In Roob's Observations: How Jeff Lurie knew the Saquon move was a steal originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
NEW ORLEANS – Why Jeff Lurie was so confident Saquon Barkley would be a superstar, a look back at Damon Moore’s 2001 postseason and why playing in the wild-card round may not be such a bad thing.
Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations keeps rolling through Super Bowl week! And if you missed any of the previous editions from New Orleans, click for Saturday’s, for Monday’s and for Tuesday’s.
1. Fascinating stuff from Jeff Lurie Monday night on the Saquon Barkley signing. Lurie met with the media at the NFL’s Opening Night at the Superdome and it was the first time he’s spoken publicly since last spring, so his first chance to weigh in on the franchise’s franchise-altering decision to sign Barkley to a three-year, $37.75 million contract in March. It seemed like an incredibly out-of-character move for Lurie and Howie Roseman, who hadn’t signed a veteran running back to a long-term deal since LeSean McCoy in 2009. And let’s face it, nobody’s really signing veteran running backs in their late 20s to big-money free agent deals these days. But Lurie explained why it made sense for the Eagles, and he indicated that if the Eagles didn’t have an elite offensive line or mobile quarterback, they likely wouldn’t have pursued Barkley. “We’ve always actually valued the running back position going way back to Ricky Watters and LeSean McCoy and Brian Westbrook and second contracts for Brian and for Shady and then (D’Andre) Swift and all that. When you can find one that’s outstanding, we always thought to pair it with a great offensive line and a triple-threat quarterback to accentuate the ability of that running back to have lots of open space. That was something we always wanted to do and Saquon, it was just something where you had a player that we always recognized was a world-class talent, historical talent. And what would happen if you were ever able to get Saquon with this offensive line and this triple-threat quarterback and the skill position players we had? And really, to understand the allocation of resources (it) was similar to (signing) a good reserve guard or a tight end or whatever. And as we internally discussed it (and) it was a no-brainer because where we were at as a franchise. If we didn’t have that offensive line or that triple-threat quarterback. I don’t know that we would have projected it the way we did, but it was like huge upside there. We’re not risk-averse. The downside was it wasn’t going to work out quite that great, and we could deal with that.” Brilliant, really.
2. Twenty teams have reached the Super Bowl after having to play in the wild-card round, and those 20 teams are 13-7. In the Super Bowl. Going back to 2005, nine of the last 19 Super Bowl champions played wild-card weekend: The 2005 Steelers, 2006 Colts, 2007 Giants, 2010 Packers, 2011 Giants, 2012 Ravens, 2020 Bucs, 2021 Rams and 2023 Chiefs. There just seems to be something to be said for teams that build up momentum coming off the regular season by winning week after week and keep grinding as opposed to teams that get that built-in bye week and get out of their routine for a week. At first glance, the bye week seems so important and so valuable for a team to get some time off and rest its players. But you look at this Eagles team and some of those other wild-card Super Bowl champs and they’re just rolling by the time the Super Bowl comes around. Not to say you’re better off without a bye, but maybe it’s not as big a handicap as we thought.
3. The Eagles have been so good since 2000 – 17 playoff seasons, 11 division titles, eight NFC Championship Game appearances, four Super Bowls and just five losing seasons – it’s easy to forget just how bad the franchise was for so long. From 1962 through 1977 – a 16-year span – they had just one winning season and they were 73-142-9 during that span. Then after a brief blip with Dick Vermeil, from 1981 through 1999 – an 18-year span – they made the playoffs seven times but won just one NFC East title and two wild-card games. In all, from 1962 through 1999 – that’s 38 years – they won two division titles, had 12 winning seasons and didn’t reach an NFC title game. That’s an almost four-decade span with no sustained success. For anybody who lived through all that, this recent run of success has to be even more special.
4. I like how Kellen Moore uses Kenny Gainwell. And I think Gainwell makes the most out of his few touches. If you’re backing up Saquon Barkley you’re just not going to get the ball very often. But Moore has a good feeling for when (or if) Barkley needs to sit for a play or two plays or a series, and Gainwell always seems to do something positive when he gets those chances. Gainwell has just 10 touches this postseason but for 58 yards and four first downs. That’s a really tough role to master. Sitting for a half or three quarters and not knowing if you’ll even get on the field and then being ready and sharp when you do get the call. Gainwell has averaged 5.8 yards per touch this postseason, and only three of the 16 backs who have at least 10 touches have a higher average – Saquon of course, Derrick Henry and Jahmyr Gibbs. Nick Sirianni emphasizes to all his players the importance of embracing your role, no matter how big or small, and then mastering it, and Gainwell has done that awfully well.
