Andy's done; Whether you know it or not...

By John McMullen

"If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem."

-Abraham Lincoln

Philadelphia, PA - Who knew Abraham Lincoln was talking about football?

Terrell Owens may be about 1,500 miles away and doing his best to destroy his third franchise but the effects of his presence are still reverberating in the City of Brotherly Love.

Notice I said "destroy his third franchise," because make no mistake, he has already taken down your beloved Birds.

Not to toot my own horn -- but that's exactly what I wrote on August 18 of last year. In a column titled "The Gold Standard becomes the Double Standard"I mused about Andy Reid's pathetic handling of the Owens situation:

"The one true hypocrite at NovaCare is the head coach. Reid often talked about the type of players he brought into his "system." Good, hard working, character guys but when the time came, he sold his NFL soul to bring in the league’s worst teammate.

Well, Andy..... it almost worked but now that is a distant memory. When Reid let Owens back on his practice field on Wednesday, August 17, he sealed his fate; the Eagles run is over and his time in Philadelphia is nearing an end.

It will not be a quick slide but forget about any Super Bowl dreams. Reid and his leader (Donavan McNabb) have let a cancer eat through their team without much of a fight."

By acting like a 300-plus pound doormat and not taking on T.O. -- Reid created the double standard I was talking about and forfeited the confidence of his own citizenry -- his players.

In short, they lost respect for their boss and stopped listening to the rotund one. And, once you lose your players' respect -- there is no way to get it back.

So we can all talk about an inconsistent quarterback, the lack of a running game, overrated defensive tackles and all the dumb mistakes you want.

But, the problem with the Eagles is Reid -- He's lost his players and he's not getting them back.