Lurie Speaks
Posted: January 3rd, 2012 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 49 Comments »I think Jeff Lurie did a heckuva job with his PC today. Sorry for going all Andy on you there. Seriously, I think Lurie did a pretty good job. He came out and stressed that 2011 was “unacceptable and disappointing”. He used the word “anger” several times. I don’t think we’ve ever heard Lurie speak in such a way.
He admitted that 2011 was the most disappointing season of the Andy Reid era. There was a great chasm between expectations and results. Again, that’s unacceptable.
Then Lurie told us how he evaluated the coaching situation before finally letting loose with the news that Big Red is coming back. I was 99.9 percent sure Reid was returning, but will admit that Lurie took so long getting to the point that I did for a second wonder if he was going to drop a major bomb shell on us. Didn’t happen.
Lurie talked a lot about numbers/accomplishments at various points. Not all were correct. He said we were 6-2 in the 2nd half of the year. Not so…5-3. Lurie seemed to think we won the NFC East in 2009. Nope, lost to Dallas on the final Sunday. He also made mention of us going to the NFC title game after losing seasons. This only happened in 2008 (and we were .500 in 2007).
Lurie should have hired me to sit beside him and feed him the numbers. Forget the last few, how does the guy not have our records memorized for the last 20 years? What the heck kind of owner is he? Real people know that we started 4-0 in both 1992 and 1993. That we lost the final 7 games of 1994 to finish 7-9. That we started slow in 1995, but finished fast and then did the opposite in 1996. He should know that we went 6-9-1 in 1997 and that the tie was to the Ravens, who had 9 sacks in the game and that Ravens fans got virtually free pizzas from Pizza Hut because of that (one dollar off for every sack). I’m committed to winning a Super Bowl. Is Lurie?
Okay, so maybe I’m nuts and he’s not. Lurie did say some interesting things. He made it very clear that he is willing to make a coaching change. He’s not sitting tight with Andy for fear of the unknown. Jeff still believes Andy is the guy to get the job done.
Lurie talked about the hiring of Juan. He said that they went over a list of names, but that not all were available (for various reasons). That’s when things shifted and Juan became a candidate. I’ve said all along that there weren’t great choices and that played more of a role in Juan’s hiring than people realize.
Lurie said that he evaluates Andy every year. He looks at the state of the team and decides if Reid is the right guy to coach going forward. Les Bowen asked if Reid’s deal will change (he’s got 2 years left). Lurie said no to that. I think that gives us the strong hint that Andy better deliver big results in 2012. Doesn’t mean Super Bowl or bust, but the results better be impressive. Lurie did outright say he expects much better results next year.
A few people asked about Andy’s PC demeanor. Lurie talked about how Andy is actually just being protective of his players. One reporter responded that Reid was being arrogant and that the arrogance wasn’t just toward the media, but fans also. Lurie disputed this notion and said again that Reid was just being protective.
I have written many times over the years about how Andy is one guy at his PCs and another behind closed doors. He tells the outside world “this is on me”, but then will go into a meeting room and really rip his players. Andy protects his guys publicly, but will get after them in private. He’s not the goofy clown that some people think.
Lurie said that Reid will be honest with him in player evaluations. Reid isn’t overly protective of his guys. He said Reid is also willing to be critical of himself. Again, the guy we see and hear from is different than the one behind closed doors.
I liked the fact that Lurie had the PC and answered some questions. He wasn’t going to let us know all that much, but did give us some insight. I think it was interesting to hear that he genuinely thought about Reid’s situation.
I thought the PC had the right tone. Lurie wasn’t selling us on the fast finish and throwing compliments all over the place. He talked about how the Saints and Packers are the big teams and we’re chasing them. I thought Lurie had a good balance of disappointment mixed in with some optimism. We’re out of the playoffs, but we can’t ignore the fact the team did show progress and turned things around as the season went along. That’s not good enough, but it is a positive sign.
Lurie stressed a few times how much the players love Andy, but for the right reasons. He’s not a players coach who is soft on them. Reid coaches them hard. He protects them publicly and treats them right, which earns him their respect. Lurie said one of the reasons he kept Reid is that the Eagles are still seen as a team that people around the league want to play for. If outsiders want to come here, something must be going right.
