There might be no “I” in team, but there is a huge “I” in pride. That’s something the Eagles didn’t display an ounce of in Sunday’s embarrassing loss to Atlanta.
Or, as former Eagle Asante Samuel put it after the game, “That was a good, old-fashioned ass whooping right there.”
Yes, Asante, yes it was. Andy Reid cancelled his day-after press conference Monday due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Sandy. In fact, the Eagles closed all their offices down at the NovaCare Complex for the day.
But what really is there left to say? One of the trademarks of Reid’s tenure here has been bouncing back from disappointing losses, fighting to the final whistle and respecting the wings on the helmet. None of those things were evident this past Sunday at the Linc as “Fire Andy” chants rained down.
“I’m just saying what it looked like,” said LeSean McCoy. “How we played, how the game ended, I didn’t see any pride. I didn’t see any heart. This is the whole team, myself included. We didn’t get it done today.”
Several players crowed about having a great week of rest — Reid gave his team the bye week off — then came back refreshed. They credited a great week of practice. New defensive coordinator Todd Bowles even said that Atlanta didn’t do anything the Eagles hadn’t expected and rehearsed in practice.
“We couldn’t get off the field. They ran everything we practiced and we didn’t make the plays. We didn’t execute,” Bowles said. “It was nothing we didn’t expect, we just missed tackles and missed plays.”
It goes back to that pride thing then. Reid called the season “fixable” and promised his team would “get it right.” His players insist they still have Reid’s back.
“Yeah, I feel like Coach still has the locker room,” said Brent Celek. “I feel like we as players need to execute.”
This could be the biggest week in the Reid’s career. Maybe the most telling one in franchise history. A trip to New Orleans awaits — anything less than a victory would be unacceptable.
