Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie spoke on Tuesday afternoon for the first time since training camp and showed all of us just how out of touch he really is with his customer base. Lurie advised the public he will be bringing back Andy Reid for a 14th season and while this did not come as shocking to most of us.
The thing that is shocking is one of the reasons as to why he’s bringing him back that got under my skin and many others.
Lurie started off strong and spoke of the anger and frustration he had with the 2011 campaign.
He even went as far as saying that 2011 was the most disappointing season ever under his ownership. “This season was without question the most disappointing season since I owned the team. It’s completely unacceptable to be 8-8.” His words early on in the press conference sounded genuine.
I even thought at one point he might possibly be leading into dropping the bomb that Andy Reid will not return. But then I was immediately struck in the head with Eagles reality. As fast as Lurie showed us his distaste and frustration with the team in 2011 he reverted to what seemed to be an “Andy Reid can do no wrong script”.
“You’ve got to have the anger. You’ve got to have the motivation, the dedication, and the focus and the talent. My answer to those questions is yes,” said Lurie. “That’s why I want to see our team coached by Andy Reid next year, and I can’t wait to see that team play. There’s no doubt in my mind, if our focus is on trying to win a championship next year, the best coach for that is Andy.”
This is where Lurie should have just taken questions and walked away but he decided to insult our intelligence by trying to sell us on Coach Reid. Lurie began analyzing the track record of his head coach and it was clear his take on Reid’s track record is much different than what Eagles fans think of it.
Lurie pointed out that since 2008 only the Ravens have reached the playoffs more than the Eagles and that the Birds have made the playoffs more than any other NFC team since 2006.
“You’ve got to be in the tournament to be able to win a SuperBowl. That’s the singular goal. It’s hard enough to get into the playoffs and this coach and his staff have a superb track record of getting into the tournament” said Lurie. This statement is absolutely insulting to the Eagles fan base and shows just how out of touch Jeffrey Lurie is with his customers who pay good money to see this team.
The goal should be to win a SuperBowl every season not just get into the tournament. It’s unacceptable to be content with a coach that simply gets you into the tournament. The fans of this team want to win a SuperBowl not just get into the tournament it’s simply not good enough anymore to simply get there.
Lurie then decided to talk about the intangibles of Coach Reid. “The intangibles are the overriding factor for me,” said Lurie. “What I don’t look for is a player’s coach. I want a coach that coaches hard, and how to get the players to respond to hard coaching? This was, contrary to the 8-8 record, one of the best groups in terms of motivation and energy at practice I’ve ever seen.
“Does [Reid] have the fire in his belly? Does he have what it takes to take a team far into the playoffs and have a shot at the Super Bowl? It’s a grueling profession, as you all know. Andy Reid to me not only has the love of the players and their respect but he also has the fire in his belly to be the best.” I’ve never been an NFL coach but something tells me every coach has the fire in his belly to be the best otherwise they wouldn’t have made it to that level.
Lurie’s use of the Andy Reid intangibles and his impression of Coach Reid’s successful track record are the complete opposite outlook of his paying customers. It’s common sense for an owner of any company to know what his customers want and know how they view their product or service. Lurie seems to think fans are joyous with Andy Reid’s track record of playoff appearances and its mind boggling for an owner to be that out of touch.
Another word Lurie threw around quite often was his use of the word championship. He described the NFC East title as the NFC East Championship. He also described the NFC Championship appearances as arriving to the championship game. Lurie needs to get in touch with owners of a few other teams such as the Steelers, Patriots, Giants, or Cowboys because I’m pretty sure owners of those teams know of only one championship and that’s the SuperBowl.
Lurie is very nonchalant with that word and it should be offensive to all Eagle fans. Winning the NFC East and arriving to the NFC title game are not what we call arriving to the championship or winning a championship. After 13 seasons winning the NFC East or arriving to the NFC title game are not satisfying to Eagles fans. Nothing short of winning the SuperBowl will satisfy us fans.
