I thought about this same thing - Andy Reid, since he got here, has fallen on grenade after grenade to keep negative attention and embarassment from his players, be it McNabb's rookie mistakes in '99, Pinkston's shying away from contact this year, or Mark Simoneau's inability to play the middle.
it's as if he makes a pact with them to keep everything in the family". in fact, the quickest way OUT of here is to outwardly critical of your teammates - John Welbourn being a good example.
however, when things really kick into high gear next week, I suspect it's going to be very hard to shield them in this manner.
Well he won't be able to sheild them fully, there's a certain level of media attention the players MUST allow or the NFL will fine them heavily. But this'll still help.