Lurie did not talk about personnel matters. He had some comments on DeSean after the PC, basically saying if we can work out the numbers, he’s welcome back. Lurie said that Howie Roseman will return as GM. As for the Castillo situation, that’s up to Reid. No word on when Reid will meet with the media.
I thought it went really well even if the Philly media didn’t ask one question about ‘you know who’. I think he is the ‘box delux’.
I’d love for Ken Bates, CEO of Leeds United to deliver something similar, however he is a tax dodging cheap skate cousin of Jerry Jones (probably). Ah well, I digress.
Your comments never fail to entertain.
Howard Eskin was on Eagles Live with Dave afterward and Howard said Marty is definitely coming back. The question was still over Juan. I don’t know if that meant there was ever a chance MM could be out or if Howard just phrased it that way to cover all the bases.
After waking up this morning and reflecting a bit more on our coaches, I have decided to endorse Brian Billick as our new OC.
He did great things with Randall, couldn’t lightening strike twice for ridiculously gifted aging QBs?
As a lifelong Chelsea fan, I kinda share your pain with the Ken Bates scenario. Massive failure of a man.
Do you want him back? You can him and Ambramovich – a deadly duo, a deadly duo if there ever was one.
Lurie: To that matter, I’ve spent weeks trying to analyze that and meeting with some people internally and externally with some of the best minds of the business really trying to evaluate the football team, players, coaches, the whole gamut. The things that I look at in that analysis are, I think, three-fold: one is the track record of the coach. The second is taking a look at the more shorter term history of the coach in terms of the last three, four, five years. The last, and probably the most important, is the intangibles.
AR, MM and JC have all correctly come under scrutiny and with AR staying, he (AR) will deliver what changes will be made, but there will be some.
The last 3,4 or 5 years is interesting to me because he isn’t talking about JC.
Would be interesting to know who Lurie consults with externally.
My sources (however dubious they may be) suggest that one of Lurie’s external consultants is Marty’s mom…. it’s similar to the Matthew’s household. Lurie and Marty’s mom get together and discuss football and green energy sources over tea and scones in the mid-afternoon.
I don’t think he reviews anyone but Andy, he said pretty emphatically later on that every coaching decision below head coach is Andy’s to make.
The decision is Andy’s sure. But when he gathers info or asks AR questions it could be on any matter. For example, he may hear from several defensive minded people that McCoy is the ‘box delux’, but at least they only have to prepare for him as the Eagles never mix it up with their running backs. Ever!
Kind of reminds me of the Vick press conference, where Lurie also struck the right tone, which helps make things more palatable. I can see why this guy has made a lot of money in more than one field, he’s convincing, he’s measured in his approach. Clearly I’m not critical enough of the guy lol
I thought it was good too, and the whole “I’m more than disappointed talk” looked legit.
Quick question: What is opinion about the Matt Flynn’s hype, what did you think about him coming out of college vs now ?
On another topic Tommy, I know you’re not the biggest stats fan, but Football Outsiders is looking for a writer with scouting background and writing skills: not sure it’ll interest you (I’d say no), but could help you in getting more (deserved) exposure, so here you go:
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/extra-points/2012/site-news-fo-seeks-writer-scouting-experience
Thanks for the link. I’ll look into that.
Matt Flynn is impressive. Won a title at LSU. Came up big vs NE last year and then vs DET on Sunday. I’d have to study the games and then look at preseason stuff, but he might be a guy I’d roll the dice on.
Here are my pre-draft notes:
“Tommy’s Notes on Matt Flynn
Really confusing kid. One game he looks like a pedestrian college player, the next he looks like a guy with NFL potential. He made some terrific throws in the win over Auburn. He’s got the physical skills to play in the NFL. Matt has to be more consistent. When he’s on, Matt throws the ball really well. He’s got a good arm. He throws spirals. Can be accurate. Solid mechanics. Athletic guy who can scramble. Good size. Lots of potential.”
Lurie has really matured over the last decade, he actually sounds like a CEO rather than a rich kid playing with his toys. He could have fired Reid, hired some hot shot, been a hero for a year until the results came in and the press slammed him with 20/20 hindsight.