One important piece of Reid’s track record that should have been stressed more is the fact he’s coached in one SuperBowl in 13 years. This team has had some amazing talent over the years especially early on in the Reid era when the defense was stellar and Donovan McNabb was unstoppable as a starting QB. This team should have had multiple Super Bowl appearances let alone multiple Super Bowls at this point. Yet Lurie kept referring to NFC East Championships and NFC Championship games as the bench mark for a stellar track record.
Part of owning any business is to know what your customers want and how you can improve your product or service to their liking. You need to create a positive brand image for your company and in order to do that it’s imperative you’re in touch with what your customers want from your business. You need to listen to your customers and figure out a way to make them happy.
The owner of the Eagles has no sense of just how frustrated the fans really are with this franchise and it showed with his speech.
Lurie touched on the ignorance of Reid and how he views a side of the coach none of us ever see because he’s so loyal to his players and the organization. Going forward we as a fan base should be giving more heat to the team’s owner because his ability to be so out of touch with his fan base is far more ignorant than Reid blowing off a question at a post game press conference.
Out of touch, delusional, hypocritical, arrogant, & stubborn are all words that describe him.
REID MUST HAVE BLACKMAIL PICTURES ON LURIE. LURIE SOUNDS LIKE HE IS SCARED OF REID. FOR THE 6TH YR I WILL CONTINUE TO BOYCOTT THE EAGLES. MY MONEY WILL GO TOWARD THE OTHER TEAMS IN THE CITY
great article, lurie is an elitist, silver-spooned liar, lover of the wealth handed to him, the Philadelphia fans see through his transparency, bottom franchise, bottom feeders, lets go flyers, Sixers, Phillies, screw you lurie
Apparently Lurie doesn’t believe there is some obvious yet magical extra step you can take to guarantee a championship victory each year, which I do agree is out of touch with many Eagles fans.
Why all the hate? What have all the other teams done with the exception of Phillies over the past 13 years? Why does a guy like Snyder get so much respect and why do we still call him Mr. Snyder? The Flyers haven’t won a cup since 1974. Part of the problem is Reid relationship with the media. He doesn’t give them anything and it drives them crazy. If you were Reid would you give them information so they could use it against you? For the most part none of these guys have put on a helmet other then maybe midget football.
lurie did make a correct observation tthe saints and packers are the cream of the nfc , one of those teams will represent the nfc in the super bowl the next 3- 4 years . it doesnt matter who are coach is this team can not play at that level .
I agree dtime, excellent points..
It’s amazing to me what the Fans expect Coach AR and the Front Office to actually say during this “Press Conferences” which are a charade and madatory by NFL rules.. the long-term coaches who have been around a while say much o significane or divulge real team information..Anyone ever listen to Belichek, John Fox,Lovie Smith,Mike Shanahan,Marv Lewis, etc,etc… It’s how they protect their players,keep things in-house and tow the company line.. Philly Fans are not the only Fan-Base that get frustrated by a lack of information from the Coaches during Press COnferences, it’s the way it works and to be expecting any newsworth revelations about anything is just being naive and foolish..
DTime and danimal (twice iin one day) great points gents
for the record – danimal posted at 8:49 – thats 5:49 am where I live – I did not get until 6 – would love to take credit for his work… dude is brilliant
Pman – do anything newsworthy at an NFL presser you will be immortalized in beer commercials – we are who we thought we were – ‘Playoffs’
also noting an increasing trend of various fan bases wanting to hire ‘consultants’ to manage their drafts –
When I look at the NFC over the next 5 Years, I see this
Saints have about 2-3 more years in the “Brees Window”
Packers will be good for a long time… The 49ers,Lions and Falcons are all improving with young talent, up and comign HC and finally have some Front Office Stability and will be good teams for the near future for they are being built in the right way…
Teams like Panthers,Seahawks,Cardinals are all on the right path with good young players & coaches and will be playoff competitive…
Franchises that are already down and rebuilding and need a lot of work are the Vikings,Rams,Redskins
Franchise’s who normally are good, but are actually on their way down with Questionablel Coaching ,Poor Front Office Decisions, and just an overall Franchise Arrogance and Denial are the Cowboys & Eagles, who simply believe think that their Teams & Franchises are better than what they really are and their local media and fan bases buy into the their garbage rhetoric largley in part, because they do very good job in marketing,self-promoting their teams and players and their fans/local media are getting so desperate for a Winner that they become ‘sheep” and “kool-aid drinkers” and believe all the crap about how good they are..
