Five That Made the Difference in Thursday’s Loss to Seahawks

Vince Young (QB/Eagles) – So much for Young making himself a few extra bucks next year. Hey Vince, when Tavaris Jackson outperforms you, you know you suck. Young hasn’t been able to recapture that magic he found during that masterful final drive against the Giants in his first start. I realize he has limitations with his arm, but he really didn’t use his feet when he could have. He forced a lot of bad throws that weren’t even close to his targeted receivers.

Young was woeful protecting the ball on Thursday night, continuing a trend that has plagued the Eagles throughout the season. They are dead last in the NFL in the turnover category.

DeSean Jackson (WR/Eagles) – His situation has gone from bad to worse. Once an unthinkable notion, it seems nearly impossible that he will return to Philadelphia next season. Jackson makes this offense go, so it should be no surprise that his self-destruction parallels the demise of his team. Ignoring fellow wide receivers, coaches and media confrontations have created a circus-like atmosphere that’s approaching Terrell Owens territory. It would be in Jackson’s best interest to just shut up, play out the rest of this season, and wait for the offseason. He’s going to get paid, but it appears it won’t be the Eagles shelling out the money.

Kurt Coleman/Nate Allen (S/Eagles) – I feel like I can group these two guys together since they don’t add up to one competent football player. Is rookie Jaiquawn Jarrett really worse than these two? This season isn’t going anywhere. Get the kid on the field.

Neither Allen or Coleman are starting caliber safeties in the NFL and Coleman should be a relegated to special teams duties only. Both get lost in coverage, especially Allen, and really struggle to tackle. Maybe the coaches are using these guys wrong. Maybe they are “Cover Two” safeties. I don’t know. What I do know is that since the Eagles let Brian Dawkins go (a move I supported and still do) and let Quintin Mikell walk (a move I didn’t support), their defense has never recovered. But hey, they should have a couple of high second round picks in this year’s draft. Maybe they’ll pick up another safety that should never see the field.

LeSean McCoy (RB/Eagles) – McCoy wasn’t at his best last night, but he worked his backside off to get his 80-plus yards. He’s not just hitting wide open holes and taking it to the house. Rather, he is creating his own offense and proving he can carry the load. He had 17 carries last night with a bum toe and was still, by far, the best and most productive player on the field for the Eagles. McCoy didn’t get more touches early in the game to establish some rhythm on offense for the Eagles, and it likely cost them the game (awful defense aside).

Andy Reid (Head coach/Eagles) – Will he get fired? I may be in the minority here, but I still don’t see it happening. Should he get fired? Of course.

You can’t fire a coach because he’s bad with the media or doesn’t because he doesn’t scheme the way fans want. Reid has always infuriated this city, but he’s done so as he’s tallied division titles and deep playoff runs.

But now he’s losing. And in the process has lost his team and maybe even his coaches. The 2011 season has been nothing short of a catastrophe. No leadership, heart, execution, defensive talent combined with poor coaching and a front office power struggle and you’ve got yourself this 4-8 mess.

Blame Juan Castillo for being a terrible defensive coordinator. He is. But blame Reid for his smarter-than-thou (and delusional) selection of Castillo for the job. Turnovers and blown leads are always looked at as the coaches’ fault and the Eagles have committed such sins at a historical rate. The Eagles can blame this on the lockout, say it was an aberration and try it again next year. But maybe, just maybe, owner Jeff Lurie has seen enough. And if he hasn’t, does Reid even want to come back?