I think the decision was inevitable with anyone with a brain, given Reid’s track record, the lockout and Michael Vick at QB, bringing in anyone else meant blowing it up, and that didn’t make sense for a team that clearly was better than its record (yardage, points differential). You blow up a team that has no future, you don’t blow up a team that underachieved under unusual circumstances.
I also think Andy would tell you if he can’t go at least 10-6 (they do have a very tough schedule next year, at least on paper) and be a team to be feared in the playoffs in 2012, with a whole season to prepare and lots of resources in both cap room and draft picks, it’s time for him to go. He’s not starting with an average team, hoping to tweak them into the playoffs, he’s starting with one of the most talented teams in the league, hoping to tweak them into the SB.
You can have talent all over the field, but if you’re not superlative at QB it’s a long, uphill climb to win a superbowl, especially in the league these days.
I don’t hate Vick, and I haven’t bashed him consistently from the time he was signed, but one thing that I think became clear to me this year is that Vick will not lead this team to a superbowl unless he makes fewer dramatic mistakes (INTs and SACK/FUMBLES), and gets more touch and control on his underneath passes over the middle. It would also help if they got him out from behind the line a bit more so that fewer passes are batted/deflected.
Vick made many more mistakes this season than 2010, but he wasn’t handicapping our offense. He does need to play better in 2012, though.
He really was handicapping our offense. He’s responsible for at least half of our league leading 37 turnovers.
i think he threw 14 INTs this year. factor in some of the fumbles and you are probably right about the numbers.
And with a full offseason as the starter, he’ll have plenty of time to work on all of those things. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Vick yet, but it remains to be seen whether he improves enough to guide us to the Super Bowl
I’ve never understood the concern over Reid’s press conference demeanor. I guess fans would prefer Rex Ryan?
I’m sure the New England media isn’t obsessed with Belichick’s press conference demeanor (which is basically the same as Reid’s).
+1
Being a non-Philadelphian I don’t get why the press in Phili is always so violently hateful towards Reid. I am not sure what you want the man to do during a PC.
I think most PCs with coaches suck… and the good ones become Coors Lite commercials.
I think they turned against him when he said he wasn’t going to fire McDermott and then did two days later.
Makes perfect sense to me why you wouldn’t divulge that information until you had to, but again, the press took it personally, calling him a liar, etc.
i think the media has been hating on him for much longer than that!
The Eagles beat guys are so butt-hurt about Reid’s press conference. While I think he can be a bit arrogant at times, I just think it’s frustrating to get asked the same questions 1,000 different ways.
Plus, I love when they get all pissed off when they ask questions they don’t get straight answers on. For instance, they might say, “Andy is Juan’s future secure.” Let’s say Andy is pretty sure he’s going to replace Juan. Do they think Andy is just going to go, “Actually I haven’t talked to Juan or my other coaches yet, but now that you bring it up, I’m going to go ahead and fire Juan right now.” Instead he may go, “We’re looking at everything, but I like Juan and right now he’s my d-coordinator.” Then 3 days from now he’ll fire him and the media will go, “see he just didn’t give us a straight answer! Why does he lie?!”
Anyway, that was a hypothetical and you could sub any city w/ any team. I just get a kick out of media guys asking questions they know a coach can’t answer over and over again and then getting offended when they don’t like the answers.
Great stuff.
very good example. i think thats pretty spot on. replace Juan with McDermott and you have the end of last season, no?
Oh, and here’s a take from a Daily News Phillies writer, but his opinions on Lurie/Eagles.
One thing I’d be interested to hear from you on Tommy, is his point about there not being enough football guys aside from Andy in the personnel?
http://www.rebelbutter.com/2012/01/03/281/
I really dont think been a former player or anything make you a better or worse GM or president.
I think Ron Wolf proves your point nicely. As would, I think, most of the successful GMs over the years, few of whom were formers players in the league.
Matt Millen!?!?!
It’s a thoroughly dishonest hatchet job. While there are legitimate criticisms, this is what they call “law office” writing, making a case with no regard for the truth.
Problem is, he does not have any football men besides Reid. Since Lurie promoted his coach to executive vice president and gave him final say in all personnel decisions, the Eagles have taken few obvious measures to ensure that their front office contains some system of checks and balances.
“checks and balances, what checks and balances are there in New England? Any successful coach dominates his organization. Only where a GM is firmly entrenched and successful for a long time does he rule the roost (Baltimore).”
