Reid Is Here To Stay

Today, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie held a press conference in which he officially announced that Andy Reid will return in 2012 as Eagles head coach.

I had the chance to listen to a good deal of the press conference and I agree with a lot of the points made by Lurie.  Lurie made it clear that he is bringing Reid back based on his overall track record, his recent track record, and the intangibles such as Reid being a players coach.

When you look at Reid's overall track record, there is no argument that he has done an outstanding job.  These past 13 years have been the greatest years in Eagles history.  While the Eagles haven't won a Super Bowl during Reid's tenure, they have reached the playoffs in just about every year, and at times have gone very far into the post season as well.

In terms of his recent track record, in 2010 the Eagles lost to the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers in the opening round of the playoffs.  To go along with that, the Eagles made it to the NFC Championship game in 2008 before falling to Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals.

And with the intangibles, Lurie is referring to things like how much the players like Reid, and how much players want to play for him.  A lot of fans and people in the media, think that Reid is arrogant in his press conferences.  But today Lurie pointed out the fact that Reid is not being arrogant but he is in reality defending his players and sacrificing his popularity for the sake of the locker room.  I think there is something to be said for how much Reid is willing to defend his players.  When a coach is willing to put himself on the line for his guys, that just motivates the players to work and play harder for that coach in return.

While Lurie defended Reid at times, he also made it very clear that he was not happy with how the season turned out.  He said there was too much talent for the Eagles to go from a 10-6 division winning team, to an 8-8 flop.  I completely agree that Reid made some big mistakes this year.  But to fire him right now, with this team, just doesn't make sense to me and I applaud Lurie for making the right move in bringing Reid back for a 14th season.

I have always supported Reid and I'm pretty sure I always will.  I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that for as long as I've been an Eagles fan, Andy Reid has always been head coach.  I know I'm probably going to get some hateful comments for this article, but I will continue to defend Big Red and I look forward to see what 2012 will bring us.