The gold standard has spoken. Don’t be taken in by fool’s gold.
No less an authority than Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie strode to a bank of microphones yesterday down at NovaCare Nation and admitted the Eagles season was “dismal.” The boss said it was the “most disappointing” season he’s endured since buying the Eagles.
For 10 minutes Lurie carefully laid the groundwork of what went wrong with this season, and he made it clear he was not particularly impressed with the four-game winning streak that his Eagles reeled off at the end of the year.
That left them at 8-8, not good enough to make the playoffs.
And clearly not nearly good enough to satiate their owner.
Lurie said all the right things. Then he did the wrong thing.
He announced Andy Reid will be back for a 14th season.
When asked what he thought went wrong with the “dream team,” Lurie said he thought there were tactical errors in the number of changes – both in schemes and personnel – the Eagles tried to bite off in an odd season that was severely constricted by a lockout.
What he did not address was who made all those decisions. Who thought it would be just swell to bring in a bunch of new coaches and the absurd idea of bringing in an untested offensive line coach and making him your defensive coordinator.
Juan Castillo was Andy Reid’s decision. So was Jim Washburn. That gave us the Wide-9. And two standout corners – Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie – were asked to adjust to new, uncomfortable schemes.
The result was predictable. It took the Eagles the better part of half of the season to figure things out, get everyone on the same page, and start jelling.
Unfortunately, they count the first eight games in the NFL as well. By then the Eagles had specialized in giving games away, doing exactly that in coughing up four fourth-quarter leads, most of them at Lincoln Financial Field.
So why did Lurie take all that time yesterday to undress the Eagles 2011 season for the disaster that it was, then leave the same coach who directed that mess in charge for one more year?
I can give you 10 million reasons. Reid’s contract runs for two more years, at $5 million per year. Lurie was not about to swallow that kind of payout without a guarantee that a new coach would do better.
And so long as we’re thinking of numbers, try this one of for size. In their wisdom Andy Reid and the Eagles gave Giants free agent Steve Smith $3 million in toll fare to ride down the Jersey Turnpike and join the Birds. In the meantime, they played hardball with star wideout DeSean Jackson, who made a measly $600,000 this year.
And it gets worse. When Smith left the Giants, that opened the door for Victor Cruz, who promptly terrorized the Eagles and the rest of the NFL most of the year.
Gold standard? Lurie was right. It’s more like fool’s gold.
No less an authority than Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie strode to a bank of microphones yesterday down at NovaCare Nation and admitted the Eagles season was “dismal.” The boss said it was the “most disappointing” season he’s endured since buying the Eagles.
For 10 minutes Lurie carefully laid the groundwork of what went wrong with this season, and he made it clear he was not particularly impressed with the four-game winning streak that his Eagles reeled off at the end of the year.
That left them at 8-8, not good enough to make the playoffs.
And clearly not nearly good enough to satiate their owner.
Lurie said all the right things. Then he did the wrong thing.
He announced Andy Reid will be back for a 14th season.
When asked what he thought went wrong with the “dream team,” Lurie said he thought there were tactical errors in the number of changes – both in schemes and personnel – the Eagles tried to bite off in an odd season that was severely constricted by a lockout.
What he did not address was who made all those decisions. Who thought it would be just swell to bring in a bunch of new coaches and the absurd idea of bringing in an untested offensive line coach and making him your defensive coordinator.
Juan Castillo was Andy Reid’s decision. So was Jim Washburn. That gave us the Wide-9. And two standout corners – Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie – were asked to adjust to new, uncomfortable schemes.
The result was predictable. It took the Eagles the better part of half of the season to figure things out, get everyone on the same page, and start jelling.
Unfortunately, they count the first eight games in the NFL as well. By then the Eagles had specialized in giving games away, doing exactly that in coughing up four fourth-quarter leads, most of them at Lincoln Financial Field.
So why did Lurie take all that time yesterday to undress the Eagles 2011 season for the disaster that it was, then leave the same coach who directed that mess in charge for one more year?
I can give you 10 million reasons. Reid’s contract runs for two more years, at $5 million per year. Lurie was not about to swallow that kind of payout without a guarantee that a new coach would do better.
And so long as we’re thinking of numbers, try this one of for size. In their wisdom Andy Reid and the Eagles gave Giants free agent Steve Smith $3 million in toll fare to ride down the Jersey Turnpike and join the Birds. In the meantime, they played hardball with star wideout DeSean Jackson, who made a measly $600,000 this year.
And it gets worse. When Smith left the Giants, that opened the door for Victor Cruz, who promptly terrorized the Eagles and the rest of the NFL most of the year.
Gold standard? Lurie was right. It’s more like fool’s gold.
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