General managers Tom Modrak and Tom Heckert have been ushered out.
“Modrak hasn’t had an illustrious career since leaving.
The jury is still out on Heckert, but the turnaround hasn’t begun in Cleveland.
Note, he doesn’t mention their lack of success.”
Former college scouting director Marc Ross left and later landed in the same position with the Giants, where in 2010 he happily grabbed Jason Pierre-Paul one pick after the Eagles traded up to draft defensive end Brandon Graham.
“Reports were the Giants had Graham ahead of JPP.”
Anybody who wasn’t swept up in war fever knew that Reid and Roseman had constructed a tragically flawed team. Anybody who took an honest look at the 53-man roster had to see that they were heading into the season with two seventh-round picks and a rookie fourth-round pick at linebacker, that they were starting two seventh-round picks at safety.
“Well, they did draft a 2nd rd pick at safety, and draft another 2nd rd pick, though a case can be made for Jarrett as a reach in a weak draft. However, thinking that an undersized LB from a 3-4 college defense who blitzed a large proportion of snaps could play MLB in the NFL without an off-season is an excuse for drug testing of some FO personnel. There were only two free agents who would have made a difference, Whitner and Posluszny, who the Jags signed for a legitimate $7M a year. Tulloch hasn’t helped a run defense in Detroit that’s worse than the Eagles.”
The lock-out was over when they allowed Quintin Mikell to walk without finding a suitable replacement.
“Uh, don’t look know, but Mikell made zero difference in St Louis, probably because he reached his expiration date. He would have been an upgrade over Page, but not over Coleman once he got his head out of his butt, or Allen, once his head cleared from his concussion.”
When Reid arrived in Philadelphia, he inherited a defense that included Hugh Douglas, Brian Dawkins, Jeremiah Trotter, Brandon Whiting, Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent.
“Not one of this group made the pro bowl the three previous seasons, it was under JJ that they blossomed. As a rookie, Trotter had a total of 3 tackles, behind James Willis, Whiting was a backup DT, BT couldn’t stay healthy.”
For a real picture of Reid’s vision of a championship football team, you need to look at the post-Super Bowl years, when he has slowly shed the tough, physical players who helped him establish the track record he now enjoys.
“Gee, I must have missed the 2007-2008 defenses with players like Cole, Patterson, Bunkley, Gocong, Bradley, Jordan, Mikell, Dawk, Brown. Sean did tear that defense apart, but I don’t see AR’s fingerprints until this year, when he decided he needed to pay more attention to defense to fix what Sean tore asunder. Before then, JJ called the shots. They have moved to a fast, aggressive one gap scheme, uh, just like 1999-2002 when Brasher was the DL coach.”
“Reid recognized that things were deteriorating, brought in Mudd and Washburn to fix the lines. That non football man Howie managed to sign Babin, Jenkins and find Landri, Hunt and Mathis, draft Kelce and Watkins and Rolle, six starters and two key reserves, as well as find two new kickers, IN ONE STICKIN’ OFFSEASON. He also managed to get a pretty good haul for Kolb [Aso was probably a decision made above his pay grade]. Now Howie is far from perfect, he blow some opportunities in the 2010 draft (the tradeup for Graham was probably above his pay grade, but Bowman and Graham were there for the taking, we ended up with Clayton and Harbor) and probably reached a bit for Jarrett. But all in all, his last two seasons measure up to anything Modrak or Heckert did with similar resources. Should they have done more at LB and S, sure, but there weren’t a lot of credible options, and it was a tough season to execute major overhauls with the draft coming before free agency.”
nice read.
Not a big fan of the article. Austinfan covered several of my concerns. Murphy chose a mish-mash of points to pick apart Reid and didn’t follow simple logic. I could have written a much better anti-Reid/GM piece. People get too emotionally invested and start ripping the guy rather than dealing with facts in proper context.
Like keeping/firing Reid, there is a strong case to be made for/against his personnel moves. That wasn’t it.
Football guys? Ryan Grigson – college. Louis Reddick – pro. Joe is just a numbers guys. That’s all. Howie doesn’t have a football background, but he’s much better than people give him credit for when it comes to evaluating talent. Team building is a trickier subject and one we don’t have an answer on yet. I don’t think adding a veteran football guy would necessarily improve things.
