Phil Sheridan: McNabb failed, so did Reid

[mix]

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/81082657.html

So now what?

If McNabb's final game as an Eagle turned out to be a blowout playoff loss in Dallas, he'd be in good company. We have seen this very game before. Twice. And both times, an era ended with the final gun.

After the 1992 season, the Eagles were blown away, 34-10, by a young Dallas team on its way to the first of three Super Bowl championships in the 1990s. The Eagles were never in the game. Reggie White never played for them again.

After the 1995 season, the score was 30-11. Randall Cunningham's run as an Eagle ended that day. After 11 seasons, incidentally.

[Awsi Dooger]

1. If you don't run the ball, you fail

It's been a glorious postseason in college and pro, with basic football annihilating pantyhose finesse. The Eagles were a guaranteed avalanche victim, the way things were going.

Run the ball often, pass the ball well. In the NFL, 82-85% of games in a given year are won by the team with highest number of rushing attempts. Reid can ignorantly try to pretend otherwise but he'll always fail at crunch time against balanced physical foes.

The tipping point in the NFL is 27.5 rushes. That's where the 50/50 breakdown is, in terms of likely to win or lose. Reid ran the ball 13 times last night and 10 last week. Maybe he can spend the offseason brainstorming to get that into single digits.

Dallas was -3 last week and -4 last night :rofl: