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Five years ago today, the Eagles had no head coach. They had gone 3-13 for the 1998 season, with just one victory against an NFC East opponent. It had been a full decade since the team had won a division title.
Things have changed. The departures of Washington's Steve Spurrier yesterday
and New York Giants coach Jim Fassel earlier should serve as dramatic proof
of just how much things have changed.
The Eagles' success under Andy Reid has thrown the rest of the division into turmoil. By the time Spurrier and Fassel are replaced, the three other NFC East teams will have gone through a total of nine head coaches in an effort to catch up.
That's good and bad for the Eagles and their fans. It's good because there's
nothing like dominance in your division to assure your team of a playoff berth
every year. It's bad because, sooner or later, those division rivals will hit
on the right coach.
See Dallas and Bill Parcells for the first example.
Two years ago, the professional alarmists in the local media saw Spurrier's
hiring as a sure sign the Eagles were in trouble. The non-wisdom of the time
went like this: Washington owner Daniel Snyder was spending big money and had
passed those penny-pinching Eagles. With Spurrier's brilliant offense and free-agent-coup
Jeremiah Trotter on defense, there was no way the Eagles could compete with
the Skins.
Four losses to the Eagles later - by such scores as 31-7 and 37-7 - and Spurrier
is finished. His has been a most spectacular flameout, from cocky, college "ball
coach" to dazed and confused NFL ex-coach. You can be sure the rest of
the pro coaching fraternity, whose unrelenting work ethic Spurrier mocked, thoroughly
enjoyed his failure.
The words Spurrier spoke after the Eagles waxed his undisciplined, underachieving
team Saturday could serve as his NFL epitaph.
"The Eagles are just too good for the Redskins right now," Spurrier
said just after the game. "They've been the best team in our division the
last two years I've been here. In fact, we haven't really come close to beating
them."
Under Reid, the Eagles are 7-3 against Washington, whether the head coach was
Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer or Spurrier. They went 7-1 against Dallas
coaches Chan Gailey and Dave Campo before splitting with the Parcells-coached
'Boys this year.
And then there are the Giants. For the first half of Reid's tenure, the Eagles
were trying to figure out how to catch Fassel's team. The Giants swept the Eagles
in 1999 and 2000, then extended their winning streak to nine in a row, dating
from 1997, with a playoff win after the 2000 season.
Since that playoff game, the Eagles are 5-1 against the Giants, including a
sweep this year. That's not the only reason Fassel was fired less than three
years after going to the Super Bowl, but don't kid yourself. Going from best
team in the division to second-best to third-best is a definite trend. Fassel
was passed by Reid and then by Parcells. That made it time for a change.
That really is how this league works. Only after fighting your way to the top
of your division can you compete with the rest of the NFL's elite.
For too long, the Eagles scrambled to find a way to catch the Cowboys, Giants
and Redskins. The tenures of Marion Campbell, Buddy Ryan, Rich Kotite and Ray
Rhodes were spent trying and failing to establish primacy in the division.
During those years, the Giants won two Super Bowls while Washington and Dallas
each won three. After the Tom Landry-era decline, the Cowboys of the '90s came
back and won the division title six times in seven years.
The last time Dallas won it: 1998. That's when the Eagles, fifth in a five-team
division, fired Rhodes. Five years ago today, the team began the process of
replacing him by interviewing a Pittsburgh assistant coach named Jim Haslett.
Within two weeks, the process ended with the hiring of Andy Reid.
Now the rest of the division is trying to find a way to catch the Eagles. For
the Cowboys, that meant dangling big money to lure Parcells out of retirement.
For Washington and the Giants, it means starting all over with new coaches and,
very likely, major roster upheaval. Common sense tells you each of those teams
is two seasons away from being a real contender.
It also tells you that the Eagles would be well advised to take advantage of
their status by winning it all this season. Dominating the division is a means,
not an end in itself. History shows two things: NFC East powers usually win
a Super Bowl or two along the way, and no dynasty lasts forever. The team at
the top of the division is always being chased by some very determined rivals.
Right now, the Eagles are that team.
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