For some, it's not so much that Andy Reid retains many of the same shortcomings week after week and year after year -- it's his attitude about it.
Andy's gruffness with the media on almost all fronts has gotten so bad that Jeffrey Lurie had to spend time not just discussing it, but defending it at his post-season address in January.
There's this feeling in watching postgame press conferences that if Andy was just a little more forthcoming and little less, well, arrogant is the word commonly used, that loses would maybe be easier to stomach and wins even more joyous to celebrate.
So for those of you who have waited so patiently for the Eagles -- specifically their head coach -- to admit any flaws in the gameplan beyond "needing to do a better job" in regard to "putting guys in positions" so that they might be better suited to "make plays," today is your day.
From the Inquirer's Jeff McLane:
"We had young guys there, and so I knew that going in," Reid said Wednesday at the start of an hour-long interview at the NFL owners meetings. "The plan that I had I didn't execute it very well. Right? Thaty's my responsibility. I goofed on that one, right? I expected the young guys on defense to get where they're getting by the end of the season sooner, particularly the middle of the defense -- linebackers and safeties.
"I expected the offense to carry it through. So that part didn't take place. But to tell you, yeah, your linebackers -- the more gaps you open up, the more physical they have to be. That's how it is."
Separately, The 2012 Andy Reid Checklist of Things We Needed to Hear Before We Could Emotionally Invest in This Team and This Head Coach Again:
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
1. I made some personnel mistakes last season2. Those mistakes were exacerbated by our style of defense3. I should have known better4. I expected us to score enough points for it not to matter5. Even our young corps of safeties contributed to the problem
Well, he hit all of the major talking points (at least on the defensive side of the ball).
But you tell us, after waiting all this time just to hear Andy say "I goofed" (in specific terms), do his quotes really make you feel any better, or has the damage already been done (perhaps too many times over)?
*
video NSFW: