The L Word
Posted: January 20th, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 68 Comments »Lurie.
Leadership.
Lessons.
Losing.
From 2000-2010 the Eagles were a really good organization. They didn’t win the Super Bowl, but got there once and played in the NFC title game 5 times. Life was pretty darn good. Things have been erratic since then and that’s not lost on Jeffrey Lurie.
According to Tim McManus, Lurie has become more active since letting go of Chip Kelly.
League sources say Lurie has taken a more active approach to leadership, particularly since ousting Chip Kelly as head coach in December 2015. Whether it is personnel decisions, coaching matters or day-to-day operations, there have been instances in which Lurie has demonstrated a higher level of involvement.
Lurie is working with an inexperienced coach in Doug Pederson during a time of transition for the team. There is more opportunity — and you could argue, more of a need – for a guiding hand.
Lurie recently turned 65 and is said to be shocked and pained that the franchise has not won a Super Bowl during his time as steward. It is fair to say the sense of urgency is as high as it has ever been.
Given those factors, it is not surprising that Lurie has become a more proactive owner. The Eagles and Lurie declined comment for this story.
Go read the whole piece. McManus gives examples of Lurie taking a more active role.
Some of you may question whether the owner being more active is a good thing. Aren’t Dallas and Washington having more success recently because there owners aren’t meddling as much? There is a huge difference in meddling and being active. Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder used to play a big part in football decisions. They wanted big moves and big names. They saw themselves as pseudo-GMs.
Lurie has never been that guy. He isn’t walking into a meeting with Joe Douglas and Howie Roseman and telling them to adjust the draft board because he likes the corner from Michigan better than the one from Iowa. We’re not talking about that kind of thing. Lurie is there to be more hands on in a managerial way. He meets with Howie and Doug Pederson every week. He wants in-person updates on how things are going. He offers advice if it is pertinent. He tries to see if there is anything he can do to help solve a problem.
Chip Kelly made bold moves when he was given control of the team. Those moves did not work. Lurie didn’t interfere because he was trying to see if Kelly could pull off whatever vision he had for the Eagles. That was a one-time thing. Last year Howie pushed for the Eagles to aggressively go after a QB, another bold move. Lurie was involved in that process. You can bet that Howie had to be able to explain why using a lot of resources to move up was the right move. The Sam Bradford trade would be another move where Lurie had to give approval.
This isn’t a desire to meddle or micro-manage. Lurie’s name is on the Eagles. When they win, he’s a good owner. When they lose, he’s bad. That’s not the way it should be, but perception becomes reality. Lurie, like all of us, has an ego. He wants to win. He wants to be a respected owner of a winning team. He wants a Super Bowl.
Lurie can’t go play WR or CB, but he can try to help Pederson, Roseman and Douglas as they make critical decisions that will shape the future of the franchise. Think of it this way. You run a section within a company. There is an important decision that has to be made. Your boss doesn’t want to make that for you, but he needs you to be able to explain why you’re making the decision. If you can explain your outcome and your thinking behind it well enough, it is probably a smart decision. If you can’t explain it to someone else, you might need to do some more thinking and come up with Plan B.
The Eagles had a good offseason in 2016. We’ll see if the combination of Lurie, Pederson, Roseman and Douglas can make the right decisions to get the Eagles back to being a winning team and building toward something special in the future.
*****
This is actually pretty funny.
It's an unfair home field advantage that the Colts-Eagles coin toss for the 14th pick will be in Indianapolis. Should be a neutral site.
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) January 19, 2017
*****
It seems like forever since the Eagles were involved in conference championship weekend. I truly don't believe that they're that far away.
— Merrill Reese (@mreeseeagles) January 20, 2017
Only if the Eagles can find some help for CB and WR.
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[…] Tommy Lawlor Lurie. Leadership. Lessons. Losing. From 2000-2010 the Eagles were a really good organization. They […]
Thoughtful article. Being in the same division as Dallas and Washington has always made me thankful for Lurie.
