For a team that is constantly making bold moves to improve its chances of getting to the top of the NFL mountain, the Eagles sure have had to do a lot of explaining their motivations recently. Eagles president Joe Banner has taken to the airwaves to clarify the team's ultimate desire to win a Super Bowl and now head coach Andy Reid,in an interview with CSNPhilly.com, has affirmed that position.
"We're here to win the Super Bowl," Reid said. "That's the one thing we're striving to do. Whether it's the way we practice, the way we draft, the way we go about our training camp, the decision-making practice, how the cap is utilized – everything is set up to win the Super Bowl. But we haven't gotten the Super Bowl ring. We all want it, and that's what we're all shooting for. Everything we do is for that one goal."
To a certain extent, having to defend the organization's desire is a bit silly. As Banner has pointed out, this is a team that acquired Terrell Owens and Jevon Kearse after the 2003 season when they had gone to three consecutive NFC Championship games. It's a team that imported Pro Bowlers like Asante Samuel and Jason Peters. And it's a team that traded Donovan McNabb to a division rival, then changed course in the beginning of the 2010 season and handed the reins to Michael Vick because Reid believed it was the best way to maximize the team's chance of winning a Super Bowl. Of course that's the goal, and it's why Reid isn't satisfied with the team's run of nine playoff appearances in 11 years.
"I've been lucky enough to win a Super Bowl in my career (as an assistant with the Packers in 1995), and when you've done that, you want that every year," Reid said. "That's what you want. Every year. So when you go to the conference championships and if you lose those games or you win it and go to the Super Bowl and lose that game, you're not happy. That's not a good thing.
"I am every year shooting to get to the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl. Now, we went through a pretty good run there (from 2000 through 2008), and the players got a little bit older and we made some changes, so is it going to happen right away? Well, it might not. But that's not my mentality. My mentality is that we're going to get that thing right and go. And if you hit it right, anything's possible."
Entering 2010, no one expected the Eagles to have a division-championship season. While the organization's offseason insistence that there was no "rebuilding" was met with skepticism, the Eagles, under Reid's stewardship, went out and proved their ability.
"I don't think anybody, except maybe those guys in that (locker) room, probably thought that we'd get quite as far as we did this past year, but everybody pulled together and worked as a team and we got a couple breaks here and there and things worked out pretty well, and I think everybody going into this offseason is really fired up about this next year and what it presents," Reid said. "There'll be some great challenges, but at the same time, we all know that we've got some great players."
As the Eagles move forward, Reid also made sure to clarify that he is as passionate about the job as ever.
"I've been in this league long enough to see coaches and hear what they've said, that they've gotten to a point where things are stale and they need a change in life, whatever it might be, or a change in team," Reid said. "And I don't feel that way. That's not where I'm at.
"I enjoy every day that I have an opportunity to coach in Philadelphia. I honestly get fired up and excited about it. I know from a personal standpoint, I'm fired up. New challenges and changes. I think change is important. In this NFL today, things change and it keeps you on your toes and fresh.
"I enjoy the players. I know coaches will tell you at times they feel like they're coaching a different generation or whatever it might be, but that's not how I feel. I enjoy the energy that the young players bring as well as the older players and the coaching staff."
As Reid would tell you himself, there's only one thing left to do.
-- Posted by Bo Wulf, 11:24 a.m., February 25
