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Andy Reid (Native American for "BIG FAT JERK")

I am an Eagles fan. My favorite player of all time, any sport, any team, is David Akers. He is the highest scoring Eagle of all time in any position. Game after game, season after season, Andy Reid's offense plays with the attitute "let's just get it close enough for a field goal" cause one and all know they can virtually guarantee Akers gaining the three and something is better than nothing. He's gone to the pro-bowl 5x. He kicks hurt, he kicks sick, he takes his job serious and he knows they pin the game on him more often than not. He's been the only consistently reliable player on the team. I wear his jersey. I cheer for him. My kids cheer for him.

Andy Reid. God damn, I try so hard to defend that man despite his constant lack of judgment and crappy coaching and I take it on the chin for it from friends, family and foes alike. But the one thing no one could ever disagree with me on, and the one thing that I've always admired about that man, is he's gentleman. You don't see him on the sidelines chewing out his players. In the post game press conferences and interviews, he takes responsiblity for the losses and mistakes and gives his guys the credit for the wins and windfalls. I'm sure he barks, he looks like a barker, woof woof; I wouldn't be surprised to learn that in the locker room and on the practice field he verbally whips the players. But you never see him publicly humliating the men that rely on him week after week. And I've always respected him for that.

Till now.

Knowing that David Akers 6 year old daughter had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer only days prior to the game he still PUBLICLY blamed his only go-to player for the loss. What the fuck? How dare he? My six year old daughter could've told him that while the missed six points was damaging, sure, David Akers was not responsible for that loss.

How about Celek stepping out of and then into bounds cancelling out the two point conversion?

How about the offense choking on the retry at the very same play?

The interception thrown by Vick?

Vick's obsessive need for the BIG PLAY that resulted in nearly NO PLAY? I'm an observer only and I could see him searching down field for the big ESPN sound bite play rather than making the one that would simply nail the down.

How many points did the offense throw away? In the final minutes of the game alone, the offensive lost opportunities at 8 points which even a kindergartener could tell you is more than 6.

But he's going to slam David Akers who deserves credit for simply coming to work that day with everything he had on his mind for missing 6????? Why is that? Could it be because he doesn't coach special teams?

He fired the defensive coordinator in the days after the season ending loss to the Packers, a decision I agreed with [I remember proudly boasting we had one of, if not the, best red zone defense in the NFL and in the two years following the death of the great Jim Johnson we've got the worst?!], and slams a member of special teams but leaves himself and his front line blameless?

This is indicative of the entire problem with the Eagles mindset. As I mentioned before, they rely too heavily on special teams. They are intended not to CARRY the franchise but to complement it. Yet year after year, season after season, the Eagles offense and Eagles defense does nothing more but set up the next play for the Eagles special teams. And no matter how incredible a kicker Akers is (and he is), the Eagles will never win a Super Bowl on special teams alone.

To a man I've lost respect for I've only got one thing to say: You better hope and pray that David Akers doesn't kick you in your sad little sack before heading off to a team that will give him the credit he deserves, because if he jumps ship... the team will hurt far more and for far longer than your balls will.

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