This doesn’t bother me much. I think Lurie was disappointed at how under Kelly there was infighting and then just a loss of the family atmosphere (in all the ways that can be evidenced), and now is like we’re going to have meetings so I can confirm if my team (Howie and Doug) are working together well, etc. The only real “meddling” in the article is wanting resources in the QB position, which ok but kind of makes sense.
In sum, Lurie has some slack from me here. I think he recognizes that under Kelly things went off kilter not just performance but how he wants the organization to treat people, and he’s course correcting.
I don’t hang bad seasons on Lurie; however, I do believe he is 100% responsible for not going to bat for those compensatory picks in the Maclin debacle.
On a more positive note, I believe Lurie deserves credit for being patient with Howie.
And don’t forget: Lurie pretty much paid 11m for a 1st round pick (+ a 4th) in the Bradford trade. Obviously we as fans all cheered this move and I do think smart owners would agree to it, but I wouldn’t say that ALL owners would have given the ok. It’s their money, outside of their pocket, inside the pocket of someone else and he didn’t get compensation on the field for it at all.
I’m not saying he’s perfect, he clearly isn’t. But I really believe him when he says he wants to win a SB badly. He’s willing to spend money, as long as it’s not Salary Cap money. I think that’s the right way. Because having a clean cap isn’t some nonsense, it’s vital to be successful in the long run in the NFL.
You have to remember that these owners are billionaires. $11 million to them is like $100 to us. I think every single owner would pay $11 million for a 1st round pick. Especially if they didn’t have one that year and the draft was being held in their city.
He didn’t get compensation for the $11 mil last year, but he will get it this year. Plus Bradford’s salary cap hit was lowered over these 2 years since Lurie was only on the hook for the signing bonus.
Math is hard, but if Lurie is worth $1B, that $11M is a little less than1/90th of his net worth. Meaning that it is the equivalent of $100 to someone whose net worth is a little over $9000.
Not being a jerk, just trying to add some perspective that it actually is a big investment – although I believe you are correct that every owner would have done it.
They are billionaires if you count their teams as an asset with cash value. Most teams will gross anywhere from $250M to $500M a year, but operating costs take up nearly $200M just to pay the players, not counting all the other costs. So while that’s nothing to scoff at, it’s not like most of these owners have billions of dollars sitting around in liquid cash. And, there’s plenty of owners who skimp on a whole lot less than $11M for players salaries that would actually play for the team in that given year let a lone expend that type of cash to get a draft pick. While $11M isn’t nearly as much money to Lurie as it would be to one of us, I think we should still give him a bunch of credit for being willing to spend that type of cash on a lottery pick at potentially making the team more talented in the future. Not every owner would be willing to do that.
Like I said, smart owners would absolutely pay 11m for a 1st. BUT I’m not sure if Spanos of the Chargers or Davis of the Raiders would do that. As examples. There are cheap owners in the NFL. Cheap owners wouldn’t give the OK for such a trade. Lurie isn’t cheap. That’s basically all I’m saying.
We can debate being active or not so active, but one thing about Lurie is great: he doesn’t act in public. I think more than anything else, that’s why Jerry Jones is so tough for a Coach in Dallas. And that’s why he can’t win a playoff game. The lesser involved he got (he was the GM and making the calls himself, but delegated this to his son, who sadly is much better at it) the better Dallas became.
btw: since I watched All or Nothing with the Cardinals, I simply assumed that there is a weekly meeting between Head Coach, GM and owner pretty much across the league. Why shouldn’t it be? If I run a team, I hire people to make the football decisions. But I sure as hell want a talk with those two guys after the games so I can evaluate everything that happens better.
No good can come of this.
You must be watching the Inauguration.
you should get on the trump train, I am, nobama no mo
http://www.digitalstrips.com/wp-content/ozzy-osbourne-crazy-train.png
When a I see responses like this to a guy I have blocked it makes me curious, but I don’t know how to turn it off!
Same.
WOOO, WOOOOOO, here it comes, get on it,
Load the page in another browser, or in private browsing – you won’t be logged in so nobody will be blocked.
He advised us to hop onboard the “Trump train”.
Thanks for reminding me/reassuring me why I blocked that one.
