Ryan to be honored at halftime of Eagles-Bears game

Buddy Ryan still thinks he could have done it.

If he had just one more season leading the Eagles and had coached under current owner Jeffrey Lurie, he said, he believes he would have won that elusive Super Bowl that Philadelphia has chased for so long - and probably more than one.

"We just needed a little bit to go to the Super Bowl. We'd been very successful against the people in our division and should have continued that and went on one more year and would have been there," Ryan said Sunday. "The sad thing is we didn't get the chance to do it."

He added, "If we'd have the owner they have there now, we'd probably have won five or six Super Bowls."

Ryan, speaking on a conference call, will be honored Monday night at halftime of the Eagles-Bears game featuring the team he coached for five years and the one whose defense he guided to historic greatness and a championship.

Ryan spoke glowingly of his time as the Eagles head coach but said he could have won a title if Norman Braman, the owner when Ryan was coach, hadn't cut Ryan's time here short.

"We thought we had a great team. We needed one more draft to get there," said Ryan, 77, and fighting another bout with cancer.

"I wish I'd got the opportunity. I know I could have got it done" with the Eagles, said Ryan, his voice maybe a little fainter, but the words as confident than ever.

"We had some great players that went on and won the world championship in other locations."

Ryan, the Eagles coach from 1986 through 1990, took his team to the playoffs three times but didn't win a single postseason game.

Still, he remains revered by many Eagles fans for his cantankerous attitude, blunt style, and ferocious defenses.

"I just tried to be myself, and it worked out that way," Ryan said of the love fans showed him. "They loved their team. Geat fans there. Always a pleasure to get back."

Ryan lived by the same words he passed on to his sons, Jets head coach Rex Ryan and Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan: "You've got to be yourself, or people see through the phony. You can't go very far if you're a phony."

Ryan's unrestrained honesty, though, led to clashes with Braman and contributed to his ouster.

When Ryan praised Lurie - he said the current owner has "done a super job" - it wasn't clear if he was touting his willingness to spend, his patience, or just taking another dig at Braman.

The current Eagles regime - coach Andy Reid, Lurie, and the team's front office - present a united front, never publicly speaking out against one another.

That wasn't Ryan.

The opposite of Reid in many ways, he was boisterous, boastful, and defensive-minded.

Ryan said the 1985 Bears defense he coordinated was the greatest unit ever but that his Eagles front four - Reggie White, Jerome Brown, Clyde Simmons, and Mike Pitts - was "the best front four that ever was assembled."

Simmons and Pitts are among the ex-Eagles expected to attend the ceremony honoring Ryan Monday night. So are linebacker Seth Joyner, tight end Keith Jackson, running back Keith Byars, and others.

"It's a great pleasure and honor to be connected with the Eagles," Ryan said.

Ryan, who lives in Kentucky, was diagnosed earlier this year with cancer that had spread to his parotid gland, the largest of the salivary glands. He had surgery in September and is undergoing radiation treatment five days a week.

"I'm feeling great," said Ryan, who has overcome several instances of skin cancer. "Everything's fine."

These days, he watches his sons coach, even though he tried to steer them away from the business.

Rex Ryan's job with the Jets fits the family history - Buddy was an assistant on New York's Super Bowl winning team in 1969 - but Rob Ryan's role in Dallas doesn't. Buddy recalled that when he led the Eagles, "Dallas was always the key game for us." He loved beating the Cowboys.

Last week, Ryan watched his old team beat up on his son's Cowboys.

"That was a great exhibition," he said of the Eagles performance. "They looked great to me."

As far as the beating Rob took, Buddy Ryan added: "I felt sorry for him."

The Eagles, Ryan said, "looked like world champions."

If you listen to Ryan, he sounds like he still knows what that looks like.

Eagles running back LeSean McCoy is in the market for a new agent after he fired Drew Rosenhaus last week, a source close to the situation confirmed Sunday.

The story was first reported by the NFL Network.

McCoy, who could be in line for a contract extension in the near future, filed papers with the NFL Players Association ending his relationship with Rosenhaus. The third-year tailback initiated the same process last month only to rescind the notice a few days later.

There is a five-day window in which players are permitted to rescind the termination papers, so McCoy could still retain Rosenhaus. McCoy declined comment, saying in a text message that he was focusing on Monday night's game against the Bears.

Rosenhaus also represents Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who has made it no secret that he wants an extension.

- Jeff McLaneEndText