PHILADELPHIA -
Well, you don't have to be a football expert to see the Eagles are not very good these days.
They have lost seven straight games, and they have a record of 3-8 on the season.
Do you remember before the season when owner Jeffery Lurie said another season with eight losses would not be acceptable?
It is hard to believe it has come to this. Many people are shaking their heads, calling now for head coach Andy Reid to go.
So, whether it's going to happen before the end of the year is now the big question.
FOX 29's Howard Eskin joined "Good Day" on Tuesday morning and offered this assessment: "I don't believe – I would be shocked if Andy Reid gets fired before the end of the season."
Why? Eskin said, "Well, first of all, listen to Jeffery Lurie. … He said, 'After the season, we will evaluate and, obviously, 8-8 is not good enough.' So he said after the season. When he makes decisions, he usually takes it all into perspective and then makes a decision. In other sports, whether it be baseball, basketball or hockey, you can – because there is so many games – you can change the coach or the manager, and still have time to recover. There is no recovering. This team is done."
Does it matter that the Eagles have apparently lost the fan base, including the Daily News putting a guy with a bag over his head on the front cover, and people screaming about Reid? Should the team change the conversation and say he is not coming back in order to change the conversation to looking forward?
Eskin said "fans are what have you done for me lately."
"So, it doesn't matter what you do. They're not going to be happy with an assistant coach that you put in, and that's what you have to do, especially in football. You can't get somebody from outside because there's nobody there. Fan base isn't going to be happy. But they were, with all of that last night, there was a different kind of fan out there, season ticket holders that gave away their tickets, from what I was told, they were cheap on StubHub and all that other stuff. But the reality is when the Eagles took the lead, those fans were in to it again, because that is what they are."
Players that are making mistakes also need to be identified, Eskin said.
"Certainly the coach is held responsible, the defensive coordinator for the mistakes on defense," Eskin said. "But, somewhere along the way, the players have to be held account be. With all of that, if it wasn't for turnovers, they would have won the game."
Eskin pointed to Cam Newton's early touchdowns as defensive breakdowns. He said Eagles defensive coordinator Todd Boyles had a 20-yard walk with Brandon Boykin after the second touchdown. It may be a case where he wasn't supposed to blitz. But there were glaring errors on both of those passing touchdowns.
And turnovers are an ongoing problem with this team, Eskin said. Reid tried to take it easy on rookie running back Bryce Brown, who was making his first start and rushed for 178 yards but two fumbles in the Panthers' end of the field took points off the board.
The Eagles continue to take bad penalties, including on special teams.
And Eskin said the team made a mistake with the way they rushed the passer, Newton.
"You've got to contain and not let him get outside," Eskin said. "That's a defensive end's responsibility. And that happened last week with Robert Griffin III. You've got to force the quarterback inside. And they continue to make the same mistakes."
Eskin said you can go down the entire defense and find guilty parties, but he said Andy Reid is ultimately responsible.
"And I really believe that Andy Reid knows it's over," Eskin said. "But there is no sense doing it now."
Eskin added this further explanation for why he thinks the head coach will stay: "Here's something I know that people don't want to hear, and I think Jeffery Lurie has some compassion: Andy Reid lost his son this year. So, let him just play out the season, go out peacefully. There's nothing you can do to change what's happening right now. It's not gonna change. It is what it is."
He added that Lurie and Reid will tune out the fans because "If you start listening to the fans, you're going to wind up sitting with them."
In summary, Eskin said on the state of local sports: "Let's just say it's not good. … I don't like it, you guys don't like it, Philadelphia doesn't like it. We are in a lull with sports teams in this town, and it's unfortunate that it seems to be happening all at the same time. If the Sixers were good, maybe we could move on to the next thing, but that's not going to happen."
