BETHLEHEM - "So close last year," Jeffrey Lurie said early into his training-camp news conference yesterday. "To be within a whisker of getting to the Super Bowl . . . Really proud of the coaches, the trainers, the players and the entire organization. We hope to build on that."

Perception has always framed the debate about Jeffrey Lurie's era as owner of the Eagles, now entering its 16th season. Five NFC Championship Game appearances, a Super Bowl trip - stated that way, he and team president Joe Banner should be savored civic treasures, providing months, nay, years, of meaningful sports entertainment in this city.

Four losses in NFC Championship games, three as favorites. The screwy ending to that one Super Bowl, the departure of heart-and-soul stars over contract terms - there have been times when sentiment leaned heavily the other way, toward boarding those two treasures onto the next Amtrak headed to Boston.

We have arrived at an uneasy peace these days, these men and their public, sharing the same hopes from an offseason of trades and signings and sexy draft picks, sobered collectively by the death of a beloved coach and the departure of a revered player.

And so Lurie started his news conference yesterday not only memorializing the late Jim Johnson, but introducing the touchy subject of Brian Dawkins before he could be asked.

"I just want to say as long as I own the team, nobody is going to wear number 20," he said.

That's not an official announcement, he would say later, and it's unclear whether an active player for one team can have his number retired by another. Lurie played offense on the subject, though, and it made him seem more Kirk than Spock.

Like when someone asked him whether it was hard to be at camp and not see Dawkins on the practice field.

"It's part of football," he said. "As an owner and as I'm sure anybody working with the players - you get very close to them. It's not like you're just observing them.

"You get really close, and if you want to continue to play at your best, sometimes you have to understand the reality of certain players and what happens in the free-agency system. You can miss a Tra Thomas. You can miss Brian Dawkins, Jon Runyan, players that you really feel close to and admire, but, at the same time, you are giving others a chance to become those players. It's really a part of life in sports. It's one of the hardest parts of life in sports, but it's also one of the most rewarding when you see other players evolve and become outstanding players for you.

"But to say you don't miss players that you've been working with for a long time, of course, you do."

Like Banner this past spring, Lurie spoke yesterday of luck and the bounce of a ball or two as championship determinants as much as roster enhancement. Clearly, the gold-standard talk has been replaced by the "within a whisker" spin. Even the more bolder proclamations - like Banner's "best roster in the NFL" - are immediately muted with predictable qualifiers.

"You have to be within a certain numerical area of games lost by starting players," Lurie said when asked about Banner's comments at the start of camp. "There is a pretty strong correlation, we know that, to winning . . .

"I'd like to know all the rosters in January and evaluate it better then."

A punt, for sure. Especially 2 days after his starting middle linebacker, Stewart Bradley, one of his key leaders, was lost for the season. Especially the day after Juqua Parker was charged with marijuana possession. Especially with key members of his rebuilt offensive line too unhealthy to even practice together.

Lurie played field position like that in most of his comments. He loves Joe Banner, called him one of the "best-hearted people you could ever come across." Loves Andy Reid, too. Thinks that "it's important to be very analytical and self-critical.

"And it's been one of the keys to our success. We just haven't rested on what happened the previous year.

"I can't imagine any increase in urgency every year to win," Lurie said. "This is all we think about, plan for and dream about. This decade as an owner, a team, we've sort of accomplished every single goal possible. Now we've got to accomplish the one remaining goal. That's all we plan around, so you can't get more urgent than that. Or obsessed."

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