And so it came to pass that EmbattledEaglesCoach Andy Reid, whose sons have recently fallen victim to wickedness and whose football team has recently fallen victim to being terrible at catching punts, has turned to the LDS Church for help in this time of need.

The Birds announced Tuesday that they had signed former Eagle Reno Mahe to handle the kick and punt return duties in the wake of Sunday’s game-changing muffs at Green Bay. They cut J.R. Reed to make space for Mahe, which is kind of a bummer since (1) I always had a soft spot for Reed and (2) there are now only 3 safeties on the roster. Greg Lewis survives. Comma. For now.

Mahe is pretty unremarkable as a return guy, but at least he catches the ball. And if there’s one thing that we know Andy Reid likes to turn to in times of need, it’s Mormons who can catch the ball (see also Curtis, Kevin and Lewis, Chad).

The Inquirer made sure to mention that Mahe was at church during the Birds game and didn’t see the muffs live. And when we say “church” we mean “Mormon church.” Turns out that Reno’s been spreading all sorts of Mormon goodness since being released by the Birds:

“I was able to go back to Utah and position myself to do some really good things,” Mahe said. “As far as life after football, I felt as if I was doing just fine. I was in the process of putting together a group home for troubled youths, and I was talking with a station about doing a talk radio show in Utah County. That was only half of it. Now, everything is halted.”

Personally, I can’t get enough of the wink-wink attention that the local media gives to the Mormon issue in coverage of the Birds. They can’t come right out and say anything, but they are careful to mention it as an aside, and the guys on the radio can be outright obnoxious about it. I gots no beef with it, though it does seem like an awful lot of Mormon players end up Philly (if anyone has a link or some stats on this, do pass it along). Whatever. So long as said Mormons score touchdowns, we good.

(For the record, it took all of my earthly powers to not use the Reno 911 headline, but pretty much every other blogger stole my thunder on that one. I’m on the road this week and a little behind; sigh.)

Links:
Reno’s Return [Iggles Blog]
Reno Mahe In, J.R. Reed Out as Eagles Try to Bandage Return Game [Eagles Eye Blog]
Eagles sign RB/KR Reno Mahe [Eagles Gab]
Reno 911 [Inside the Iggles]