Andy Reid = Lovie Smith?

It occurred to me a couple days ago that as much as Eagles fans bitch about parts of the Andy Reid experience, it's also hard for anyone to imagine the team without him.

"I do it every day!" shouts the grumpy fan in the back.

Yes, I'm sure you do, as you dream happily of a future where the Eagles plunge 240-pound running backs into the line every other play, charge three bucks for a 20-ounce beer and require the cheerleaders to wear even less clothing.  But the truth is for as much as you may not like Reid, you don't really see him going anywhere either.  If he left tomorrow, you'd be just as shocked.  Much happier, but no less surprised.

One result is we don't attribute motivations to him that would seem obvious with almost any other coach.  So when we hear there's disagreement in the organization regarding the handling of the quarterback position -- and come on, it would be far more shocking if the GM, owner, team president and head coach were all in perfect harmony on such an important and difficult issue -- we just sort of assume everyone's thinking long-term, they just don't totally agree on the particulars.

That is, if you think about it, a little nuts.

Take any other coach of any other team in any other sport.  Make it a guy who's been in one place for 11 years and had a lot of success, but never won it all.  Have him coming off a season where his team just got blown out in back-to-back games by its biggest rival, and make it about 16 months after it seemed half the sportswriters in town were trying to get him fired.  Then imagine the ownership group suggested it might be just swell timing to ditch his best player at the most important position on the field/court/pitch.

How do you think that coach would react?  Seriously, if we weren't talking about Andy Reid, would there be any expectation at all that the coach would be okay with that maneuver?

I'm guessing most of you have been following the news up in Chicago, where it's impossible to ignore Captain Subtext:

Friday was a good day for Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith. A very good day. Not a single play was run but they won, scoring big points in the game of "Please let us keep our jobs past next season." (link)

Their desperation is on full parade. With the window closing on an aging defense — and on Coach Lovie Smith and General Manager Jerry Angelo — the Bears pried open the McCaskey wallets and made agents happy. (link)

Peppers has less wear on his tires than most 30-year-olds, but the odds don't favor him finishing the contract. Still, the move looks strong on paper for a team that needs to win now for head coach Lovie Smith to keep his job. (link)

Roll the dice in the offseason, hope desperately the move pays off so you can keep your job.  We see it every year.  And yet, when we're talking about Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid, the thought doesn't even come up.  It probably should.

I don't think Reid's running scared.  As we all know, the Eagles coach is not the least bit afraid of high-variance, high EV moves.  He loves those things like cheese (seriously, can we stop making the food jokes every time we need a metaphor -- that's seriously played out) a lot. 

But Reid's also tired of never winning the big one.  Much more than you and I are.  He wants -- needs -- to get over the top.

And Andy knows what Donovan can do.  Yes, McNabb is streaky and has his down moments, but when he's good, he's really good.  Fix the protection, give him at least the semblance of an effective running game and add another year of seasoning for Celek, Jackson and Maclin, and there really is no ceiling for this offense.

Besides, what do you get if you trade McNabb now?  The first pick of the second round?  That's pretty sweet if you can turn that into DeSean Jackson.  Not as much if it's Trevor Laws or Winston Justice.  No one ever lost a Super Bowl because they didn't have one of those guys on their roster.

Three years from now, you may have your new starting cornerback.  Whoopdy-doo if Kolb sucks or gets hurt and all of a sudden you're texting Jeff Garcia to ask "how's the cndtning?"

So yeah, I bet Reid's awfully reluctant to ship off McNabb.  Not that he doesn't appreciate the uber-helpful public relations tips from the local writers who really just have his best interests at heart, but he's a little more focused on winning games right now, so if the cost is a little he-said, he-might-have-said, I think he's going to be okay with that.  Thankfully.

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In other news, I offered Cleveland Kevin Kolb and Reggie Brown for the #7 pick in the annual blogger mock draft I'm participating in again this year.  Don told me no trades because "it's already hard enough keeping things straight."

I wanted to take Eric Berry.