For a team that lacks a title, Eagles seem awfully smug
Posted Sunday, May 6, 2007
OPINION: Kevin Noonan
PHILADELPHIA -- Jeffrey Lurie talks about the success his team has had and Andy Reid talks about the holes it doesn't have, and you have to wonder what team they're talking about.
Oh, that's right, it's the one that's never won a Super Bowl.
The Eagles pulled off a stunner when they selected quarterback Kevin Kolb of Houston early in the second round of the NFL draft last Saturday after they traded their first-round pick to the Dallas Cowboys.
Yeah, those Dallas Cowboys.
But what's really puzzling isn't their pick as much as their attitude about the team, as if it's actually accomplished something since Lurie became the owner in 1994 and Reid became the coach in 1999.
The Eagles have won a lot of games and made a lot of playoffs, but they haven't won a Super Bowl. They've been one of the NFL's better teams, but never the best team.
That's supposed to be the only acceptable goal for the organization, which Lurie made clear during his first press conference in '94, when seemingly every other word out of his mouth was "championships."
Note the plural. Lurie was talking about winning multiple titles, and he was convinced his team would do it.
Well, 13 seasons have gone by and he doesn't even have the singular, much less the plural.
Sustained success like the Eagles' would be admirable in any other business, but pro sports isn't any other business. NFL teams make billions of dollars selling the promise of a championship to the fans. And when those fans have gone 47 years without one, well, they tend to get a little cranky.
When asked recently if a Super Bowl title would make him more popular, Lurie smiled and shook his head.
"I don't know," he said. "You always want to win championships, but even if you win a championship, there's always, 'What are you going to do next year?'
"I couldn't be more happy about the interaction with the fans and community," Lurie added. "Yes, we all want to win championships, starting with one, and that will be another highlight, a big highlight.
"But this region just loves their football and, I think, so appreciates the success we've had."
Then, Reid, after drafting Kolb, was asked why he used a high pick on a player who probably won't contribute for a couple of years, if ever.
"Well," he said, "if there's a quarterback there I like, and I'm in a situation where I feel like I have a pretty good football team coming back, and I don't think there are a lot of holes, we won't have to force our pick."
Well, "pretty good" hasn't been good enough. And even if there aren't a lot of holes, there still are too many, especially on defense, and the draft is supposed to fill those holes.
That's what makes the deal with Dallas so galling. OK, the fact that it was with Dallas is what really makes it galling. But then the Cowboys used the pick on Anthony Spencer of Purdue, a highly rated defensive end.
That's an area where the Eagles need help. They have lots of bodies, but one of them is Jerome McDougle (one sack in 2006) and another is Darren Howard (five sacks after signing for $30 million over six years). And then there's Jevon Kearse, who will be 31 this season and missed nearly all of last year due to a knee injury.
But to Lurie, the championship cup (gold, of course) is half-full, not half-empty.
"I always put it in respect to 32 franchises," he said. "When you return 21 of 22 starters, you're operating at a different level than [a team] that has acute needs that, if they don't get met, you might not be real competitive.
"That's typically where most franchises find themselves in the offseason. We have a franchise quarterback and a terrific nucleus and terrific veteran leadership, and I always try to analyze where we are compared to the other 31 teams, not in a vacuum."
What Lurie failed to mention is that since he's owned the Eagles, 10 of the other 31 teams have won a Super Bowl, and his hasn't.
OPINION: Kevin Noonan
PHILADELPHIA -- Jeffrey Lurie talks about the success his team has had and Andy Reid talks about the holes it doesn't have, and you have to wonder what team they're talking about.
Oh, that's right, it's the one that's never won a Super Bowl.
The Eagles pulled off a stunner when they selected quarterback Kevin Kolb of Houston early in the second round of the NFL draft last Saturday after they traded their first-round pick to the Dallas Cowboys.
Yeah, those Dallas Cowboys.
But what's really puzzling isn't their pick as much as their attitude about the team, as if it's actually accomplished something since Lurie became the owner in 1994 and Reid became the coach in 1999.
The Eagles have won a lot of games and made a lot of playoffs, but they haven't won a Super Bowl. They've been one of the NFL's better teams, but never the best team.
That's supposed to be the only acceptable goal for the organization, which Lurie made clear during his first press conference in '94, when seemingly every other word out of his mouth was "championships."
Note the plural. Lurie was talking about winning multiple titles, and he was convinced his team would do it.
Well, 13 seasons have gone by and he doesn't even have the singular, much less the plural.
Sustained success like the Eagles' would be admirable in any other business, but pro sports isn't any other business. NFL teams make billions of dollars selling the promise of a championship to the fans. And when those fans have gone 47 years without one, well, they tend to get a little cranky.
When asked recently if a Super Bowl title would make him more popular, Lurie smiled and shook his head.
"I don't know," he said. "You always want to win championships, but even if you win a championship, there's always, 'What are you going to do next year?'
"I couldn't be more happy about the interaction with the fans and community," Lurie added. "Yes, we all want to win championships, starting with one, and that will be another highlight, a big highlight.
"But this region just loves their football and, I think, so appreciates the success we've had."
Then, Reid, after drafting Kolb, was asked why he used a high pick on a player who probably won't contribute for a couple of years, if ever.
"Well," he said, "if there's a quarterback there I like, and I'm in a situation where I feel like I have a pretty good football team coming back, and I don't think there are a lot of holes, we won't have to force our pick."
Well, "pretty good" hasn't been good enough. And even if there aren't a lot of holes, there still are too many, especially on defense, and the draft is supposed to fill those holes.
That's what makes the deal with Dallas so galling. OK, the fact that it was with Dallas is what really makes it galling. But then the Cowboys used the pick on Anthony Spencer of Purdue, a highly rated defensive end.
That's an area where the Eagles need help. They have lots of bodies, but one of them is Jerome McDougle (one sack in 2006) and another is Darren Howard (five sacks after signing for $30 million over six years). And then there's Jevon Kearse, who will be 31 this season and missed nearly all of last year due to a knee injury.
But to Lurie, the championship cup (gold, of course) is half-full, not half-empty.
"I always put it in respect to 32 franchises," he said. "When you return 21 of 22 starters, you're operating at a different level than [a team] that has acute needs that, if they don't get met, you might not be real competitive.
"That's typically where most franchises find themselves in the offseason. We have a franchise quarterback and a terrific nucleus and terrific veteran leadership, and I always try to analyze where we are compared to the other 31 teams, not in a vacuum."
What Lurie failed to mention is that since he's owned the Eagles, 10 of the other 31 teams have won a Super Bowl, and his hasn't.
posted by The Gryphon at 9:44 AM
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