Biggest Eagles Story of the Summer
Thirty-eight years ago I was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by covering the first season of Buddy Ryan’s turbulent tenure with an aggressiveness and commitment to the Philadelphia Inquirer readers that no longer exists in local sports journalism.
I bring up that honor not to boast – I am very clear in my memoir, LOUD, that I didn’t deserve the nomination – but to point out, with great disappointment, how far the coverage of our most important team has plummeted since 1986.
The latest example is the story last week on the ESPN website of an extraordinary decision by Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts to seek the counsel of recently-departed Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale on how to stop the blitz. Hurts reportedly made the call in the week leading up to the playoff game in January against Tampa.
Whatever Martindale told Hurts during that half-hour conversation failed to avert Hurts’ inevitable fate. The Birds completed their historic collapse in that game, 32-9, as Hurts was harassed by 10 blitzers who made it through the offensive line totally untouched. Hurts suspected what was coming that day. His head coach, Nick Sirianni, clearly did not.
Why is this story so important?
First of all, it shows the lack of faith Hurts had in Sirianni at the end of their third year together. The quarterback had concluded, with good reason, that his coach had no idea how to game-plan effectively, no clue how to fix one of the biggest problems that surfaced in the final seven games (1-6) of the season.
Secondly, it raises new questions about why owner Jeff Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman decided to keep Sirianni for a fourth season despite his growing number of shortcomings. They invested $255 million in Hurts before last season, and the quarterback resorted to doing the coach’s job last season at a pivotal point. Well, at least now everyone knows why Hurts didn’t give Sirianni a ringing endorsement earlier this summer.
And third, everyone who covers the Eagles on a daily basis should hang their heads in shame for allowing ESPN to beat them on the biggest story of the off-season. I pointed out in an earlier blog post how irritated I was that so many local media people were criticizing Hurts for not publicly supporting their coach.
What did they want him to do, lie?
Apparently, yes.
Now I need to offer a rare insight into how sports journalism works in Philadelphia. In this one way, nothing has changed in the past 40 years. When a reporter breaks a big story, the rest of the media outlets do their best to ignore it. Otherwise, they would have to admit they got beaten, badly.
I first experienced this annoying reality when I broke a story on the Flyers beat about Bobby Clarke’s dislike of Bob McCammon after the coach ordered his star player to take a week off before the playoffs in 1984. This was big news at the time because Clarke was the Flyers, but I ended up being the only media person who interviewed the captain of the team and reported the story.
OK, not exactly. The Daily News, for eight straight days, belittled my report in their daily accounts on the Flyers. Even after I produced a tape of an interview with Clarke that verified what I had written, there was still no acknowledgment from the other media outlets.
I had just arrived here from my hometown of Providence, R.I., and it was a jarring lesson on how petty jealousy ruled many decisions by the people who were assigned to report on the major sports teams.
The story of Hurts’ appeal to Martindale made barely a ripple in the local media before fading away in favor of more drivel on how great the rookies look, how impressive the new coaches are and, of course, how much Sirianni learned from the collapse.
Most of what you are reading now in the daily coverage of the Eagles (with the notable exceptions of Jeff McLane and Marcus Hayes) is not journalism. It’s public relations, as demanded by an Eagles organization that pushes back on those rare occasions when it sees a story it doesn’t like.
There are not enough sports journalists left in this city to tell the team to go to hell. In my 33 years at WIP, I learned one unassailable fact: The Eagles have no clue what actual journalism looks like. As Lurie has made billions in his tenure as Eagles owner, he has also excelled at managing his message.
What lies ahead is painfully predictable. If, as I suspect, the Eagles flop this season, the beat reporters will suddenly find great relevance in the ESPN story, saying the first sign of trouble between the coach and quarterback was when Hurts made that phone call to Wink Martindale.
Then Sirianni will be asked to leave, the victim of a relationship with his quarterback that is beyond repair. A new coach will come in – after tireless 10-hour interviews with candidates who will quickly master the word yes – and the media will gush over how perfect the new guy is for the Eagles.
What no one will bother to offer is the truth.
Nick Sirianni is incompetent, regardless of his winning record. How incompetent? His own quarterback felt compelled to call an ex-coach from a division rival for advice before the biggest game of the season.
The local media are incompetent. Why else would a story like this remain unreported for seven months before a national outlet finally broke it? (Congrats, Tim McManus and Jeremy Fowler).
And finally, Jalen Hurts is a victim here – of bad coaching, timid reporting and a team that is more worried about managing its message than in what really matters – winning.