Andy Reid didn’t have many answers for why his team looked so bad in a 27-6 loss to the Cardinals Sunday afternoon.
“They played better than we did, clearly better,” Reid said. “They coached better, they played better, and so that’s my responsibility. I didn’t have my football team ready to play. They did, and my hats off to them. Field position, turnovers, you can’t play a good football team like that and have the turnovers that we had and not have field position. You’ve got to do a better job than that, and that again absolutely is on me. I’ve got to get my football team ready to play. I did a terrible job this week.”
Reid was pressed on a variety of topics, including why the team called 25 pass plays and five run plays when Michael Vick and the offensive line were struggling in the first half.
“Obviously we thought we could throw the ball and do a better job in that area, but we didn’t,” Reid said. “Hindsight, maybe we could have run the ball a little bit more.”
The key play in the game was Vick’s fumble at the end of the first half. With six seconds left, Vick was hit by Cardinals safety Kerry Rhodes, who came untouched from his front side. Arizona’s James Sanders picked the ball up and scampered 93 yards for a touchdown, putting the Cardinals up, 24-0. Reid didn’t have a lot to say about the play, but noted, “That was a free man there.”
As for the punishment Vick took, Reid said, “He got hit too much, and I can help out with that. That’s my responsibility there.”
In the second quarter, there was all kinds of confusion with the referees. Darryl Tapp sacked Kevin Kolb, and Arizona was called for holding. The Eagles declined the penalty and set up third-and-long. But then the officials ruled that it would be second down, and Reid decided to accept the penalty. Asked to explain what happened during that sequence, Reid said he couldn’t.
“No, I can’t. The one I can’t explain. I can’t explain that,” he said, obviously not wanting to get in trouble for criticizing the officials. “I honestly don’t have an answer for you. I don’t have an answer for you. I just… I can’t go where… I can’t answer that question.”
The only injury Reid mentioned was linebacker Akeem Jordan, who suffered a hamstring strain. Brian Rolle replaced Jordan as the team’s WILL linebacker.
Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
