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Eagles wide receiver Jason Avant says his teammates didn't buy into Andy Reid's system

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Eagles have lost 12 games for only the third time in franchise history, and Andy Reid is expected to pay the price for that failure Monday by being fired.

"It's not a coach Reid thing. It's a player-personality and character problem. I'm talking about guys [not] buying into the system," Jason Avant said. (Tony Gutierrez/AP)
"It's not a coach Reid thing. It's a player-personality and character problem. I'm talking about guys [not] buying into the system," Jason Avant said. (Tony Gutierrez/AP)Read more

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Eagles have lost 12 games for only the third time in franchise history, and Andy Reid is expected to pay the price for that failure Monday by being fired.

But after Sunday's ugly, 42-7, season-ending loss to the Giants, veteran wide receiver Jason Avant said the problem with the Eagles is not the head coach. It's the players.

"It's not a coach Reid thing," Avant said. "It's a player-personality and character problem. I'm talking about guys [not] buying into the system."

Avant declined to expound on why many of his teammates didn't "buy in" to Reid's system this season. But when he was asked whether the Eagles lacked enough "character" players, he said, "I would say that's true."

"In the past, we had [Brian] Dawkins and [Brian] Westbrook and [Jeremiah] Trotter. When you have a younger team like this, there has to be a maturity level. The young players need to mature."

Does he think the roster needs to be blown up and rebuilt?

"I'm not a GM, so I don't know," Avant said. "One thing I do know is we need guys who will buy into a system no matter if it's coach Reid's system or somebody else's system.

"I'm hoping and praying it's coach Reid. But if that's not the case, you still need the players to be responsible and accountable, and not allow the amenities of the NFL distract them from what the game is really about, which is playing hard for the team, playing hard for the city of Philadelphia. I think that was part of the distraction this year.

"When people don't go as hard as they ought to or they lay down, that's a reflection of the players and the type of individuals you have out there. It's one of those things that has to be corrected for next year. There has to be a total buying-in by the players for the coaching staff."