The other thing I believe about the fans and local media in both cities, while very knowledgeable & passionate about their home town teams , is that some/many are a little ignorant about what else is going around in the League and with their competitors as if it doesn’t matter what the other teams are doing to improve and this ignorance,arrogance kind of feeds into the delusional and many time misplaced over-expectations of their own home Teams and Players which eventualy leads to a larger let-down,anger and eventually hate…
I’ve said for a couple of years now, that this Eagles Team has been and currently is an average NFL Team, no more and no less and I will go on the record again stated I believe they will play better Next Season, but will most likley end up with about 8-9 Wins and maybe make the PLayoff tournemant but not do anything.. After 2012 Season, I belive wholesale changes will be made with the Coaching Staffs and hopefully to the GM Position and it will take 2-3 Years of Rebuilding the Roster in the next Head Coaches likeness and chances are, the next 12 months will determine the future course of this Eagle Franchise for the next Generation of Fans as well as us long time Fans and I am afraid its going to be a long haul to get back to being one of the Top Teams in the NFC on a consistent basis
I think I will move to Detroi or San Francisco
what I dont understand are statements like “out of touch with the fans”. EVERYONE said “I’m going to get rid of my season tickets” when they signed vick, noone did. Everyone still watches, everyone still goes to the games, and they still make boatloads of money.
I have news for most of you guys, the fans are usually wrong. If it wasnt for them signing vick, every one of you people that said “mcnabb has to go, blah blah blah” was totally wrong, kolb is horrendous, and is even worse in arizona… they got lucky by signing vick, and if they didnt sign vick… reid would certainly of been gone this season, because kolb would of won 4 games, if that.
I can only guess that the decision to get rid of reid now, is also wrong… because it’s stupid to start a new coaching regime with the talent they have in place… what you people need to do is start hoping he starts to get it right… and I think he started to towards the end of the year… mccoy should of won the rushing title, and that should speak enough about a change in his strategy… how many teams that usually make the playoffs have you seen fire coaches?
Navy,
I am availalbe for hire to consult GM Roseman/Coach AR for this Upcoming Draft.. All I need for the Eagles to Pay for is my transoprtation,food, beer and a couple of ladies a week.. I can start in Late January and work 7 days a Week for 3 months until the Draft comes in Late April..
(for as ridiculous as my offer sounds, I really couldn’t do much worse that what Roseman/AR have done the last 2 Drafts, could I..
now Pman…don’t make a critical statement like that about Roseman/AR….oh thats right, squidboy would never attack you…forget I said anything
Zoltek – thank you – it must have been the holidays – post presser and the rational people start to arrive – all this (princess greenfan you ready my dear) bitching, whining complaining and the waiting list is still tens of thousands of people long – no just come on GCOBB .com click ‘passion’ and rant away – then procalim your self a knowledgable fan……….. just expressing an opinion
princess green fan – you rampant jealousy at my interpersonal relationships with fellow posters is amusing – I consider Mr. Pman a friend – and in case you are new or missed this – my son goes to college about 40 minutes from where Pman lives – so when I dropped my son off I traveled up to lovely Boone NC (voted #2 place to retire in America by US news) and we watched a little pre-season football and the Appalachian State coeds, while enjoying a few cold beverages. Do not be jealous – let me know if you are going to be in the San Diego area or where you live and if I am in that area and I will share the brotherhood of football with you as well – my dance card gets a little full when back in the Philly area, but no worries – maybe I will find a central location and call a GCOBB summit – I will distribute dictionaries so every one understands the meaning of words, The Dummies Guide to the NFL so everyone understands it is actually a team game, ‘The History of the Modern NFL’ so people understand there are 32 teams trying to do the same thing, and Lastly a complete list of self help book to help those that can’t help themselves overcome their grief and denial, stress management and relaxtion (for you DCAR), jealousy and envy (for you princess greenfan)
and to show I am a part of the team – I will get the book on narcissistic personality disorders!
