Welcome to "The Takeaway," where we take away the three key points from the Eagles previous game, in this case the team's 24-23 loss to the 49ers.
1. This is not a good team. You could at least explain away the Eagles' first two losses of the season by saying that they were hampered by Mike Vick injury woes. Sure, you'd be overlooking the horribly run defense, the lousy pass protection, and the rotten coaching. But at least you'd have a decent excuse to fall back on with this team, to keep you from tearing your hair out at night.
No longer. Vick played all day Sunday, and this team still looked putrid. They can't defend the run at all. And Nnamdi Asomugha has proven shockingly mortal for a guy who was supposed to be right up there with Darrelle Revis. Vick himself is turning over the ball far more often than he did last year. The Eagles have an imbalance of talent right now, with big stars at the skill positions but a bare cupboard along the o-line (especially with Jason Peters hurting his hammy in the 4th quarter), at placekicker, and at linebacker. Those are glaring holes that aren't going to be magically fixed any time soon, especially given the performance of this coaching staff. Speaking of which...
2. Fire Andy Reid. The most frustrating thing about having Andy Reid as your coach is knowing that he's virtually untouchable, despite his annual displays of breathtaking nincompoopery in clutch moments. At some point, likely at the end of the season, Reid will bring the ax down on a scapegoat (that's you, Juan Castillo), and the Eagles will move on without having addressed the real problem. Only Andy Reid would hire his offensive line coach to be the d-coordinator. Only Andy Reid would have a player stupid enough to throw a freakin' lateral to no one at the goal line, then CHALLENGE that play simply because he refused to believe it actually happened (one play after when he could have reasonably thrown the flag, by the way). I think Philly fans would prefer Rich Kotite at this point. At least with Rich Kotite, you KNOW he's gonna be fired. But Andy Reid is here FOREVER, like some kind of permanent organizational disability. Alex Henery botched those field goals. Jeremy Maclin fumbled. Ronnie Brown lost his mind. When you have that many potential goats in a single game, you have to blame the goatherder. BLAME HIM, I SAY! Andy Reid, you are a lousy goatherder. I could listen to WIP callers calling for his head all day, and I will! "I'm just glad he wasn't in charge of D-Day."
3. At least the Phillies won, AMIRITE? They didn't? Oh. Oh, dear. Prepare for the Angerpocalypse.
