Andy Reid: Resigning Would Be A “Cop Out”

If an unnamed high-ranking team official is right, and Andy Reid won't be fired before next Monday's Eagles-Panthers home tilt, that left but one alternative for a head coaching change before then, which we would've found out about Monday.

Not gonna happen.

Addressing the media after the team's 31-6 Sunday loss to the Redskins -- their sixth straight, making for the longest skid in almost a decade and a half -- Reid said that he won't resign, saying doing so would be a "cop out" given what he's asked of players.

"I'm standing in front of the team and telling them, 'These are the things we need to do,' one of which is continue to battle. And so I think (resigning) would be a cop-out. That's not how I see things. That's not the way I'm wired. We're going to keep battling and do it as a team. I'm not going to tell the guys one thing and then do the other."

No matter what the fan base thinks of the job he's done in this or any of his 14 years here, or how badly they want him out because of it, Reid's principle -- subjecting himself to further embarrassment to save from being a hypocrite -- is admirable, especially given what he's endured in his personal life.

In fairness, you could make other principle-based justifications for a resignation. ("I've let down the team and owner, and most of all, fans," or, "I've learned I'm no longer fit for this job at this time," seem pretty appropriate right about now.)

Then again, it's also possible that doing would hurt his candidacy for a head coaching opening elsewhere, either after this season (when the San Diego gig likely opens) or next (after he's taken a year off to lick his wounds and study advances in the game he didn't previously have the time to).

Not only would bowing out of one of the league's most prestigious franchises sit poorly with ownership and general managers of other NFL clubs, it probably wouldn't do wonders for Reid's reputation with those teams' players, either.

Then there's the unthinkable scenario: That Andy Reid genuinely believes he has a chance to return next season, which would not only validate the rumblings of his agent (remember the whole "lifetime contract" bit?) but also go along with the questionable circumstances under which Jeffrey Lurie's 8-8 mandate was uttered in the first place (after he was pressed, hard, by the Philadelphia media for it in response to said rumblings of his agent).

Seems the circus hasn't left town yet.