about football. Cowher held out most of his starters. Or were you under the impression that Maddox and Willie Parker were the Steelers’ starting backfield?
John Madden knows “jack shit” about football, and he expressed similar sentiments about the Eagles basically taking a three week break – that it cheats the fans, and is counterproductive.
So he had a career regular season record of 103-32-7 and a playoff record of 9-7 (one of those losses being the Immaculate Reception), and he won a Super Bowl in 1977 (1976 regular season).
If that is the standard required to know “jack shit”, may I know “jack shit” half as well as him. If I did I’d be a $5 million a year head coach in the NFL.
I am pretty sure that cricetus was making the same point. The post before him said
He responded that Madden knows “jack shit” (note the quotes) and shared the same opinion as (presumably) he did. It may have been phrased oddly, but I think his point is that Madden knows what he is rambling about and he (Madden) also says that Philidelphia should not have wimped out.
I agree it was badly phrased. My only point is that open contempt and disgust for people who suppose that maybe resting the starters for three weeks because they have to be ready for the Superbowl is not necessarily how to win the Superbowl. You can, at the very least, look at it as a somewhat reasoned POV. After all, Madden has won more Superbowls than Andy Reid and you combined. He may ramble at times, but he does this shit for a living.
I can see both sides. I think it’s easy to lose momentum on three weeks rest, and wouldn’t be surprised to see the Eagles blow their first playoff game. Of course, the rest of the NFC is crap, so they might get to lose the Superbowl anyway.
Whether or not the strategy is the one to use is up to the coach - it’s his team, and it’s his call. But the implication that the expectations of sponsors and fans should play into the coach’s decision does deserve contempt, in my opinion.
furt’s “jack shit” comment was in response to PunditLisa praising Cowher and condemnig Reid when they both played the game the same way. The Steelers are deeper than the Eagles, but the stars barely saw the light of day. Staley had 8 carries and Ward caught 2 passes. Big Ben didn’t play, Bettis didn’t play, Burress didn’t play, and the first string defense barely took the field. Cowher and Reid played the exact same game Sunday; they just had different tools to play with. The “jack shit” might have been harsh, but Lisa was flat out wrong.
It’s a catch-22 for the coaches, though. Imagine if someone rolled up on Big Ben and took out a knee on a meaningless play in the third quarter of a meaningless game and he was done for the post-season. All the same fans who piss about seeing an exhibition game in December would be calling for Cowher’s head and demanding to know what the hell #7 was doing on the field.
I think that educated fans should be aware that if their tean does very well, there’s a pretty good chance that the last game (or two) of the season might be played without starters. I also think that most of them will take that trade off to see their team in the playoffs, especially if they’re one of the top seeds.
