Banner backlash boils over
This one has been simmering for a while. Credit Reuben Frank of CSNPhilly.com for getting Jeffrey Lurie to yank the lid off the pot.
Banner backlash boils over
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
This one has been simmering for a while. Credit Reuben Frank of CSNPhilly.com for getting Jeffrey Lurie to yank the lid off the pot.
Frank asked Eagles chairman Lurie about the perception that his childhood buddy, former Eagles president Joe Banner, has been the source of a lot of the negative press Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is getting. Roseman, once Banner's protege, usurped Banner last year, with Joe landing in Cleveland, where he has the organizational control he sought.
Lurie didn't outright accuse Banner of being the main "league source" arrayed against Roseman, but he definitely issued a warning.
"I'm very supportive of Howie, and if there's any criticism coming from afar about Howie, it's just off-base, and so I will support Howie completely, because that's not right," Lurie told Frank.
"And you know, if there are league sources that are really based in Cleveland, that's not right. We see through it all."
The final straw might have been a venomous Jan. 14 piece appearing on CBSSports.com, from reporter Jason LaCanfora, in which the Eagles' coaching search was described as "meandering and bizarre," and Roseman was said to be "drunk with power" and "woefully out of his depth."
Before that, in another media forum, there was the midseason "league-sourced" revelation that the Eagles had extended Roseman's contract back when Banner left -- leaked at a time when the Birds' personnel flaws were bringing scrutiny on Roseman -- and a "league sourced" report that somehow Roseman was responsible for the disastrous hiring of now-fired defensive line coach Jim Washburn. We don't know whether Banner had a role in either of those stories, but the Eagles' brass certainly believed he did.
Banner's response Friday, released through Browns spokesman Neal Gulkis, was as follows:
"It's always difficult to comment on a quote that may or may not be accurate or in context," Banner said. "In this case, from the comments Jeffrey made that were communicated to me, it is necessary for me to make this clear, unambiguous statement. Any implication that I had anything to do with Jason LaCanfora's story is completely false, outrageous and borders on being libelous.
"I had absolutely no conversation with Jason LaCanfora. Having demonstrated my character over the last 44 years to Jeffrey and the last 14 to Howie, it is beyond disappointing that they would suggest such a thing. As tempting as it is to go further, other than defending myself, I will continue to take the high road on all such matters as I have done since the day I left the Eagles."
Later Friday, Banner was asked about the situation at a news conference announcing Mike Lombardi as the Browns' new personnel guy. Banner declined comment.
While Lurie went a little overboard Thursday -- almost to "gold standard" level -- in describing how much the Eagles and Roseman are respected by what he called "iconic figures" in the league, he was right about criticism of the Eagles' search. Their journey to a new coach was neither longer nor less focused than anyone else's. Five of the eight NFL openings didn't get filled until this week, and the Birds ended up with the guy everybody in the league insisted was their top candidate going into the process. Every interview they undertook made sense.
There are some people in the media, even right here in Philadelphia, who might owe Roseman an apology.
Which is not to say the GM has proven he is great at his job, or is one of the best young minds in the league, or worthy of any of the superlatives Lurie likes to bestow. But it's a fact that the media biz today seems to be more and more about "look at me and my report!" rather than sifting through agendas, trying to figure out what's true and passing that on to readers/viewers.
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On a more pleasant note, maybe you heard Chip Kelly talk Thursday about the time Nick Foles, playing for Arizona, completed a pass lefthanded while Kelly's Oregon Ducks were trying to sack him. Here's the video.
- @ghost, fabulous comeback! Perfect reach on that one, my friend!
— advantasux - As long as the Eagles are $20,000,000 under the salary cap, they won't be competitive. However, can you blame Jeffrey Lurie for wanting to pocket an extra $20,000,000/year. If you had the choice of owning a winning football team or pocketing $20,000,000/year, which would you do.— JonathanB
- If I had the money this clown has, $20M would be pocket change. That said, since $20M is like pocket change to Lurie, I would invest in putting the best team on the field, thereby padding my pockets even more by satisfying a rabid, motivated fan base that spends more money on additional merchandise and stays longer than the 3rd quarter so that they spend even more money on concessions and the like. Make sense?
- @jon boy: the franchise is worth $1bn. $20mm is 2% of that, or two cents on the dollar. it's not worth two cents to lurie to pay for quality back-up offensive linemen?
— hannibal barca - The problem with your statement is that the facts of the NFL do not prove you out. For the past 10-12 years, for the most part the best teams(NE, Pittsburgh, etc) are routinely in the bottom third of payroll while the top 5 or 6 teams in payroll over that time have either been miserable or perennial 1st round playoff losers. That is cold, hard fact. You may ask how that can be and the answer is varied but the main point is that the best teams DRAFT WELL(keeping salaries down), re-sign only their best players AND are willing to walk away from a guy who is due to get over paid on the open market. Meanwhile the bad teams draft poorly, over pay to keep guys that they could replace if neccessary and then try to make up for it by signing big free agent contracts. So you end up with bad teams with big payrolls and great temas with middle of the pack to low payrolls. The Eagles failed to draft well and over paid for Free agents,(Nnamdi, Kerse, etc). The only thing they ever have done right is dropping players who are too old and over paid. Dawkins being the only exception and he really only had one successful season after leaving the Eagles — UncleStosh
- the eagles sure could have used winston justice, shipley or mcglynn with some of that 20mm in left over money that went right to lurie's account at chase manhattan — hannibal barca
- How do you know where it went? You'd rather look in hindsight and say what didn't happen, but in reality you wouldn't give credit if he did was your suggesting. Instead you would find $20mil that he spent that didn't work out. Even if it was a different $20mil.
See, you aren't speaking out of concern for the team. You are literally looking for things to complain about, because you are following your peers. You keeping up with me?— MFPhils - Well, that's at least the second time you brought up Justice. Did you ever see him play? He make King Dunlap look like a Pro-Bowl lineman. The blocks the way Asante blocks - by waving at the guy as he runs by! Justice had the nickname the "Human Turnstile" for a reason! — gdibig
- I buy your argument regarding drafting well. That has been a huge problem for the Eagles for years. And free agent pick ups over the years for the Eagles have, for the most part, been busts. All the money in the world wouldn't help a team that was managed the way the "Gold Standard" has been.
- i'm with you ghost. you build through the draft, and add a missing piece here or there via free agency. the sad thing for the eagles is that smug little howie's running the personnel operation — hannibal barca
- No offense, but if I were Lurie reading this I would literally pe- myself laughing. You think you know business and football better than anyone on his staff? wait...wait...to late. Gotta change my underwear. — MFPhils
- exactly, lurie is a businessman, not a football fan (unless he's talking about his beloved patriots). even if he inherited his money, rather than earning it, he turned 200mm into 1bn, by skimming as much as possible from the salary cap
it didn't take clairvoyance to realize that the team had NO depth on the o-line, even before peters got hurt. howie cut justice, shipley and mcglynn because they were too expensive, and king dunlap was cheaper.
people love to bash steinbrenner. but if i was a yankees fan i'd be glad he spent as much as he could to WIN. unlike the owners in kansas city and miami who pocket baseball's revenue sharing money— hannibal barca 
Comment removed.- "Hey Joe "Nichles" Banner can you take Roseman with you? Thanks!— losteagle
