NEW ORLEANS – Amid the chaos and celebration that is Opening Night for Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome on Monday night, with thousands of members of the media from around the world searching for their best viral moment, Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie patiently and proudly answered questions for the better part of an hour on every range of topic.
What he circled back to more than once, as his Eagles make their fourth Super Bowl appearance since 2004, their third since 2017, and their second in three seasons, was the philosophy he's had since buying the Eagles in 1994.
"I can only be as good as the people around me," he said. "We want to be the best in every area of an organization and I have an obsession and a love affair with it. It's always about rethinking things every week, every month, and being humble enough to know that you can even be better. That's where we're at now. We have a great roster, a real chance to win a World Championship again, and yet, there are all sorts of areas where we think we can improve."
Lurie has always had a vision for the Eagles, one that started to take shape almost immediately in the 1990s. He wanted to be a powerhouse on the football field and a positive asset in the community empowering an organization of high-character, incredibly motivated people willing to think outside the boundaries to be great. To be the best.
Thirty-one seasons and more than 300 victories later, the Eagles are a model for all professional sports teams. It was easy to see that on this night, in this snapshot of the team: They are established in a downtown New Orleans hotel running a smooth operation because they have stars in every role that have all communications and technical aspects of the day-to-day football world working smoothly, and when the players had their hour with the media, they did so with joy. Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson walked around the Superdome hugging all of the friends he made during his seasons with the Saints. Quarterback Jalen Hurts and tight end Dallas Goedert guffawed when one media person tossed a cookie to them at their interview podiums. The players thoroughly enjoyed the lunacy of the night – a showcase to the international power and appeal of the NFL.
Lurie has been a driving force in that regard in the league, and for the team he has that is one win away from a second Lombardi Trophy, it was time to discuss how his ownership has given birth to the best generation of Eagles football ever and one of the greatest runs of success in all of the NFL.
"There were core principles that I really took from two great examples. Bill Walsh (former 49ers head coach) and Red Auerbach (former Boston Celtics head coach and general manager) were my two idols in sports. Those key principles have maintained themselves: Team-oriented; it's not about being MVP or the stats leader. Be humble. Never think too much of yourself. Because you have a great team, as an owner, I never thought more highly of myself, that I'm smarter or any of that stuff. It's always just about wanting to win a lot, win big, and do it with pride and do it very connected to the community.
"I made those the priorities. It's always been about what is correlating with winning big? Sometimes you can't succeed – you have injuries or you make mistakes. But, go for it. You know? Go for it. Those have always been the core principles. Team building has always been the core principle."
What is remarkable in the big picture as you see teams struggle to find the right person to lead the team is that Lurie has hired five head coaches – Ray Rhodes, Andy Reid (Sunday's Super Bowl opponent), Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson, and Nick Sirianni – and all five have reached the playoffs.
That is almost an impossible fact to consider given the level of competition in the NFL.
"I know, yes, every coach I've hired has been double-digit wins in his first two years. What can I say? There are commonalities and there are differences," Lurie said. "I go back to the core principles of what we try to create and try to select coaches who embody that and who can take that a step further. And we've had some wonderful, wonderful people in those roles. Nick is one of them and he's doing a wonderful job. I don't want to diminish any of the coaches on the staff – these are exceptional coaches as well and we don't want to lose them. We have great teachers and we know it."
And the Eagles have a great team, and they know it, and as the team filed out of the Caesars Superdome to return to their parade of buses on the way back to the team hotel, they were one step closer to Sunday and the chance to win it all one more time, a testament to the greatness of an organization top to bottom fulfilling the vision that Jeffrey Lurie started more than 30 years ago.
Other highlights from Jeffrey Lurie's session with the media:
On the importance of head coach/general manager stability within the organization: "I think what we have is a stability of culture and a stability of special people. You have to be able to adjust to the strengths and weaknesses of everybody and we've always been able to do that. Howie's worked with me for over 20 years. Don Smolenski (Eagles president), over 20 years. And Nick really personifies so much of what we believe in. Stability is great, but stability is great when you have excellent people. Otherwise, that's not the case."
On staying ahead of the curve in the NFL: "You never want to be part of the consensus. You want to think on your own and be genuine to yourself. And because, if you're just doing what everyone else does, you'll be 8-8. You've got to try to do what's exceptional and avoid risk-aversity, but at the same time, make calculated decisions and sometimes they're not going to work. In my opinion, one of the real lessons always is don't try to be popular. Never try to make the popular choice. Do what you think is right. Sometimes it's going to work, sometimes it's not, but if you're true to your own self and your own culture, focus on what is the most meaningful that you think correlates with winning."
On the team starting 2-2 and reaching the Super Bowl: "I always remember a conversation with Bill Belichick years ago and he said most of our (the Patriots) teams were 2-2 when we won Super Bowls. You spend the first part of the season mixing, matching, trying to figure out what you are and what you want to be, and you're not trying to maximize yourself to win September. You want to win as many as you can, but a lot of those Patriot teams were 2-2. I optimistically felt our culture was right, our talent level was right. We weren't performing to the level we thought we could, and it was so early in the season. My feeling was, 'Could we get from 2-2 to something special?' And I thought we could."
On the season starting with the historic win in Brazil and finishing on the global stage in the Super Bowl: "I think it you win, you get a lot of exposure, but on the other hand, I'm proud of the fact that we're the first team to play in Brazil. We played a great game against a very good team. And here we are in New Orleans and I think international travel is a plus. You go through a lot of interesting decisions about rest and how to treat new experiences and all that. If you win, you're going to have a lot of exposure. We're on national TV all the time. We don't get a lot of 1 o'clock games. I'm proud of that."
On Eagles fans at the Super Bowl: "I think Eagles fans will dominate. Eagles fans travel everywhere we go in unbelievable fashion. We know if it's not the best sports city in country, it's one of them, and I think it's the best. I expect we'll have a majority of fans there on Sunday. I have no idea, but I'm very proud of our fan base. Wherever we go, we get huge fans every single away game."
On having a franchise quarterback like Jalen Hurts: "He's just awesome. First of all, the talent. There's nothing Jalen can't do. There's nothing Jalen can't do, but he's one of these guys that just has a clutch gene, which is hard to understand. Certain people, they're just going to always perform at their best when it's the biggest moments, number one. Number two, he's obsessed with the game. He's obsessed with being the best. He's team-oriented. Stats do not matter with this guy and he's just somebody that all he wants to do is win and win big."