I’ll cover this more fully when I write on the Personnel side of things.
Did anyone catch Lurie when he was talking about the bad defensive drafting?
I understand what he was trying to say about it being “just one of the facets of adding talent to the team” but seriously Eagles should take drafting like its the only avenue to add quality talent and then what they can get from trades and free agency is icing on the cake or the final pieces of a completed puzzle. I think wise drafting should be numero uno. Go Birds!
Next year is really going to be the first fair year to rate how Howie has done since becoming GM. It’s unfair to rate him until his first draft has had a proper non-rookie offseason (and an uninjured offseason for our top two picks) and his second draft has had the same. The time when rookies often make by far their biggest jumps. I agree with Austinfan, he has done far more good than bad with the exception of linebacker and had Chaney not been such a dissapointment that wouldn’t seem quite so bad either.
My main complaint would be his Redskins tendencies this offseason, I don’t want to see as much change this year.
Oh and if he doesn’t get us Luke Kuechly and Ronnell Lewis I take back everything I’ve said.
Although I’ll never forgive him for tearing training camp out of WCU and sending it to the cesspool which is Lehigh, I think Lurie is the best owner in Philadelphia sports that I can remember. For a lot of the same reasons I like AR so much: they run it as a long term business in a responsible manner and not a fantasy team. I love AR’s press conferences, because that’s how a real leader acts.
But, I’m pretty upset that I had to be reminded of the 1996 Eagles. Why? Why add that to our current pain? And 97? Tommy Hutton! My week is ruined.
Lehigh a cesspool? I sense someone is trying to stir the pot.
Tommy Hutton is arguably the greatest Eagles punter of 1997. Be careful what you say about him!!!
As a West Chester boy, I will always detest Lehigh for being the temporary training camp of the Eagles (before they move home to WCU). If there’s any Lehighanians out there, I apologize.
It really puts this season in perspective thinking about the Tommy Hutton Game and Chris Boniol and Bobby Hoying.
I’m not one of the Reid bashers, but I think it’s a poor justification for keeping him by saying, “if Andy Reid were fired, there would be at least 5 teams stumping for his services the next day.” Ok, so a bunch of 4-12 teams would want Reid as their coach. That’s understandable. To play Devil’s Advocate here, that’s exactly what Reid is good at. Building a team up so it’s competitive every year, even close to elite with the ability to tantalize the fanbase just enough to keep the seats filled.
Of course 5 or more teams would be interested. The problem with a lot of Eagles fans is they want more. But I’m one of the grass is always greener kind of guys and even with Reid’s flaws, I wouldn’t want him gone. Especially considering dropping him now would mean a far less effective Vick.
I am a little late to the party on this but….
My impression of the PC was that is was divided into two parts.
In the first part, Lurie was stating his personal opinions on the situation and his feelings on the subject. He is not happy with the season. Not happy with the results. Not happy with some individual players. etc.
In the second part, Lurie stated the teamconclusions. Without saying it, it appeared to me that the conclusion to keep AR stemmed from a group discussion and a group conclusion.
If that is true, then you can easily conclude that it is Banner and maybe Roseman that was part of that conversation. But you can also conclude that Lurie is true to his word that he is letting the football people make the football decisions.
How long will he continue to have faith in the football people is the question.
Interesting take.
Lurie has a few people he reaches out to in the building and outside the building. He isn’t just talking to Joe/Howie. Lurie might be tight with Bob Kraft. Maybe he calls Tom Heckert for an opinion. Maybe Mike Holmgren. Could be any number of people that he’s got a behind the scenes friendship with from league meetings and that type stuff.
You are right to point out that he does trust Howie / Andy now, but that won’t last forever.
Anyone who has watched more than one or two AR press conferences knows what to expect. When he’s done with the injury report, I just turn it off. There is no point in listening to the rest because it’s going to be the same old stuff. It is what it is.
lol thats a very good point.
he’s been the coach here for 13 seasons or something. we should all know by now that he isn’t going to say anything useful. so why bother to watch or care about it??
the media must get pissed at him for making their job harder. so they dig into all of the marginal information he gives and stretch it to mean something crazy.
honestly, i dont watch the press conferences, and i barely read local media anymore. its just a waste of time.
