Seth Vigdor
So I’m watching yesterday’s Patriots-Chiefs game and I start getting all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that Andy Reid’s “guy” Doug Pederson will be the Eagles’ next head coach. I mean the Chiefs’ offense is such a thing of beauty, what’s not to get excited about? Especially, how the Chiefs’ operate within the two-minute drill, am I right?
When most teams would have a sense of urgency being down by seven under two-minutes, Andy Reid and Doug Pederson just play it cool. They say screw-it. Let’s huddle up. Their mentality is “time running out be damned, slow and steady will win the race.”
I hope you noticed my sarcasm in the above statements.
Reid’s clock management skills have never put any of his teams over the top and it certainly didn’t yesterday against the Patriots.
Reality started to set in that Andy Reid’s “guy” Doug Pederson could potentially bring those same clock management woes to Philadelphia with him and it’s scares the hell out of me. So I started thinking back to the Andy Reid golden era in Philadelphia and I remembered what former Philadelphia Eagle Jeremiah Trotter once said regarding Andy Reid’s coaching abilities.
Here’s what Trotter told 97.5 The Fanatic’s Mike Missanelli courtesy of Philly.com.
If it came down to both teams were even, talent-wise, I think the opponent’s team would win if it came down to coaching. Andy Reid got out-coached in a lot of games, man, a lot of big games. Time outs, running the football, you know.”
So it got me thinking and I decided to put a list together. Here are some of Andy Reid’s top clock management screw-ups on any team he’s coached.
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Super Bowl XXXIX
The Eagles were down ten points with just under six minutes remaining to the New England Patriots. However, you wouldn’t know they were down, nor would you know that it was the Super Bowl. The Birds weren’t moving with any sense of urgency. Reid as he’s done many times coaching burned one of his timeouts after a clock stoppage in the third quarter. Good ol’ Donovan McNabb had four passes of under five yards that took two minutes off the clock.
The Eagles saved their two timeouts for defense and took the clock under two minutes before finally being able to get a touchdown on the one deep pass of the drive. The onsides kick that followed was recovered by the Patriots and the rest was history. The Eagles’ needed to play an almost perfect game that day, which they didn’t and yet they still were in the game. Perhaps a different Coach/Quarterback combo that day for the Eagles could’ve got the job done for the Eagles. But at the end of the day, it was just another dreadful day in Philly Sports history.
Chiefs-Patriots (Divisional Playoff 1/16/16)
As with most Andy Reid coached teams, there was so much promise for the Chiefs coming into yesterday. Led by their vicious defense, they had won eleven in a row, after starting the season one and five.
Late in the game, Chiefs QB Alex Smith hit Albert Wilson with a pass that set up first and goal on the New England one yard line with three minutes remaining. Wilson never got out of bounds, so the Chiefs didn’t get a play off until there was 2:33 left. They then ran the ball for a one-yard loss. The Chiefs then failed to get a play off before the two-minute warning. It took five plays and another 47 seconds before the Chiefs finally scored on Charcandrick West’s touchdown run. In typical Andy Reid fashion, they huddled on a few plays in that drive.
Reid was asked about that sequence after the game and here’s what he had to say courtesy via Adam Teicher of ESPN.
I’m not sure exactly what you’re talking about.”
Of course not, Andy. Of course not.
That foolishness allowed the Patriots to end the game with one first down. Why I decided to include yesterday’s game in here is simply because this game felt different going into it for me. I was willing to give Reid another chance. Silly me. At least this time, people can all take notice that this wasn’t just a Philly thing. Andy Reid is truly that bad with clock management.
Eagles-Redskins (Donnie Mac Returns Home 10/3/2010)
In Donovan McNabb’s return-to-Philadelphia game after being traded to the Washington Redskins, the Eagles lacked urgency and energy early on. The Redskins were up 14-0 early, but the Eagles had a chance to rally before halftime. They had a first and goal with 1:45 left in the half, but yet they proved to be quite useless during that time. They took a stupid delay of game call and weren’t able to punch the ball in the end zone. They settled for a field goal and ended up losing 17-12.
While this wasn’t the most devastating loss for Eagles’ fans under Reid, it did lead to Andy Reid’s infamous reply after the game when asked about that sequence. Here’s what he had to say via Philly.com.
That’s my fault. I’m trying to explain the thought process on it and that’s where I’m going to end it. We had the play called for inches and inches weren’t inches when that thing were started … The position of the ball wasn’t where we thought. From where it was originally was and where it ended up being were two different spots. That’s my responsibility. I’m not here to complain about the officials. I’m not here to complain about anybody else. I goofed.”
He goofed more than one time in his career as Eagles’ coach.
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Eagles-Packers (Week One 9/12/10)
In week one of the 2010 season, the Eagles played the Packers. I’ll let Rich Hofmann narrate this one, since he did an amazing job of it via Philly.com.
The time-management issue du jour concerned Reid’s use of his timeouts on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. Lost in all of the Kevin Kolb/Michael Vick business, and all of the concussion business, was the decision by Reid, trailing by seven points in the fourth quarter, to call his three second-half timeouts with 5:25, 5:17 and 5:11 left to play.
Good grief! The Eagles went onto lose that game 27-20, but Reid’s usage of that many timeouts in that little of time perfectly illustrates why Andy Reid can’t win the big game.
Bill Simmons once wrote about Andy Reid being a closer and I think that he summed things up perfectly courtesy of ESPN.com.
Andy Reid is a great coach for 3 and a half quarters. In baseball, most starting pitchers do their job really well for most of the game, then need a little help to finish it out. I think you see where I’m going with this. The Eagles need a closer. A coach that they can bring in at the end of close games when they’re trailing, or winning by a touchdown or less (save situations). As asinine as this sounds, tell me Eagles fans wouldn’t strongly consider it.”
Consider it? Are you kidding? They just broke their necks nodding violently. It’s a fascinating idea and I spent way too much time thinking about it. Every coach has a flaw or two. It’s impossible for them to be perfect. In Andy Reid’s case, he knows how to handle the media, build a roster, come up with game plans, delegate to assistants, get his players playing hard for him, keep them prepared and keep them motivated. It’s a eight-step job and he nailed seven of the steps. But he’s helpless with clock management — as we saw last Sunday in painful detail — and since he’s been doing this since the mid-90s, it sure seems like he will always be helpless. It’s his Achilles’ heel. So why not fix it? Either have the Clock Management Closer come in and stand next to him, or even better, just have Reid actually leave the sideline and head into the locker room like a baseball pitcher. He could even get a standing O on his way out. I would love this. Who wouldn’t love this?
I know that I omitted plenty of instances where Andy Reid has screwed his team, but it’s for a reason. Let us know in the comments section and on social media which of Andy Reid’s many screw-ups eats at you the most.