Posted on 01/18/2004 3:23:01 PM PST by baseballfanjm
It's game time!
Andy Reid Quotes
January 18, 2004
Injuries: "The obvious injury was Donovan's [McNabb]. He separated his rib cartilage and he was extremely sore, so we felt we needed to take him out and replace him with Koy [Detmer]."
On the loss: "Obviously we're very disappointed. The guys worked very hard as players and coaches to put ourselves in great position. We overcame a lot of things this year. I'm proud of what they did. Obviously we're very disappointed today. My hat's off to the Panthers. What a great job they did. They stepped up and did a heck of a job defensively, and they were efficient offensively. They were a better team today."
On whether Donovan McNabb wanted to go back into the game after being removed: "Donovan looked very sore. Donovan would have continued to play until he passed out, but I wasn't going to go there. I thought he was putting himself at risk, and it was a move that I had to make there."
On why the Eagle offense was ineffective: Obviously you can't have as many turnovers as what we had. I need to do a better job of putting our guys in better positions. Obviously I'll take the full responsibility for this. It's important as a play-caller that I give my guys the best opportunity to make plays. I could have done a whole lot better than what I did there."
On whether this is his most disappointing championship game loss: "They're all disappointing. If you're asking me right now, it's the most disappointing."
On the lack of production from the Eagle wide receivers: "Right now I'll take that responsibility. I have to find a way to help those guys make plays, and I have to find a way to help get them open. They're busting their tails out there trying to make things happen. It didn't work today."
On whether the Eagles interceptions were due to wide receivers running wrong routes: "They didn't run wrong routes. It was a combination of things. A couple of them were just good defensive plays."
On whether Carolina did anything different defensively from the regular season meeting: "A little bit, but really not much. We didn't execute as well as we needed to do. We never really got any rhythm. When we did every once in a while, we ended up with turnovers, so we ended up stalling."
On why the Eagles tended to run the ball up the middle more in this game: "Donovan was sore, so obviously we wanted to mix a little more, and that's when this offense is best. We didn't establish that early, and again that's my responsibility to get that thing working. Donovan was banged up a little bit, and I thought we needed to run the ball a little bit more."
On whether he received an explanation as to why Carolina was not penalized on the play on which McNabb got injured: "Yeah, I did. That's not saying I really liked the explanation, but I did get one. [I was told] that he wasn't down. He was down by contact by our man - tripping over our man, and not theirs."
On whether he is disappointed for this current group of Eagle players: "I wanted this group to win a Super Bowl. That's what we started out wanting to do, and that's what we wanted to finish doing. This group - I'm proud of them because they've overcome a whole lot of things. The primary thing was the injuries.
"We had guys that were busting their tails and giving it everything they had and we weren't quite as deep as what we were. I have a special respect for them."
On whether Carolina has a chance to defeat New England in the Super Bowl: "They have as good a chance as anybody. They play great defense and they do a nice job with their offense."
On whether the Eagles defense had seen the full-house backfield formation used by Carolina: "We've seen it before. It was effective. We know that formation."
On whether the Eagles felt like they were still in the game at halftime: "There really wasn't a point until right at the end that we didn't feel we were in it. This team has overcome things, and last week was a primary example. I think everybody kept their head up and fought, competed, and all those things. We just didn't make it happen."
On the loss of Brian Westbrook to injury: "I thought the other running backs did a good job when given the opportunity. Would we have loved to have Brian? Absolutely. The main thing is that you want to stay healthy in all phases. You'd like to have your whole team when you get to this time [in the postseason]."
On how much being 0-3 in championship games wears on him: "Right now, we're talking a few minutes after the game, and I'm not the happiest of people."
On whether Brian Dawkins had his back to the play on Carolina's first touchdown: "I think you saw that right. He probably turned the wrong way. I think Brian could better explain that to you."
On whether he was disappointed in the number of dropped balls by the Eagle wide receivers: "When you get into the championship game, you have to make plays when you're given the opportunity - especially against a good defense. There are a handful of plays that we'd love to have back." [End of Andy Reid Quotes]
Feel free to dissect these quotes.
foreverfree
Oh well... Next year...
A couple of my favorite Eagle fans are AWOL.
You noticed that as well...Hhmmmmm....
I am glad Green Bay will be getting a new defensive coordinator. (I wonder if Carolina's would like to come to Green Bay? *Grins*)
But I've become an instant Manning fan--Ricky Manning Jr., that is. And, after a quick read of the Philly papers, when the Pack lost, we didn't whine about cheap shots, bad calls...Green Bay didn't call out cops in riot gear and fans didn't run around screaming "I hate the Pack" after a Packers loss the way Eagles fans (and I use that term loosely) ran around screaming, "I hate the Eagles." (So much for fan loyalty.) But that's what Eagles fans did.
All in all, it was a delightful game. I've become an instant Panthers fan.
This will crack you'se two up... (Wisconsin jargon...)
I just heard a national news bottom of the hour anchor say... "The Indiannapolis Patriots will be heading to the Super Bowl..." Discernable pause was heard as I am sure his producers were yelling at him, and then came back and said, "Oh... the New England Patriots..."
Cracked my son and I up!
Must be one of those media elites.
Can you imagine the producer screaming in the anchor's ear? "You dimwit! The Patriots are in NEW ENGLAND!" LOL!
I was thinking that Philly dodged a bullet to be at yesterday's game in the first place. Had Brett Favre not lobbed that interception in OT the week before, it would likely have been a Panthers/Packers game yesterday. Philly didn't look too sharp in that game either. It's obvious that they ran out of steam.
Gotta love it.
Topped in absurdity only by the Utah Jazz.
My son loves the Panthers logo and uniforms. He's a diehard Pats fan but he picked the Cats in his informal pool among his buddies. So he was happy that both of his teams won.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.