Have you ever watched Belichick’s press conferences? They’re probably less informative and less entertaining than Andy’s. Listen to his interviews on WEII in Boston and he’s much more candid, as is Andy when he’s on the radio.
I think people are just too into press conferences and need to realize they are a waste of time.
The worst part of being an Eagles fan is hearing the media cover the Eagles. That “journalist” claiming Reid is arrogant reeked of bias. It wasn’t asked “Do you think Reid’s handling of reporters comes of as arrogant given that he doesn’t give straight answers”. That’s an entirely fair question. The reporter asked it in such a way that a) he looked dumb b) it was an easy lay-up for Lurie.
I love being an Eagles fan who doesn’t live in Philly. The national media is way more fair. In fact, I’d say 90% of them love Andy Reid. Even those that don’t (Lombardi) say he’s horrible in clock management, but never dispute that he’s top 5 in preparation. That’s respect.
I don’t live in the Philly area anymore either, but I wholly disagree on the national media. The outsider takes are so general and often parrot “conventional wisdom” that they aren’t even really useful. The national writers wi’ll say stuff like we need a DT in this year’s draft coming up when we have 5 even after we lose Laws, four we know can play. Or like midway through this year they were saying we had offensive line issues when we most certainly did not.
The Philly media guys probably overplay the Andy press conference angle … Readers don’t care about the media members’ hardships, IMO, they care about the team.
But Tommy and maybe BGN aside, there’s still no more informative source about the Eagles, IMO, than Philly.com. Sheil’s blog is legit — player by player breakdowns, etc., and the rest of the reporters still break Eagles news, they still take the time to draw out the quotes from players and coaches that the rest of us spend the week talking about, and their analysis of the team is in-depth and balanced for the most part. Some of the columns fall on their faces, but I think that’s par for the course and it doesn’t outweigh the good they do.
It’s easy to bash the press because they (we?) sometimes makes ourselves unlikable, and it’s like being a lawyer … it’s a cool profession to bash despite the fact that people always need them. But if we lost the everyday beat guys and we only had the national reporters and blogs to go with, the analysis would be much more of what’s on the surface and what’s already obvious. We need that stuff to stir the pot.
I will always respect guys like Tommy and Sheil who actually watch and re-watch the games before doing their writeups. I will also always respect the beat reporters who are there every day and get to know the nuances of a team, their personalities, etc. That’s not practical for a national person covering all 32 teams, so we will always need the expertise of team-specific guys, IMO.
http://spikeeskin.com/2012/01/03/andy-reid-the-dark-knight-teamandy/
Interesting take on the emotional dynamics of the keep or fire Reid arguments.
Also great photoshop.
After reading the transcript of Lurie’s PC its really interesting to see behind the scenes a little bit.
It’d be really interesting to hear, one day, about what Andy sees/ saw as his weaknesses and how he worked on them.
The only reporter I take seriously is Sheila Kapadia.
He does his homework, reviews games, checks stats, including PFF and FO, does his own numbers, and only THEN gives his opinion.
The rest are just cliche mongers who throw out unsubstantiated opinions and when challenged, act like they got their information from the almighty.
I said something similar, in long form, above, at least about Sheil. That’s his job though, to blog, to get below the surface. Not everyone who blogs really uses that platform to do intelligent stuff though, and sometimes that’s not even their aim.
There are some bad Eagles blogs that are well-liked in the circles I move in. Real lowest-common-denominator stuff. But that’s more proof that not everybody is looking for the same thing, and not everybody is everybody’s cup of tea.
I sent a friend Tommy’s Case For and Against Reid columns and he thought Tommy went easy on him. I thought it was fair. We both love the Eagles and watch the same things but see it differently.
[No segue]
I think Twitter has given us an opportunity to figure out who better knows what they are talking about and who doesn’t, because you pull the curtain back a little and read what these guys think and talk about when they’re not doing it for the paper. Les Bowen and Jonathan Tamari I like following on Twitter. Ray Didinger I enjoy reading, but Rueben Frank I thought did some not-very-good work this year, repeatedly. I used to really like Rich Hoffman’s columns, and even the Courier-Post guys, but that was maybe more when I lived up there. The Allentown and Wilmington papers occasionally have some good stuff, but I can only remember one of their names, so it hasn’t impressed upon me all that much.