How about that lol
I’m not curious enough to unblock, that’s for sure.
I’ll walk. You go right ahead though.
Ha, my wife was watching and hearing the orangeman’s voice almost made me sick to my stomach. Not that I generally discriminate against orange people, I’m against that.
No, I was referring to Lurie getting desperate and taking a more active role. It’s his money, but I don’t see how that could possibly help. Hire good people and let them do their job. I’m far from convinced he has the right people in place. But… step away and let them succeed or fail without babying and insulating them from the results of their decisions.
Ha! I figured that’s what you were referring to. I just wanted to be funny since I’m home watching it. Remember the Oompa Loompas? They were good right?
wife…
sure
Post of the (young) year, my friend.
It does not bother me overall, but I worry about impatient owners. In any given season I think the best team in the NFL has something like max 20% chance of winning the title. Max.
Luck/randomness plays a bigger role than in most sport because of the nature of the playoffs (one game – not a serie) and the volume of injuries on any given season. You can build one of the top 3 teams in the NFL for 4/5 years straight, like the Eagles were 15 (!) years ago, do an outstanding job, and still not win the title: not a reason to be too impatient.
The only games with no luck involved are either rigged or closed system games.
I’m fine with Lurie taking a bigger role and being more active. I think he’s been the owner long enough to understand enough about the game and he sure as hell understands the business of it. The only way this goes south is if he starts believing he knows better than the guys he’s paying to know football things (see: Jones, Jerry).
I don’t mind Lurie being more proactive with the team as long as he’s not TOO intrusive like a certain owner in the division. He saw the horrors of trusting and giving someone too much power when Chip Kelly was here. I’m sure he learned that he’s the only person who could prevent such things from ever happening again.
Amen, Tommy, good post. No problems here with Lurie increasing oversight on the processes and supporting the people he has brought in.
I like the fact Lurie is urgent about winning and understands people, not only in the building, but fans too need to know the owner is engaged and committed.
I think Lurie realizes now that success is contextual; successful organizations have laid the groundwork for success in their strategic planning, culture, operations, hiring, employee relations etc. that help maximize the chances for success to occur. Just because Reid/Banner succeeded does not automatically mean Chip Kelly/Roseman will or that Roseman/Pederson will. A lot of work needs to be done to lay the groundwork for success and then build on it.
Lead, don’t micro-manage.
With so many holes to fill, we need football people making the decisions.
Let Howie do what he does best, negotiate the trades/signings that they want.
Like Chip Kelly?
Louis Riddick is real big on the whole “football people” thing too.
It was the right strategy, just the wrong guy. Pick another guy and try again.
Wish every manager knew what that meant. Hire someone you trust. Give them a job. Le them do that job.
What’s with the delay to hire a WR coach? Must be waiting to interview Kyle Shanahan.
You know what’s not funny about that coin flip? That fucking undeserving Indianopolis might get our pick at 14.
It’s my understanding that Howie already traded the Eagles right to the coin flip for Indy’s 5th round pick.
It’s a conditional 5th that goes up to 2018 4th if it’s “heads”.
I’d like the right to push Goodell down a rather long set of stairs if we’re screwed out of the 14th pick.
3 more years of TumbBombs, Tommy 🙂
I was browsing through CBS (draftscout) + NFL’s big boards and they had some comparisons up for some players. Picked out some positions that might need to addressed and went down the list for each board. Just throwing this out there for discussion sake since you know how slow draft season is.
