Reid Dials Reno 911

Deciding that just catching the ball is plenty good enough on punt returns, the Eagles have re-signed Reno Mahe, releasing JR Reed. Reno rarely never does anything exciting after fielding the ball, but after losing the opener due to a dropped ball by Greg Lewis and a new spin on a muff dive by Reed, merely maintaining possession should be enough to keep the Linc crowd from tearing the place apart on national television.

Enrico's take at The Fanhouse.

Comments

[Jason]

great title!

[Richmond Rick]

Not suprised by the move of cutting JR Reed. Remember a couple of years ago when Finneran had a key drop in the opening game in 99? He was gone shortly afterwards. What is to worry about? Reid is now 3-5 in openers? So it is expected. The last time we lost by 3 in overtime in the opener? 2001, we went to NFC Championship.

[michael]

There goes Reid... back to the Mormon connection with one of those Brigham Young boys. I would much rather give Bloom a shot in a real game rather than suffer through Mahe's returns.

[Bill B.]

Returning punts is too risky for the Eagles. I'm convinced they should get out of that business altogether. Stack 11 men up front. Go for the block. Every time.

[theKrisheim]

so a Skier and Mormon walk in to a bar...

sounds like the start of a good joke.

[gootman]

Chickie's and Pete's were short a host and are picking a portion of his salary.

[Titus Pullo]

Who knew it would so difficult to replace Jeremy Bloom?

Bloom's first replacement was a re-tread who had just been cut by the poorly-coached NY Giants, and his second is a guy who hasn't fielded a punt since January.

The low quality of Bloom's replacements either speaks poorly about his own punt return skills, or finely illustrates the high levels of stubbornness found in Andy Reid, since bringing Bloom back means admitting a mistake.

[Kulp]

Bringing Mahe back is still admitting a mistake... I don't care who it is as long as they don't fumble a punt at all the rest of the season.

[Gaze]

Sounds like a drunk dial to me...

[Ian]

Mahe's only a year removed from leading the league in punt return average. Last year he was slightly above the league average. Dexter Wynn was 4th in the league in PRs last year. I never got why the Eagles never invited Mahe to camp, but Mahe seems happy he didn't have to go to camp.

It's possible Bill Sampy will be on the roster after he's healthy, replacing Greg Lewis, and he'll get a shot at PR.

[Kulp]

And there we have the misleading statistic of the day... someone was feeding me the same thing about Mahe last night.

Yes, he may have led the league in punt return average, but if you've ever seen the guy back there, you know he has almost zero chance of actually taking one to the house.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have him back after last week's stupidity, but he's no more than a serviceable player.

[Ian]

Mahe’s never returned one for a TD in 64 punt returns and 34 kickoff returns in his career. Of the top 10 punt returners of the past two years, only one of them (in ‘05) had a longest return that was shorter than Mahe’s that year.

I didn’t play football in high school but returning punts seems like such a hard job and technique speaks for a lot. Every WR drops some passes but they don’t cause a change of possession so minimizing the drops is obviously very important at PR. Making the right decisions and making the first move to elude a guy or two and find a lane brings consistency, which is why a slower guy like Mahe can help a team.

I would like the Eagles to have a guy who could break one so I was tracking which returners were available in the draft, and they went fast, because teams realize how valuable they are.

Ginn, Revis and Aaron Ross were gone by the time Philly came up in the 1st round (the latter two because they’re good at CB), then Craig Davis was a surprise pick in the late 1st to return punts for the Chargers. Yamon Figurs, who is not really anything but a returner, was a high third round pick by the Ravens, again a surprise. Then Oakland took Johnny Lee Higgins late in the third round, earlier than expected.

Maybe Philly will draft a returner high next year, but they are going fast these days. That’s why picking up a guy like Craphonso Thorpe, who’s fast and columnists said deserved to make the Colts but the returner job wasn’t open, still could be a key move.