NFL Network replayed SB 39 on Tues night and it really reinforced the difference between the Andy Reid and Doug Pederson teams.
Under Andy, the team was always tight and usually underachieved. His playcalling was vanilla, his halftime adjustments were ineffective, and his clock management was historically bad. I didn't even realize that NFLN was showing the game, and when I surfed to the channel, McNabb was under center and I immediately got a knot in my stomach, wondering how he was going to fuck up next. He promptly threw his first of three interceptions two snaps later.
You get the opposite feel with this Pederson team. You're sitting there watching them, seeing guys loose, smiling, with swagger and you're wondering how the hell they just keep doing bigger and better things. Actually, you're not wondering. You just know that they're better coached, and that the team was built with chemistry in mind. Reid was always trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole. Dougie, cuts off those rough edges. (do I get the cliche award?
)
Reid didn't even
get to a Super Bowl until after a loss in the divisional round to the Giants in 2000, Rams in 2001 NFCCG, and two soul-crushing home NFCCG losses in 2003 (Bucs) and 2004 (Panthers). You always were waiting for Reid and McNabb to choke. Pederson, conversely, has the team winning as underdogs, with great gameplanning and terrific in-game adjustments. They're balling in the big game with half the team on IR in season two of the rebuild. Refreshing.