5. Dallas Goedert has 50 career postseason receptions, which is 10th-most all-time by a tight end. But he only needs five Sunday to pass former Eagle Keith Jackson (51), Antonio Gates (51) and former teammate Zach Ertz (54) to move into 7th. With a playoff run next year, he could realistically also pass Brent Jones (60), Shannon Sharpe (62) and Dallas Clark (64), which would leave him behind only Travis Kelce (174 going into Sunday) and Rob Gronkowski (98). Pretty darn good company.
6. It’s one thing to go to two Super Bowls in three years. It’s another to do it with a dramatically altered roster. Read these names. They were all starters in Super Bowl LVII in Glendale just two years ago: Jason Kelce, Isaac Seumalo, Quez Watkins, Miles Sanders, Linval Joseph, Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Haason Reddick, T.J. Edwards, James Bradberry and Marcus Epps. That’s 11 starters who are no longer on the roster. Three others no longer didn’t start but played at least 20 snaps and are also gone: Jack Stoll, Zach Pascal and Kyzir White. The NFL comes at you fast, and Howie Roseman’s ability to continually upgrade the roster and replace talented players who’ve left or retired is the biggest reason the Eagles are back at another Super Bowl with a dramatically different roster.
7. In 25 years since 2000, the Eagles have reached four Super Bowls and had five losing seasons. During that quarter of a century, only the Steelers have had fewer losing seasons than the Eagles. And they’re a heck of a lot more likely to reach a fifth Super Bowl before they have a sixth losing season.
8. In 1984, 22-year-old Tom Melvin, who had just finished his college football career as an offensive lineman at San Francisco State, got a position on the San Francisco State coaching staff as a graduate assistant. One of the guys who worked with Melvin was 26-year-old offensive line coach Andy Reid. That was 40 years ago and Melvin and Reid are still together. In 1986, Reid got a job as o-line coach at Northern Arizona and Melvin accompanied him to Flagstaff and got a job working with running backs, offensive linemen and tight ends. From 1988 through 1998, Melvin coached at Cal Santa Barbara and Occidental while Reid coached at UTEP and Missouri and with the Packers. When Reid became Eagles head coach in 1999, he immediately hired Melvin. And when Reid and his staff were fired here after the 2012 season, Reid brought Melvin with him to Kansas City, where he’s been tight ends coach since 2013. So Reid and Melvin have been together for 30 of the last 40 years, including the last 26 and have worked together at four different places. Talk about loyalty. Melvin is one of Reid’s most trusted advisers. As long as Big Red has a job, Tom Melvin will have a job.
9. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson has 12 interceptions in just 28 games as an Eagle over the last two years and even if you ignore his one INT with the Lions last year and only count his interceptions with the Eagles he still has the 4th-most interceptions in the NFL since 2022 behind Kerby Joseph (17), Jessie Bates III (14) and DaRon Bland (14). How crazy is 12 interceptions in 28 games? That’s the 2nd-most since 1960 by a player in his first 28 games as an Eagle. Bill Bradley had 13 in his first 28 games. Before 1960, the legendary Bibbles Bawel had 17 INTs in his first 28 games with the Eagles in 1952 and 1955 (he served in the Army in 1953 or 1954). Bawel’s last name? Pronounced “Bobble.”
10. Let’s talk about Damon Moore’s 2001 postseason Moore – “Demo” – had three interceptions in three games, including a 59-yard pick-6 off Brad Johnson in the wild-card win over the Bucs, a second INT in that Tampa game at the Vet and then an INT and 18-yard return a week later in the conference semifinal win over the Bears at Soldier Field. It was during that return that Hugh Douglas obliterated Bears quarterback Jim Miller. (“I told him, ‘Don’t move.’ He moved. The rest is history.”). Moore is one of only six players in NFL history with three INTs and a 50-yard TD return in the same postseason. The others are Bill Simpson of the Rams in 1975, Vernon Perry of the Oilers in 1979, Tampa’s Dwight Smith in 2002, the Patriots’ Rodney Harrison in 2004 and Tramon Williams of the Packers in 2010. Demo suffered a catastrophic knee injury in the NFC Championship Game in 2001, effectively ending his career. He played six games the next year – for the Bears, ironically – and was out of the league soon after turning 26. A sad and way-too-early ending to a very promising career.
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