Welcome back Eagles, rare team tries to win
PHILADELPHIA >> When the Eagles slumped last season, Jeffrey Lurie fired his coach, the one who just three years earlier was the hot name in the industry, shooing him away as if an annoyance.
When spending season began, the Eagles did not hesitate, re-signing their best players at market value or better, their No. 1 quarterback included. By then, they’d sprung, too, for a backup, guaranteeing Chase Daniel $12 million, giving him a chance to earn $21 million.
When some of their recent would-be stars proved not to be, they pushed them out for value. Even DeMarco Murray went, just a year after leading the NFL in rushing. When the free agent period hit, the Eagles spent, acquiring Brandon Brooks to help their offense, adding Rodney McLeod to help their defense.
When it came time to draft, the Eagles were aggressive. Even if they would move into the No. 2 spot to take a quarterback likely to help them later, they did so by willingly exchanging multiple draft picks for a player. Yes, they chose talent over assets.
So when they had to, as they always have, as they always will, the Eagles did what they could to become a better football team, not next year, not the year after, but on the spot. And so when they resurface Monday at the NewsControl Complex for training camp, they should
be welcomed back with enthusiasm by so many fans of Philadelphia professional sports. Because whether they can, should or will win games or titles this season, the Eagles darn sure are about to try. And, yes, that was $280,000,000 they handed out in guaranteed money since last they played a football game, including the reported $102,000,000 contract they poured over Fletcher Cox.
“I understand what it feels like to win in this city,” Doug Pederson said, on January day he replaced Chip Kelly as head coach. “This city hasn’t won and this organization hasn’t won in quite some time. It’s my job to turn that around.”
It was Kelly’s job, too. And when he didn’t do it within three years, he was gone. Much had to do with his attitude, which spread depression throughout the building. Much had to do with his idea that keeping a defense on the field all day was football brilliance. But most of it was because the Eagles expect to compete for championships. And when they don’t, they react, by spending, by changing. Even if Andy Reid was around for 14 championship-free years, he was always close enough to one to make it plausible. That’s what Lurie promised when he grabbed the team from
Norman Braman. He would stalk Lombardi Trophies. That’s his most endearing trait.
The Eagles who will report to work Monday are not widely expected to thrive. They have a rookie coach and a rough schedule. The Las Vegas board hints that they will win seven games. But the NFC East is ordinary enough that eight wins could be enough for first place. Maybe it will take nine. And winning nine when seven is expected would not rank with Super Bowl III as an historic NFL upset.
For that, the Eagles, this summer more than most, will provide a refreshing breeze along Pattison Ave. The Phillies are doing a good job rebuilding around young pitching, but the trade deadline is near and they will sell, not buy. The Flyers were a playoff team last season and have a nice bubble of defensemen moving through the system. But Ron Hextall has not overdone the traditional franchise Stanley Cup-or-nothing philosophy. The Sixers have been — what’s the word, OK, it’s ridiculous — in their rebuilding, brainwashing fans into believing that 25 wins this season would be grand achievement. A handful of I-95 exits away, the everthrifty Union has some nice young talent and an interesting season going, but it is fine with investing not in stars but in feeder programs.
So, here’s to the Eagles
for trying to win games, even if they didn’t win every NFL offseason headline.
“In this league, I don’t think there’s time anymore,” Pederson said recently. “I’ve seen coaches get fired after one year. I’ve seen them get fired after three. There’s just not time anymore. You’ve got to win now. You do everything you can in the offseason with free agency, your own roster, the draft, whatever you can to bring guys in who can win.”
In that, the Eagles are not alone in a professional sport that does not have farm teams or teenagers stashed in Europe. NFL teams rarely rebuild. But the Birds are ahead of every other pro team in their market. And that may be why they are forever popular. Even if they are not a dream team, they will claim to be one. Even if they are not a gold standard, they will act like they are.
And even if they have been failing to back up most of their boasts since the late Buddy Ryan mesmerized fans with promises of greatness, two things are certain: They will promise greatness next year, too … and Philadelphia fans will welcome an approach that, for them, has become too rare.