Eleven teams will soon launch their first post-draft camps with a different head coach than at this stage last year. The Philadelphia Eagles will not be one of them.
We saw what happened to veteran coaches, especially Super Bowl-winning coaches Jon Gruden and Mike Shanahan, after their teams swooned at the end of last season, unable to win a difference-making game down the stretch to reach the playoffs. And in Shanahan's case that 52-21 disaster at San Diego with a division title on the line was a defining, insurmountable blow.
Imagine if Philadelphia had lost to Dallas 52-21? I think Steve Spagnuolo would be the Eagles' coach right now instead of residing in St. Louis. I think Reid would have been moved out after 10 seasons and that he would have regrettably moved on.
We know what happened. Reid took a tumultuous, Donovan McNabb-benching, underachieving season and turned it into ecstasy. Dallas was demolished 44-6. The playoff victory at Minnesota followed. The loss to Arizona did, too, with the Eagles falling only a play or two shy of Super Bowl XLIII.
He's back.
Back with McNabb. Back with the task of adapting and re-shaping and molding without spirited safety Brian Dawkins, who now plays in Denver. Back with new offensive tools and toys.
As the Eagles open their three-day camp on Friday, Reid is going to be asked questions about his draft, about the fact that he selected three offensive players at the top for the first time during his Eagles reign. Was he appeasing McNabb? Was he answering the criticism that he has used too much paste and glue for too long around McNabb and finally relented to another approach?
Andy Reid is going to answer them like he always does -- keep it tight, keep it close.
You don't coach for an upcoming 11th consecutive NFL season in one place without artfully dancing through minefields and winning your share of battles, the hidden ones as much as the public ones.
"I've been in this league a long time, so I don't think much about those types of things or think that way," Reid said. "I just try to do the best I can do. There's a way you turn things around and it starts with the players; that's the only way you turn things around. This time, it starts with these three days coming up. We kind of load up the plate for everybody. It's like the first three days of training camp. We put in a lot of plays. The veterans get back in it and the young guys get to learn. It's good for the veteran players to get in and work after having some time off. It's great to get the whole team together, including our new draft choices. You've got to have continuity-building and it starts now."
Among Philadelphia's offseason moves, offensive tackle Jason Peters enters from Buffalo via a trade and fullback Leonard Weaver arrives from Seattle, a player Reid plans to utilize as a runner, blocker and pass catcher.
It is the Eagles' top three picks -- receiver Jeremy Maclin, running back LeSean McCoy and tight end Cornelius Ingram -- who have created buzz. McNabb, in a blog post this week, appeared pleased with his new options.
Was McNabb's input sought on these selections? That question was posed to Reid.
"No," Reid said. "I went more with our scouts. I have asked Donovan about free agents in the past because he knows a lot of those people."
Did he feel pressure to upgrade McNabb's weapons?
"I was happy with the receivers we had and still am," Reid answered. "But you add a Maclin and that is a good thing. The fact Maclin fell to us was kind of a shock. We trust our board; everybody said we needed a running back at that pick. We were fortunate when McCoy sort of fell to us later. You don't go in planning that things will be that way."
If Dawkins was the "soul" of your team, how do you replace that, Reid was asked?
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"I will say he was a huge part here and his legacy will live here forever," Reid said. "Things happen. You've got to move on. It's like when guys get hurt and the guy behind him has to pick up the slack. I think we've got some people looking to make their mark. The young kids I've been around, they say, 'Hey, thanks for all you did to help me, I enjoyed our time and good luck, but this is my time now.' Brian did that when he was a young player here."
Things happen. You move on.
But not to Reid as the Eagles coach. He is back.
He nearly pulled a Tom Coughlin, the Giants coach who was on the brink of being pushed aside by Giants ownership prior to the 2007 season. Coughlin answered with a championship. Reid did not get that far, but he took the Eagles last season beyond expectation.
He has always done a lot with McNabb, and with running back Brian Westbrook, in front in his offense. But if this Eagles free-agent and draft class clicks, and considering the quick development of last year's top choice receiver DeSean Jackson, Reid has a chance for a fanciful offense. A chance to draw it up and let it roll and let it fly with more firepower than he and McNabb have ever possessed.
"I looked at every play from last season, some painful, some very nice," Reid said. "You put together a plan from that for the offseason and you hope to execute it. I saw somewhere where only 50 percent of first-rounders make it in this league and in the following rounds the percentages go downhill real fast -- that's absolutely nuts. We'll get these young players on the field with our team and see what they can do. That's when you'll be able to tell."
