With the Andy Reid era all but officially over, rumors of his replacement are about to intensify.
Jon Gruden, the ESPN analyst is supposedly on the Eagles' short list. Gruden hasn't accomplished anything as a coachsince leading a Buccaneers squad composed mainly of Tony Dungy's players to a Super Bowl title.
Gruden's agent, Bob LaMonte, also is Reid's agent.
We're on our way to the Meadowlands for the Eagles' season finale against the New York Giants. The sports editor needed breakfast. Myself and the sports columnist figured it would be a good idea to join him as we all were driving up together. We couldn't have planned eating at this place if we tried.
If today does mark the last game of Andy Reid's 14-year tour with the Eagles, we won't consider this a coincidence. (BTW the diner was busy; not a bad investment for someone with a few dollars in the bank between jobs). Follow @BobGrotz on Twitter.
Remember when Joe Banner formally moved on? He'd been out of the loop for months when the Eagles announced he was leaving to seek other opportunities. Then he grabbed the Cleveland Browns president's job. There's no tougher place to win than Cleveland.
Stranger things have happened (once, a plane circled Eagles practice with a banner reading "T.O. Must Go!"). But I don't expect any such quaint coziness when owner Jeffrey Lurie addresses the media to discuss the direction he's going in with the coaching staff. And I don't expect an immediate successor.
The buzz in Cleveland is Banner will reveal the fates of general manager Tom Heckert Monday. Ya think Banner would move his news conference up to upstage the Eagles, who now are mortal enemies?
Eagles head coach Andy Reid drew another line in the sand Friday when he said he wanted to coach next year. Big Red stated the obvious. Click here for the news. Reid realizesthat after this Sunday he's no longer going to coach the Eagles. Or work in the front office. I'll explore that in the Sunday Times.
What Reid basically said in asserting he wanted to keep coaching is the Eagles still are going to have to fire him because there's no way he's going to leave close to $7 million on the table. You should have known it almost two months ago when the Eagles were slumping and Reid was asked, by myself, if there was any way he'd step down this season. "I'm standing in front of the team and telling them that these are the things we need to do, one of which is to continue to battle," Reid said. "So I think that would be a cop-out. That's now how I see things. That's not the way I'm wired. We're going to keep battling and do it as a team. I'm not going to tell the guys one things and do the other."
The Chiefs (2-13) are all but assured of the first pick in the draft, the Jaguars (2-13) the second. But the Raiders (4-11) have a decent chance of defeating the Chargers (6-9), who are in for a culture change.
That opens the door for the Eagles (4-11) to collect the third overall spot ... and at least a little more leverage than being fourth.
Statistically the Raiders have a 74 percent chance of selecting third in the draft, the Eagles a 64 percent shot of choosing fourth.
With the third pick the Eagles likely would have a chance of drafting quarterback Geno Smith of West Virginiaor defensive end Bjoern Werner of Florida State, two of the best football players and hottest prospects in the draft.
Smith has the skills set to be special. Werner is another J.J. Watt. A Raiders win and an Eagles loss to the Giants - and judging by the current attention to detail and impending change in culture there's a decent chance of that happening - and the Eagles are third.
The Giants (8-7) have a 91 percent chance of not making the playoffs. Follow @BobGrotz on Twitter.
Did Not Participate In PracticeWednesday: DT Fletcher Cox (concussion), LB Mychal Kendricks (concussion), DT Fletcher Cox (concussion), LB Mychal Kendricks (concussion), WR Jeremy Maclin (knee), TE Evan Moore (back)
Thursday: DT Fletcher Cox (concussion), LB Mychal Kendricks (concussion), WR Jeremy Maclin (knee), TE Evan Moore (back)
Full Participation in PracticeWednesday: WR Jason Avant (calf, hamstring), RB Stanley Havili (hamstring), G Evan Mathis (ankle), RB Chris Polk (toe), WR Jason Avant (calf, hamstring), RB Stanley Havili (hamstring), G Evan Mathis (ankle), RB Chris Polk (toe) Thursday: WR Jason Avant (calf, hamstring), RB Stanley Havili (hamstring), G Evan Mathis (ankle), RB Chris Polk (toe).
Babin says Eagles leaked 'false stories' about Washburn
Eagles put Babin on cover of their program.
Former Eagles Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Babin, now with the Jacksonville Jaguars, let the Birds have it during a conference call with Tennessee Titans beat writers.
Babin was infuriated with the way the Eagles fired defensive line coach Jim Washburn, who previously worked for the Titans.
