When we last left Andy Reid, the Eagles coach was literally kicking away the team’s chance to win a playoff game.

After watching the Saints run the ball down the Eagles’ throats in an NFC Divisional playoff game in the Big Easy last January, Reid rolled the dice and decided to bank on his defense being able to get him the ball back with a couple of minutes left in the game. So he punted the ball – and the game – away to the Saints.

The Birds never saw the ball again.

Fast-forward eight months. Not much has changed. Reid still doesn’t have a feel for the punt game.

The Birds lost their season-opener in agonizing fashion yesterday in Green Bay, muffing two punts, leading directly to 10 Packers points, including the game-winning field goal.

First it was wide receiver Greg Lewis. When he went back to field a punt in the first quarter, it was the first time he had done so in a regular season game. The results were predictable.

Lewis unwisely tried to field a ball in traffic, muffed it, and set off a wild scramble that ended with the Packers recovering it in the end zone for a touchdown. 7-0 Packers. Not exactly the way you want to start your season.

Apparently having seen enough of Lewis, who fields punts about the way Chris Roberson plays right field, Reid dispatched J.R. Reed to handle the duties at a crucial moment late in the fourth quarter with the score tied at 13.

Reed, you may remember, a few years ago was a promising kickoff return man before a bizarre off-season injury left him with nerve damage in his leg, and a career on the rocks. To his credit, Reed battled back, but was released by a series of teams before being re-signed by the Birds two weeks ago.

Reed is a kickoff guy, not a punt returner. There is a difference, as Reed, and long-suffering Eagles fans, would soon learn. Reed signaled for a fair catch, then realizing the kick was going to be short, took off on a kamikaze mission through Packer defenders in an attempt to catch the ball. Didn’t work. He muffed it, the Packers recovered and booted the game-winning field goal with 2 seconds left on the clock.

There is a sneaking suspicion about whether Reed actually knew that he didn’t have to catch the ball, that he simply could have let it drop.
Of course, all of this brings to mind the Eagles’ readiness, as well as Reid’s, especially when it comes to their special teams.

Last year Reno Mahe provided steady hands, but little else, returning kicks and punts. The Eagles were looking for a little more explosiveness in their return game. Yesterday that strategy blew up in their face.

In the offseason Reid decided the job would go to Jeremy Bloom, the champion skier from the University of Colorado who had not played football in a couple of years.

Bloom showed promise, but never really turned it on in the preseason. Reid decided to cut his losses. Without ever seeing Bloom in a regular-season game. Say this about Bloom: He probably did not show the game-breaker tendencies the Eagles were looking for. But he knew what he was doing. He knew when to field a ball and when not to. And most importantly, he showed sure hands in the process.

Reid axed Bloom with two weeks left in the preseason. And then promptly failed to acquire anyone to perform these crucial duties.

Instead, he decided he could get by with guys like Lewis and Reed. They wound up looking more like Lewis and Martin.

And in the process cost the Eagles a very important game.

There’s something eerily familiar about all this. Think about it. All offseason Phillies fans begged management to do something about their bullpen. Didn’t happen. How did that work out?

Likewise, Eagles fans – if not the coaches – knew special teams were a disaster looking for a place to happen. They detonated in Green Bay.

Something else to think about. Just about everyone had this game penciled in as a win. If you had the Eagles at 10-6, that now leaves them with nine wins. If, like me, you had them at 9-7, they are now tracking toward .500.

After viewing yesterday’s thoroughly mediocre effort, I’d say that’s about right.

There’s nothing "special" about this team.