CB
Teez Tabor – Patrick Peterson (CBS)/ Darius Slay (NFL)
Marshon Lattimore – Janoris Jenkins (CBS)/ Vontae Davis (NFL)
Sidney Jones – Trae Waynes (CBS)/ Marcus Peters (NFL)
Marlon Humphrey – DRC (CBS)/ Jimmy Smith (NFL)
Cordrea Tankersley – Dre Kirkpatrick (NFL)
Tre’Davious White – Tracy Porter (NFL)
Jourdan Lewis – Adam Jones (NFL)
Quicny Wilson – Tre Boston (NFL)
Chidobe Awuzie – Prince Amukamara (NFL)
Gareon Conley – Aqib Talib (NFL)
Adoree Jackson – Devin Hester (CBS)
EDGE
Soloman Thomas – Aaron Donald (CBS)/ Justin Smith (NFL)
Tim Williams – Bruce Irvin (CBS)/
Taco Charlton – Justin Tuck (CBS)/ Chandler Jones (NFL
Derek Barnett – Nick Perry (NFL)
Malik McDowell – Ezekiel Ansah (NFL)
WR
Mike Williams – Martavis Bryant (CBS)/ Plaxico Burress (NFL)
Dede Westbrook – Will Fuller (CBS)/ Travis Benjamin (NFL)
John Ross – Will Fuller (NFL)
Isiah Ford – Justin Hunter (NFL)
Chad Hansen – Allen Hurns (NFL)
KD Cannon – Paul Richardson (NFL)
Cooper Kupp – Brian Hartline (CBS)/ Jarvis Landry (NFL)
Amara Darboh – Mohamed Sanu (NFL)
Taywan Taylor – Stefon Diggs (NFL)
Stacy Coley – Chris Harper (NFL)
RB
Leonard Fournette – Adrian Peterson (CBS)/ Bo Jackson (NFL)
Dalvin Cook – Marshall Faulk (CBS)/ Edgerrin James (NFL)
Joe Mixon – Le’veon Bell (NFL)/ Matt Forte (CBS)
Christian McCaffrey – Tiki Barber (NFL)
D’onta Foreman – Jonathan Stewert (NFL)
Alvin Kamara – Thomas Jones (NFL)
Wayne Gallman – Khiry Robinson (NFL)
OT
Cam Robinson – Cordy Glenn (CBS)/ Ereck Flowers (NFL)
Ryan Ramcyzk – Joe Staley (NFL)
Garett Bolles – Breno Giacomini (CBS)/ Cedric Ogbuehi (NFL)
Zach Banner – Trent Brown (NFL)
Antonio Garcia – Jared Veldheer (NFL)
Dion Dawkins – Donovan Smith (CBS)/ Joe Barksdale (NFL)
Adam Bisnowaty – Breno Giacomini (CBS)/ Daryl Williams (NFL)
OG
Dan Feeney – Clint Boling (NFL)
Dorian Johnson – Jack Mewhort (NFL)
Forrest Lamp – Zach Martin (NFL)
I —
Great find.
But, if right, I’ll have to X-off McCaffery — given his comparitor is Tiki Barber.
Never liked Barber as an announcer.
But they both are nifty.
Nifty … True that for McCaffrey
It would be watching Trotter never be able to get to wherever McCaffrey wanted to go. There would be some magically force keeping Trotter from ever laying a finger on McCaffrey.
Rande is bearable though.
1 – This is awesome work.
2- There is a lot of damning by faint praise going on with a few of these comps.
Looks like we need Dalvin Cook, Forest Lamp, and whoever.
I grabbed some of your guys.
Round 1 Pick 17 (WASH): Dalvin Cook, RB, Florida State (A+)
Round 2 Pick 11: Gareon Conley, CB, Ohio State (A-)
Round 2 Pick 17 (WASH): O.J. Howard, TE, Alabama (A+)
Round 3 Pick 10: Forrest Lamp, OG, Western Kentucky (A-)
Round 4 Pick 12: Jarron Jones, DT, Notre Dame (A-)
Round 5 Pick 1: Carlos Henderson, WR, Louisiana Tech (B-)
Round 5 Pick 11: Dan Skipper, OT, Arkansas (B)
Round 6 Pick 10: Travis Rudolph, WR, Florida State (A+)
Round 7 Pick 12: Dylan Cole, OLB, Missouri State (B+)
Does this mean Gareon Conley is likely to shoot himself?
L word?
Lawlor, lupine, Lufthansa, larynx, Lickitung, latrine, leering, Liston, lungfish, lesbian, liposuction, labia, Lancelot, lozenge, Leodis, liberal, LaBelle, llama, L’Amour, lascivious, Lucy, lacuna, Lito, legend, larithmics, Leonardo, latkes, lava, Lafayette, libations, literate, Lovecraft, loci, Lancaster, love, lactiferous, Lugosi, libido,…., Lombardi.
