Feb. 2, 2026
Eagles owner Jeff Lurie has serious pain in both of his knees. He needs to see an orthopedic surgeon to determine whether he requires surgery. He could pick an experienced specialist to plot his health strategy, or he could choose a young doctor straight out of med school.
Which do you think he would select?
In what world would a billionaire elect the services of a novice?
Then why did Lurie just put the immediate future of his billion-dollar football team in the hands of one?
For a third time in five years?
I started at the top this week with a hypothetical about Jeff Lurie because he is the ultimate voice of the team. Nothing is done without his sanction. And somehow, he approved the hiring last week of Sean Mannion as the new offensive coordinator.
Mannion, 33, is two years removed from his career as a journeyman NFL quarterback, with less than two seasons on his resume as an assistant coach.
Hey, it’s possible that he is the next great offensive mind in football, the next Bill Walsh. Every genius has to start somewhere, no?
Probably not.
The odds are much, much greater that Mannion is the next Brian Johnson or, worse, Kevin Patullo. After all, they do share a common, extremely lamentable trait.
All of them took over, or soon will take over, the talented Eagles offense with zero experience calling plays. The first two failed spectacularly. But this time is going to be different because the process was so extensive, so exhausting, that there’s no way the Eagles got it wrong again. Right?
If Lurie applied this logic to his own body, he would have run out of knees before he ever got to Sean Mannion. But we all know, based on simple logic, that he would have chosen the specialist with a track record of success.
So why did Lurie, GM Howie Roseman and coach Nick Sirianni end up with another neophyte running their offense?
Well, let’s start with the easy one. Sirianni did it because he will have far more control over Mannion than he would have with most of the dozen other more experienced candidates. Sean Mannion is in no position to challenge a head coach who has won a Super Bowl – even though that championship happened only because both of the coordinators had autonomy.
The next most obvious motive for hiring another novice is Lurie’s, and the interview process had his fingerprints all over it. The owner takes great pride in his marathon interview sessions with job candidates, and in his absurdly long lists of prospective hires. No one loves to hear himself talk more than Lurie.
In the end, the owner always picks one of the least experienced candidates (see: Nick Sirianni) because either he is brilliant at scouting young talent or because he prefers surrounding himself with people who say yes. Need I say he firmly believes the former, while I (and most clear-thinking fans) are aligned with the latter?
The only time in 30 years of NFL ownership when Lurie deviated from this pattern, Chip Kelly left permanent scars on the owner’s psyche. Since then, only one other coach ever pushed back. And we all know what happened when Doug Pederson tried that, despite his own Super-Bowl win.
Finally, we have to consider the true victim of this cycle of stupidity, Howie Roseman. I would argue that, despite the many missteps early in his career as an NFL executive, he has emerged not just as the best GM in the NFL, but in all of sports. His roster was so good in 2024, not even Sirianni could screw it up.
Roseman must know the Eagles would be preparing for a chance to win back-to-back Super Bowls right now if he didn’t rubber-stamp the promotion of Patullo last winter. The roster Roseman created is still the best in the league, and it was among the healthiest in the game this season.
So why would he put in peril next season by approving another play-caller who is, at best, a huge question mark? Or has Roseman reached a point where he, like his boss, prefers the comfort of avoiding any dissenting voices in his organization?
Maybe, after two parades, Lurie and Roseman are choosing their own comfort over a hat trick?
Maybe Mannion was so eloquent in his interviews that there was really no choice but to hand him the keys to the offense.
Or maybe Lurie and Roseman respect Sirianni so much, they’re willing to allow him to make three terrible hires for the same critical position?
I doubt that last one. I would venture a guess that Sirianni comes across as the same boob behind closed doors that he does in front of a microphone. Recent press accounts suggest the bosses have come close to firing him at least twice in his first five seasons, despite all of the wins.
Here’s where I am on this latest hire: I fully anticipate another disaster, though nothing as bad as the Patullo debacle. Hiring someone for a job he has never done – three times! – is the definition of insanity. The Eagles will pay again for their insistence on deference, their requirement for acquiescence at all costs.
But there is some good news hidden among all of this angst.
For Sirianni, Sean Mannion will be strike three.
Three strikes and you’re out, even in football. (I hope).
Ridding ourselves of this babbling bozo of a head coach will be worth the frustration of one more underachieving season.
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If any remaining 76er fans needed an omen for another lost season, they got it on Jan. 29 when Paul; George – fresh off his best run on the team – was suspended for 25 games because he flunked a drug test.
There are so many injustices connected to this news that it’s hard to figure out where to start.
OK, let’s begin with the fact that George, who missed 41 games last season – exactly half – with a variety of issues, and another 18 this year recovering from knee surgery ,will lose $11 million because of the infraction. Don’t feel bad. He will still manage to pocket $95 mill for the first two lost years of his four-year contract.
Then there’s the ugly truth that whatever drug he took will never be revealed because of confidentiality clauses in his contract. In other words, he’s allowed to violate his deal, but the fans are not worthy of an explanation. Make sure you get in your deposit for 2026-27 season tickets, people.
Finally, there’s the juxtaposition of George’s latest drama with the resurgence of Joel Embiid. Yes, the enigma has found his swagger again, on wobbly knees, as he approaches his 32nd birthday. The Process lives!
What are the odds that George, when he returns with 10 games left in the regular season, will find an upright and able Embiid waiting for a chance, finally, to combine their skills in a major playoff run?
Let’s have an agreement right now. If somehow Embiid and George are both healthy for the playoffs this time – with a combined annual salary of over $100 million – GM Daryl Morey gets to keep his job.
And if they aren’t, the overrated and underperforming GM has to leave.
What do you say, owner Joshua Harris? Is it a deal?
Unfortunately, the reclusive Harris is too busy dealing with the fallout from his presence in the Epstein files to entertain anything else at the moment. Even billionaire sports owners are not exempt from the Jeffrey Epstein fallout.
If, at this point, you’re somehow still a fan of his maddening team, congratulations. You are truly resilient. You are a real fan.
For me, loyalty has its limits.
And Harris, George and Embiid have exceeded that limit for me.
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One thing I’ll say for the Eagles. They have a very lively sense of humor.
When the story broke over the weekend that Vic Fangio has been contemplating retirement after a brilliant tenure as Eagles defensive coordinator, word began circulating that Nick Sirianni had contacted another of his old coaching pals, Jonathan Gannon, to return here in his old job.
Hilarious! Gannon was a spectacular bust as a head coach (16-35) in Arizona. He also blew Super Bowl 57 in the second half when the Chiefs scored at will against his vacant Birds defense. And then that incident this season in which he was fined $100,000 for physically accosting one of his own players, Emari Demercado, on the sideline during a game.
Oh, yeah. Gannon also violated NFL rules by engaging in an interview with the Cardinals while the Eagles were preparing for the Super Bowl. The Cards lost a draft pick for that infraction.
Jonathan Gannon was overrated as a defensive coordinator, overwhelmed as a head coach and has proven, more than once, that he has dubious character.
And now you’re saying he would be welcomed back here with open arms? In the same role that cost us Super Bowl 57?
Ha, ha. Do I seem that stupid to you?