"They don’t have amicable splits with people," Babin said of the Eagles. "You saw how dirty they did Washburn with leaking out the false stories and the way they talked about him on the way out. It’s kind of a big socialistic system that they have. I didn’t really care. I’m only going to worry about what I can control, and that’s practicing hard, working hard and playing hard on Sunday."
Babin also accused the Eagles of undermining Washburn's authority with a defensive line consultant. Tommy Brasher was hired to replace Washburn.
"You find out the fact that they had a D-line consultant the whole time they had him," Babin said. "Well, if you don’t trust the guy… It’s kind of like one of those things where they say they trust you and they want you to do certain things a certain way but then behind the scenes they’re monitoring it and second-guessing it. It’s unfortunate because as you guys know, Washburn gives his heart and soul every practice and gets the most out of all of his players.
"But that’s life. I can’t really sit up here and whine and complain about my situation when people around the country and around the world for that matter are in a lot worse situations than myself."
The Eagles had no
one selected to the NFC Pro Bowl squad Wednesday marking the first time in the 14-year
Andy Reid era they’ve been shutout.
The last time the
Eagles didn’t have a player selected to the Pro Bowl was 1999. Actually it was the
1998 season, Ray Rhodes’ last with the organization.
Kicker Alex Henery and guard Evan Mathis probably were the most deservingEagles. Mathis is a third alternate.The complete Pro Bowl rosters are here.
If anyone has a reason tofeel jobbed it's Cardinals middle linebacker Daryl Washington. In addition to 9 sacks, Washington is one of the top all around defensive players in the league. The Cardinals are 5-10. The Pro Bowl middle linebackers were Patrick Willis and
NaVorro Bowman of the Niners, who are 10-4-1.
Referee Tony Corrente and his crew are on the whistles this weekend for what in all likelihood will be Andy Reid's last game as head coach of the Eagles. Corrente is an interesting guy. He survived throat cancer last year. Didn't know he had it until after he helped break up a tussle in a Steelers-Ravens game last year. In addition to being a survivor Corrente got in hot water this year for using colorful language while his mike was open. You can view it on Youtube. Corrente was fined a game check for the verbal burst. He earns roughly $9,000 a game plus expenses.
Quarterback Nick Foles played the entire second half
Sunday with a broken throwing hand according to Andy Reid.
While Foles' throwing hand looked like a catcher's mitt after the game, it was only a hairline fracture of the second metacarpal
bone per Reid. The head coach said the break occurred on the next-to-last play of the first half of the
Eagles’ 27-20 loss to the Washington Redskins Sunday at Lincoln Financial
Field. Replays showed it was the third-to-last play of the first half when Foles was taken to the ground by BarryCofield.
“It’s a very
slight fracture,” Reid said Monday. “This was something that showed up on the MRI this
morning. We X-rayed it after the game. It wasn’t present on the X-ray.”
Reid said it’s likely
that veteran Michael Vick would start in the regular season finale Sunday
against the New York Giants at the Meadowlands.
Ridley Park's Mike Dougherty stepping down as #Eagles video director
Mike Dougherty started video operations under for the Eagles under Dick Vermeil.
The Ridley Park resident is stepping down at the end if this season.
"Only great memories," Dougherty said before the game. "It's all been great. (Daughter) Monica said you've been here longer than you haven't. I never thought about that until now."
"It was a way of life for him and us," Marge Dougherty, his wife said. "It's been a wonderful ride."
Michael Vick suspects he will be part of the housecleaning when the Eagles' season concludes in a couple of weeks. Then again, the potential arrival of a guy like Chip Kelly could change that. The Oregon University coach is likely to be courted by the Eagles, the Panthers and others, should those jobs become available according to reports. Trust me, Vick would love to be part of a Kelly fastbreak offense. Vick recently said he doesn't consider himself a backup. Breaking news, it wasn't. Anyone else expect him to say anything different? At any rate Sunday is going to be a strange, strange day for Reid, Vick and Eagles fans. It's all but inevitable the Eagles are moving on from Reid. There's considerable uncertainty and tension in the organization over what could come next. For all practical purposes the Eagles-Redskins game today at the Linc is going to be Reid's last home date in charge of his team. The season ends the following week against the Giants at the Meadowlands.
"It’s going to be very awkward," Vick said. "Coach has been here 14 years. I think
everything has an ending. Hopefully Coach can go out with a win."
Eagles rookie Nick Foles isn't a fit for the Kelly offense although Kelly's system gets the best out of any quarterback.
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