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Inside the NFL
The Eagles' inexperience cost them dearly in a loss to the Redskins By Peter King
Just after 4:15 a.m. on the first Wednesday in October, as the street sweepers crawled down Broad Street, Eagles coach Andy Reid went to work in his windowless office on the basement level of old Veterans Stadium. Even though he typically gets only three hours' sleep, Reid loves the routine that affords him three hours without interruption before the daily rush begins. On this morning he turns on the video machine on his desk and studies how the Redskins' defense that his Eagles will face in four days has performed in goal line situations. After watching six plays, he says, "This is not a team you want to run laterally on."
"If you look at this game," Reid says, "our offense versus Washington's defense, you'd give it to them. Especially without Duce. But we'll be O.K. We can do things against their defense. We have to take the fight to them with our receivers, and I'm confident our guys will be physical. Insecurity comes when you haven't prepared, but we're preparing this week like we do for every game." The Eagles, the Giants and the Redskins all entered Sunday's play atop the NFC East at 3-2, so winning these head-to-head meetings is important. But in that brief meeting with his team at 9 a.m., Reid chose his words carefully. "Pretty big game this week, men," he said in an even tone. "I want no distractions. Forget your family and the media telling you how good you are. I want all your focus right here, right now." Reid takes a measured approach for a reason. Philadelphia is 8-13 since he took over last season, and no matter what happens on Sunday, the Eagles still have a long way to go to be among the NFL's elite. If they lose, Reid hopes the game will at least be a valuable experience for a team on the rise. "Every game, when you're trying to climb the ladder, is big," he'd said earlier. "We're in the midst of a process to get to be a good team. We all have to trust the process." In doing so there will be good days, such as the season-opening 41-14 rout of the Cowboys. There will be horrible days, like the 33-18 loss to the Giants the next week. There will also be days like Sunday's 17-14 loss to Washington -- at times exhilarating; in the end, frustrating. Against the Skins, Reid thought he could divvy up Staley's job among four backs, but they picked up only a collective 36 yards on 13 carries. The tight ends and wideouts, on the other hand, mixed things up with the Skins' secondary, as Reid had hoped, catching 13 balls for 191 yards and two scores. That should have been good enough to win, but it wasn't good enough to survive a late, costly mistake by second-year quarterback Donovan McNabb. Reid is quick to acknowledge that the Eagles' progress depends as much on the maturation of McNabb as it does on his own coaching. On Sunday, McNabb showed progress -- he made the right reads about 75% of the time -- but the loss will be hard for him to forget, and rightfully so. McNabb is the kind of passer that Brett Favre was early in his career. He'll make a great throw, then a horrible one, followed by a couple of good ones and then a dumb one that will haunt the team. Cases in point: Washington safety Mark Carrier hugged McNabb as the teams left the field. "Next time you won't make that throw," Carrier told him. "It's a learning process. Everybody has to go through it." That includes Reid. "We'll analyze [what he's doing wrong] and get it straightened out," he said of McNabb. "He's very aggressive. I'll take that because in the long run it will make us better." Issue date: October 16, 2000
For more Inside the NFL see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, October 11. Click here to subscribe to SI.
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