Esteemed Dallas Morning News columnist Rick Gosselin offered his take on the news that the Eagles extended the contract of head coach Andy Reid through the 2013 season. Gosselin said that it was "the right thing" for both sides.
"Here's a guy that's won more games than any coach in the NFC this decade," Gosselin said. "You'd be crazy not to re-up him for as many years as he wanted to coach there."
With last week's 34-7 win over the Falcons, the Eagles became the 13th team in NFL history to win at least 100 regular season games in a decade. Only the Colts and the Patriots have won more in this decade than the Eagles. Gosselin cites Reid's success to his previous stop in Green Bay and a certain draft pick.
"Having come in under (Mike) Holmgren he figured out how to win. Holmgren made Green Bay a winner when it hadn't been a winner in so long," Gosselin said. "I think Andy was surrounded by a lot of good coaches, a lot of it rubbed off. He brought what he learned as a coach to Philadelphia. He got lucky and he got a franchise quarterback in that 1999 draft (in Donovan McNabb). If you have a good coach and a good quarterback, you're going to win a lot."
Gosselin is even more impressed by Reid's accomplishments during the salary cap era when there is so much turnover on a roster from year to year.
"In a salary cap world, it's tough. The game goes in cycles. No one stays on top forever," Gosselin said. "What the Colts have done this decade is remarkable and even they missed the playoffs one time. You have to reload. Players get old. You have to draft well and the Eagles have drafted well. The good teams, the good franchises, if they go down they don't stay down. I think that you're seeing that with the Eagles. With a franchise quarterback in place, it's just a matter of putting better players around him."
Reid's current Eagles are 8-4 and are riding a three-game winning streak into Sunday night's game against the Giants. Gosselin thinks the Eagles are "the better team."
"I think the winner of this game is going to press the Cowboys for the division title," Gosselin said. "The Cowboys have two tough ones coming up. I think Philadelphia is the better team and I think the Eagles are definitely a playoff contender, a Super Bowl contender. They got in as a wild card last year and went all the way to the NFC title game. I like the Eagles chances."
-- Posted by Chris McPherson, 5:34 p.m., December 9
