Andy Reid is not the first football coach to take a bullet for his players. Most coaches understand it is part of the job. They might not like it, but they do it because they know ripping the players in public is the surest way to lose a locker room.
After a tough loss, when a reporter asks what happened on a certain play, the coach knows exactly which player messed up and what his responsibilities were, but he will almost always hide behind some generality -- We had a breakdown, -- that stops short of indicting any one individual.
He could give a direct answer (because he knows the answer), but he cant (because he knows the consequences). If the coach says, The middle linebacker blew the coverage, it makes for a great sound bite, but the middle linebacker will never trust the coach again and other players likely will feel the same.
So we get coach-speak, which consists of clichs, deflections (I have to see the film,) and, in the case of Andy Reid, I have to do a better job.
It grows tiresome after 13 seasons, but I get it. I know what Reid is doing and, frankly, that part of it doesnt bother me. The coach-protecting-his-guys thing is what weve come to expect. But thats not the part that comes across as arrogance. Thats what Jeff Lurie, who addressed this matter on Tuesday, fails to grasp.
You can convert (protectiveness) to arrogance if you misjudge it, the Eagles owner said.
But those arent the statements that people find arrogant.
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It is when Reid is asked, for example, why the Eagles missed the playoffs and he says: We were 8-8 and the other teams, they werent. They had a better record so they made it.
It is when he is asked, as he was Sunday, when he would start thinking about his future with the Eagles and he says: Ill think about it when I want to think about it.
It is when he is asked a direct question about something that happened in the game, a fourth down decision, a red zone call, something very specific, and he says: Im not going to get into all that.
It is in those exchanges that people watching feel Reid is arrogant. They feel as though they deserve better answers and they are right. The reporters who are assigned to cover the game deserve better and the fans who invested their Sunday to watch the game deserve better, too.
Reid simply chooses not to answer or even try to answer. It makes him look like a bully. It makes him look, well, arrogant.
That has nothing to do with protecting his players. If Reid doesnt want to hang certain individuals in the town square, thats OK. If he doesnt want to put the finger on players and coaches who made mistakes, we can accept it. Thats not arrogance; its just part of coaching. It is the other stuff, the stuff that is, frankly, unnecessary that people find off-putting.
Ive covered the Eagles in one form or another for 42 years, so Ive been around a lot of head coaches. Ten, if you count the one-game Fred Bruney era in 1985. For the most part, they all did their best to protect their players. Buddy Ryan would occasionally tweak one of the players with a comment or two, but it usually was done with a wink. Buddy had his own way of doing things.
The only time I can remember an Eagles coach crossing the line it was Mike McCormack, and he paid dearly. The Eagles opened the 1975 season 0-2 and they were coming off a bad loss in Chicago. McCormack was unhappy with the effort and said as much at his Monday press conference.
Tom Brookshier, the former Eagle who was working in local TV, asked bluntly: Mike, how many dogs do you have on your roster?
McCormack was an old school guy who played for Paul Brown with the Cleveland Browns and coached under George Allen in Washington. He knew how to defuse a loaded question. I had seen him do it before. But this time he was just angry enough to shoot from the hip.
You mean real mutts? he said. Id say two.
In the press room, we all exchanged startled glances as if to say, Did he really say that?
Someone quickly followed up by asking McCormack to name the players. He said he couldnt do that and as a result, the mutt label was attached to the whole squad. The players resented it and when the fans started bringing dog bones to the Vet and waving them at the TV camera, the players resented it even more.
The team finished 4-10 and McCormack was fired at the end of the season. It wasnt a very good team and it may have crashed and burned anyway, but the mutt gaffe was the tipping point for the head coach. There was no coming back from that.
So thats why whenever coaches go to great lengths to protect their players, even those who might not deserve it, I understand because Ive seen how badly things can unravel when that trust is breached. When Reid covers for his guys, I know why he does it, and thats fine.
But its those other answers to legitimate questions and the stonewalling that smacks of disdain that makes people think Reid is arrogant. Lurie says it is all a misconception. Well, no, its not. This coachs public face is hard to like.
Thats not to say Reid is a bad guy. Ive received dozens of e-mails in recent days from people who say I have a vendetta against him, that I have a personal grudge against him, and none of that is true. I dont have that many dealings with him, but we get along well enough.
Ive told the story before but it bears repeating that when my mother passed away two years ago, Reid called to offer his condolences even though it was a Tuesday during the regular season, game plan day, the busiest day of the week. It was a very kind thing for him to do, and Ill always appreciate it.
Ive heard stories from other people about Reids human side, his kindness, his sense of humor (which Ive seen when we did interviews for NFL Films), so I know there is more to the man than a cough and Times yours. I just think he does himself a disservice by not showing that side more openly and more often.
We like to be able to root for the man as well as the coach. Thats one of the reasons why Dick Vermeil is still beloved in this town, because he coached with his heart on his sleeve and the fans embraced that humanity. He let us share in that emotion. It would be nice if Andy Reid did the same.
E-mail Ray Didinger at viewfromthehall@comcast.net