TRUSTS CHOOCH IN A PINCH
Jeffrey Lurie said this morning that as long as he is the owner of the Eagles that no other player will be issued the No. 20 jersey worn by former safety Brian Dawkins. The only other player he has ever made such a comment about was the late Reggie White, whose No. 92 was retired the same year the defensive end was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The owner also said he remained saddened by the death of Jim Johnson, adding that the defensive coordinator will be inducted into the Eagles' Honor Roll.
"I've already spoken on it ... but it's not something that just goes away," Lurie said. "I think about him and his family every day. I know the team and the organization is gearing up to both honor him and hopefully bring home a championship to really honor him as well."
Lurie spoke on another of other subjects, including coach Andy Reid's contract status, the NFC East in general and the Dallas Cowboys in particular.
"You all ... know how I feel about Andy," Lurie said. "Outstanding in every way. I just see great success for Andy with the Eagles."
Lurie, however, declined to say if there have been any discussions about a contract extension for Reid, whose current deal expires at the end of next season.
"The history of dealing with coaches and Andy, in particular, I've never ever spoken about it," Lurie said. "Even when we've had slow starts, which we often do, everybody wants to talk about is Andy still going to be the coach and blah, blah, blah. I never go there. Everything will happen very privately and that's the way it has always been. I think that's the reason why it has always worked so well."
Lurie said the NFC may be the best it has been since he has owned the Eagles.
"I tend to focus a lot on the quarterbacks and to me the big news in the NFC is we have a division with four quarterbacks capable of winning the Super Bowl," Lurie said. "I think the talent level in the NFC East is the best in football and I think the team that is probably the most underrated is the Dallas Cowboys because they entered last year with by far the most Pro Bowl players.
"Sometimes it takes an extra year to really elevate and reach that. I look back on last year and I see Felix (Jones) and Marion Barber having some injuries. You just see the potential in these teams for dominance. To me, the NFC is pretty loaded and the NFC East is the best in the NFC."