I prefer to be a mind-numb robot…no emotion….no passion….just talk about myself…no emotion…..in my world no one is smarter than me ….and everyone one else whine and complains because they are jealous of all that I am…..no emotion….why would someone care about the eagles…why would someone show emotion about their favorite team….that makes no sense to a man of such an educational level as myself…oh….did I forget to tell everyone that I have an advanced degree?….sorry, that was supposed to be listed in the second sentence after I call someone pathetic for disagreeing with moi…no emotion….just me…and me….and did I forget to talk about me?
just expressing an opinion…
looks like you are showing some emotion there squidboy…what is worng with you today? please tell all opf us more about yourself…the site will soon be navy dot com..can’t wait
did someone touch a nerve….I told you my goal is to be a bigger asshole than you…it is a big job and not sure that I will ever get to your level
you certainly have taken much of any fun out of discussing the birds
just talking birds football from now guys…sorry for the drama…it is over from my end….I will ignore any shots from the cheap seats….sorry for distraction
sorry princess I was reading your last line = you certainly taken much of any fun out of =
what does that mean – I have made it more fun or less fun? If more fun – glad to help if less fun – haven’t you learned yet to quit your bitchy little whining – whaaa navy taking away all my fun – whaaa – I can’t post stupid dumbass statements with out squidy telling me I’m stupid whaaaa I have girly emotions I need to express
funny thing is schiller predicted that people would get all bent out of shape about the education thing – its all right – I help out (donate ref services) to the Special Olympics – your fine – I am used to dealing with the ‘special needs’ keep going – I actually am bored and check back more to read you comments –
the drama queen apologizes for the drama – too funny
In last 3 years Andy Reid has won 0 playoff games, why would u guys get rid of him
Dtime: Mr. Snyder isn’t afraid to pull the trigger to fire a coach or GM. At least the Flyers have been to finals 8 times, the most of any team during its existence. The Flyers ran into major team dynasties at the time they reached the finals and lost: Islanders 4-Cup string, Canadiens the same, Edmonton the same and beginning of revivals of Red Wings and Blackhawks.
The Flyers in those Cup runs never just “lucked” into playoffs then “something happened.” Mr. Snyder is respected by the players, BUT they also know he expects superior play and motivation.
At any rate, I favor the Flyers because the Eagles (with exception of Vermeil years) have never had both a solid offensive and defensive team commitment from coaches/FO. It’s not some bad karma the Eagles are only team in NFC east not to win a SB and with nothing to show in 51 years but 2 SB appearances… it all starts at top with an owner who understands & appreciates the fans and who hires staff/scouts to get players, and coach to put it all together.
true Iggles…you cannot say that the Flyers have been afraid to make bold changes…either with players, coaches or GM’s…if they don’t believe they are in the best position to win..they will make a change…and their fans know that, and their fans are probably as loyal a group as you will find in sports.
Then why haven’t the Flyboys been able to develop,obtain or sustain a Truly Elite Goalie over the last 30 years.. Talk about Coach AR being in denial of have top flight WR’s.. The Goalie is the most important Position for a Team that wants to win the Stanley Cup and is this most critical position, the Flyers have failed miselrbly.. At least the Eagles had Championship level QB’s in Recent Seasons…
ooh, and love the excuses.. The Flyers ran into a Dynasty.. Well if your good enough, you end the Dyanasty and create your own… Weren’t the Flyers even the team that was “favorite” to win the last few times they made it to the FInals… Big Zppo too…
Your missing the point Paulman, when the Flyers seen they werent going anywhere with any coaching staff they had they made the change, they did it with coaches that also took them to the playoffs, if Laurie doesnt see that this is as far as it goes with Reid after giving him EVERYTHING he’s asked for through the years (which he has) then theirs nothing to debate, were talking about making the change when you see it isnt going anywhere.
and the flyers still have not won anything, so how does that strategy do anything more than shut the people up that cry about it ?
what about when everyone wanted larry brown out of here, the sixers did really well after that.
