The Eagles lost their sixth straight game on Sunday and they also lost LeSean McCoy to a concussion.
McCoy was injured on a carry on the first play after the two minute warning in the fourth quarter of a game the Eagles were losing 31-6. That raised the question of why your best offensive player was in the game and it was asked of coach Andy Reid when he met the media after the game.
According to Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News, Reid answered that McCoy was in the game because the Eagles were trying to catch up and win. If we’re to take Reid at his word, then the Eagles thought the best way to mount this comeback was to call a running play with less than two minutes to play in a game you’re losing by 25 points. It’s a heckuva time to decide to commit to the running game.
While the play until the final whistle theory of football is one we’re well familiar with, it’s hard to see how the Eagles were really trying to make up a four-score deficit at that point in the game by running the ball. It’s hard to see how they thought they were scoring three times, getting three extra points and recovering three onside kicks before scoring a fourth time as well, but there’s no law against dreaming impossible dreams.
There are no prizes for it either, unless you consider a pink slip that seems more inevitable than ever a prize.