Fulfilling a long-ago promise, Lurie has built a small Eagles dynasty
PHILADELPHIA >> Jeffrey Lurie had owned the Eagles for about an hour when he showed up for a pep rally at City Hall and tossed footballs and promises toward the fans. The footballs were the cheap kind. The promises seemed that way, too.
Give him time, he effectively said that afternoon in 1994, and he would make the Eagles the 49ers of the east, a 21st century NFL dynasty, a franchise to be envied.
Give him time, he implied, to wiggle his way into a new stadium, one without soggy, lockerroom drop ceilings, one where he would be able to put his plan in motion.
Give him the chance to find his own capologists, his own coaches and his way from the Main Line to the stadium district, and some day, some way, he would make the Eagles regular participants in the Super Bowl. A few found the promises silly, but then again, it was City Hall, and cheesy promises are a bit of a tradition around there. So it was quite the Philadelphia thing to do, long before Jason Kelce ever went parading in mummers drip.
The Eagles, as perennial contenders?
The Eagles, following the San Francisco model and treating fans to three world championships in six years and four in nine?
The Eagles he just
bought from Norman Braman?
It didn’t happen quite that way.
But then Sunday, that was the second Super Bowl trip the Eagles clinched in the last five seasons with a 31-7 over — and that would be them — the 49ers. It would also be their third in 19 years, which would not make them Tom Brady’s Patriots, but would plant them comfortably above the industry average. So it was with that success rate ready for print that Lurie found himself in the middle of a cigar-smokefilled locker room early Sunday evening, ready to re-live those fuzzy memories — the promises,
the failures and ultimately regular NFC tournament satisfaction. Victory lap, anyone? “No,” Lurie said, smiling. “No, no. It’s every year. And we just want to win in two weeks. Honestly, you don’t see a massive celebration in here. At all. Our goal from September on, or August on, or June on is just, ‘Let’s maximize the talent we have and the leadership we have, get the No. 1 seed and then go all the way.’
“So we’re one game away.”
Not that many teams do, but the Eagles hardly sneaked into the Super Bowl. Indeed, they arrived the noisy way, first winning 14 of 17 regular-season
games, then dominating two playoff matches by a combined 69-14. That the 49ers had to play part of the game Sunday with an ill-prepared, 36-yearold, fourth-string quarterback was not the Eagles’ fault. Indeed, it was to their credit that they never allowed Josh Johnson to appear professional before shooing him back to the clubhouse with a suspected concussion. They were, as their owner said, committed to excellence since mid-summer.
”I think we have a great locker room,” Kelce said. “Howie Roseman and the front office and all of those guys do a phenomenal job at trying
to figure out which pieces fit, as well as taking in the coach’s perspective. I think that is the thing that is very similar between this year and 2017, that all of the guys we have brought in are very important pieces and they are all playing the best football they have played.
“On top of a team that ended the regular season last year on a high note, we have really compounded on it this year.”
That was how Lurie had it planned in 1994. Hire good personnel sorts, be aggressive, seek greatness, win multiple titles. Maybe he didn’t really keep his promise, the one that for years had been used as punch line, wise guys reminding that he never did deliver that collection of championshipseseseseseseses. And should the Eagles return from Arizona with place money in a couple of weeks, the organization will be subject to reminders that the one Lombardi prize in Lurie’s trophy cabinet has been a bachelor for too long.
That’s how sports works: One day, the Broad Street lampposts are being smeared with shortening, the next the Eagles could be insulted for letting the same lampposts remain dry. But that’s why they will keep score in a Super Bowl that any team that has won 16 out of 19 should have a reasonable chance to win.
“You want to maximize the present and, at the same time, have an eye towards next year’s opportunity too,” Lurie said. “But, again, it’s ‘uno mas.’ We have one more to go. I’ve never celebrated these. It’s rare to win the NFC championship. I appreciate it. I appreciate everyone in our building and their incredible work, and our fans.
“But our focus, from September on, has been on winning the Super Bowl.”
If they do, that will be two Eagles titles in five years. A dynasty? Not really. But it’s close enough for a franchise and an owner that never really promised much more.