OK tell me again why Andy Reid is great

[maddog60]

A coach is only as good as his last game. I bet Eagles fans weren't complaining when he led them to the Super Bowl or 3 straight championship games. Then when they didn't win the Super Bowl in any of those years some people blame the coach instead of blaming the players or giving the other team credit. The Eagles lost to the better team. End of story.

Oh, I dont disagree with you at all. Reid is a good coach and has kept Philly competitive for a long time. I also agree that the better team won. NO overcame timely turnovers to win, and that was on the philly players who were on the field.... but you have to admit, punting the ball away with less than 2 minutes and 2 timeouts (no matter the yards to go) was a bit of a head scratcher move.

Do you possibly think that the odds of stopping them from getting a 1st down were better than the odds of converting a 4th and 15? Its not like this was 4th and inches, or 4th and short. It was either one shot to get 15 yards or 3 shots to prevent 10 yards. Neither probably had good odds, but this was no black and white bonehead move.

That said, I agree wholeheartedly with others who said the best team won. I think criticizing Reid after the way this season ended is ridiculous. With McNabb and Lito healthy the Eagle might've been the better team, but what Reid did with an injury that should've killed the team's season, I don't think its fair to nitpick a decision between the lesser of two evils he made when in hindsight it didn't work. Let's face it, Reid goes for it, and the Eagles fail to get the 1st down, and we'd all be talking about why he didn't punt with 2 timeouts and give his defense a chance to step up instead of hoping for a miracle 4th and very long.

[maddog60]

So, there is NOTHING to be lost by going for it on 4th & 15.
Either way the Eagles could not give up a first down.

Yeah, because you know, giving them the opportunity to kick a FG without picking up the first down, which would end the game, or attempting a 30-40 second drive from certainly inside your own 20, as opposed to getting the ball back with that kind of time around mid field is nothing to lose...

[buffalobillsrul2002]

The decision made by Reid was bad, plain and simple.

Reid gave up a big part of the chance he had left to win the game by punting that ball. The Eagles had about as good a chance of stopping Duece as they did of converting that 4th-and-15.

Still, Reid did a heck of a job coaching the Eagles this season to the point they made it to

[EagleFan68]

Punt the ball and hope for a stop, and you actually have a chance. Andy Reid was playing the odds. He knew he probably wasnt going to convert on 4th and 15, so he punted the ball and hoped for the best, because he knew if he didnt get the first down, the game was pretty much over.

I agree with playing the odds.

But what about the odds that they didn't stop the run all night and that suddenly wasn't going to change

Their odds were better at getting 4th & 15(The Eagles WRs were wide open all night down the field) than they were stopping the run in this instance.

[EagleFan68]

So, there is NOTHING to be lost by going for it on 4th & 15.
Either way the Eagles could not give up a first down.

Yeah, because you know, giving them the opportunity to kick a FG without picking up the first down, which would end the game, or attempting a 30-40 second drive from certainly inside your own 20, as opposed to getting the ball back with that kind of time around mid field is nothing to lose...

If you knew football, you would know that they would not have attempted a FG. At the absolute closest, it would have been a 52 yard FG. If he missed the Eagles would get the ball on their own 42.

So if the Eagles held the Saints, and the Saints attempted a FG instead of pooch punting it, THAT would have been an even dumber decision by Payton than Reid's decision to punt it.
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