O and remember when everyone wanted to get rid of charlie manuel ?? there wasnt a person in this city that didnt call him a dummy, and look what he did when they stuck with him.
so what is the lesson learned? the time they stuck with someone… paid off, the times where they have a rotating door of coaches, has still not worked.
You guys are acting like the Flyers never had dissapointing or poor Seasons..
I begf to differ,, They continually have one of teh Top 3-4 PAyrolls in all the NHL and remain one of the most popular Hockey Franchises in the NHL. but let the Record speak that they have 2 Championships since being in existence..
ED Snider has always kept this team,players,coaches under wraps.. and then hires non qualified home town players to learn on the job as GM’s as in Clarkie adn now Holmgrem… I really don’t see a big difference how either Franchise is run to be honest with you.. 1/2 of NHL Teams make the Playoffs every year so getting into th tournament is definitely easier, but Winning the Stanley Cup is indeed most difficult as is the Super Bowl or any Championship.. A lot has to go right, minimal injuries, some breaks and lucky bounces and calls and a Team that plays for one another more than they do for themselves..
Andrew P – Got you, “when you see it isnt going anywhere” – so we should base the coaching decisions for Philly sports teams off of your psychic abilities. (coo-coo!??!??)
I’m not saying that the Flyers haven’t been a successful NHL franchise. For the most part they have been. With that being said just because Snyder fires coaches every other season doesn’t make him smart, bold or a good owner. Please remember that Snyder is the same owner that ran the 76ers into the ground. The Eagles tried to be bold this season by signing a lot of high priced free agents and it didn’t work out. It might have been bold but I’m not sure how smart . But none of this is the point I’m trying to make. It’s the way the 2 teams are treated by the media. Pman thanks for the support
schiller, wake up! when u give a coach 13yrs and all authority to pick and choose the players and coaches he wants and still come up with NOTHING then its time to go, plain n simple. you gotta be the biggest j…..f on here to believe this idiot deserves another year especially with your boy Castillo back as D-Cord, i heard your ready to jump off a bridge if they fire him.
andrew – uh. don’t know who you were talking about… I wouldn’t jump off a bridge for Castillo. I’m not a huge castillo fan.
I think from reading the 1 percenters who love Reid and Lurie and think Reid should be here for as Adam Shefter said “as long as he wants”. You guys are scared of moving on. 14 years and no ring other than the one on his sweaty collar? Why are you people so scared of moving on? He had a good not great run shake his hand and send him on his way. Ok so now what? Who’s fault will it be next year? Juan? Marty? Desean? Vick?
Paulman, I think I can answer your question…I’m not the biggest hockey expert or fan for that matter in the game itself but there are 2 reasons why…
1: the flyers have championship trophies in their trophy case…now granted they were from long ago but they still matter to people. Its still something for many fans to hold on to after every disappointing season in the present time unlike the Eagles
2: Philly fans and other fans who live in the nearby area care more about the Eagles and the game of football itself than they do about Hockey. (im not just saying that because I look football more than hockey)…its just in the area if you just look around on the radio, local tv, and in the city. I say this while I live 1 min from the flyers practice facility…If the Eagles practiced in the same building I can tell you there would be fans there day and night
Ed Snider = Al Davis The Flyers may have won something, but it was before I was born, so it does not count to me. They were one of the richest franchises in an uncapped league, and still failed miserably year after year. Snider is every bit the outsider who came here and struck it rich as people say Lurie is.
Navy, if you want to have a lot of fun, masturbate with a clown hand puppet!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! LMFBO!!!!!!
Iggles and andrew p, you guys are dead on.
Sad that so few grasp such a simple point. People can argue till doomsday over whether or not Snider makes the best moves – that’s irrelevant. The point is that when you get crushed in the first round of the playoffs after dominating the league for 3/4 of the season, you ship out your lame captain and top “scorer” and change things up. Assuming the next season will be an improvement after you’ve seen your “captain” decide that he’s not going to talk to the media OR the coach anymore – and do nothing – guarantees repeated failure.
Joefriday… you make no sense at all.