Did I miss any good ones?
Licentious, Liberace, Liliard, liliputian, liquidity, languid, larvae. Many more, but I must move on. Well done, DE.
Lost, as in “the Cowboys lost.”
You missd: RipSaw EV2 Super Tank
lollygag
Lorax?
libations and lothario
It’s hard not to like this Sixers team. That Covington game winning 3 was sick.
Winning with 0 expectations is absolutely the best. Can just feel joy at each win. Sixers will regress in a bit – you cannot keep coming back and winning games in the 4th with such a big talent gap, but for now it is really fun and is great for a young team to start to build some momentum towards the 2017/2018 season where they will need to start building a legitimate playoff push.
This is the only team this year that can bring happiness. Flyers need more time, and Hextall is the white Obama. Really crappy situation to fix, but not enough time to do it. Phillies need another 2 year (I think) but they’ll get back because RAJ is gone. The Eagles need a bunch of things, so will let that go.
To your original point. Embiid will be a generational player. Saric will be a mix of 6th man and starter. He will be really good for this team when it’s just an NBA season. Simmons hopefully will also be a generational player (I think he will), and our best hope for a championship.
I’m not sure between the Flyers and Phillies who’s going to be the next contender. I think Hextall will put them over the top, but I have to see how the Phillies are @the end of the year to make that judgment.
TLDR: Sixers will bring the next title to Philly barring any major screw ups from Colangelo.
Flyers are building exactly the right way. Stocked the farm with top goalie prospects, build the d, then the forwards, all while clearing out dead weight contracts. That fact that we’re even somewhat competitive right now is miraculous.
They need to clear out / banish some dead weight contracts and impending UFAs more quickly. I 100% agree with the overall direction Hextall has things going, but disagree with the pace.
Read, Weise, and MacDonald need to be banished ASAP for stealing money. Read should have been traded this off-season and MacDonald had better be taken off of our hands by Vegas.
Del Zotto, Streit, and Schultz are all leaving as UFAs, so there is zero reason they need to be on this roster after the trade deadline.
Time to get Morin and Sandhiem up here and in the mix with the remaining D men.
Time to get more minutes for Leier, Lyubimov, and whoever has some pep in their step on the Phantoms.
No reason to keep Stolarz from getting some starts up here as both Mason and Neuvirth are potentially leaving as UFAs.
Love the drafting and talent in the pipeline for this team, hate that their growth and ascension to an NHL dynasty is being slow played.
Ultimately, players like Leier, Lubyimov, Laughton, etc. are getting 15 top line min a night at the Phantoms, including likely PK and PP minutes, versus the 5-6 they’d get riding the 4th line sheltered minutes in the NHL. And there’s not going to be much of an improvement in wins and loses from swapping MacDonald and Sam Morin, for example. If the priority is the future, then I agree with the current strategy of progressing the kids in the best way possible. If the priority is winning now (which it isn’t), then sure, burn MacDonald at the fucking stake and see if the kids have anything.
I love what the Sixers are doing. “3 months” is up so, we need to see Simmons soon.
I’m looking forward to seeing this team continue to grow. Embiid is “must watch” TV. They are the most exciting they’ve been as a team since Iverson was being excluded from the multiple MVP awards he deserved.
Sorry, Mike, short volume shooters who miss a lot like Iverson are the equivalent of running QBs. He was never nearly as good as someone like Curry or Chris Paul.
I’ll let myself out now…
I’m not in support of this and my sense is that Lurie is going to become too active in the decision-making process going ahead forward due to several reasons:
– Kelly fiasco
– Lurie’s age
– Increasing desperation to win a Super Bowl
– Increased public criticism he has endured the last year or two
– No one in the organization with the standing or experience to really serve as a counter weight
– Lurie’s lack of acumen and experience & proclivity to have to show that he can make savvy picks/hires
This strikes me as having the elements of negatives of Snyder’s tenure with the Flyers in the last several years before he hired Hextall and stepped back.