shtein rolls down hill, right? where does it roll from? the top. so.....as much as mcnabb chokes in the big games.... as horrible of a playcaller and in-game coach as reid is.... as arrogant and jewey as joe banner is..... they are all employed by the same person. i don't think you can reasonably pin all or the majority of the blame on reid, mcnabb, banner, mcdermott or anyone else collecting a paycheck. that's not to say that they are without fault or blame, but their individual failures and short comings over the years have led us to the exact point we are today. but who has ultimately been steering the ship?
lurie has found nearly the perfect "business model" when it comes to running a pro-sports team. he knows that fans will come to the games and buy merchandise if he puts a team on the field that's competitive. and by competitive, he really means competing for the playoffs every year. because when it comes down to it, most fans will tell you that they want a competitive team on the field that's got a shot at the playoffs because they think once they're in, then anything can happen.
and over the years he's been able to field such a team without ever coming close to spending all of the cap money. so he's maximizing profit by spending the minimal amount of money necessary to give the fans the product that they all say they want...a competitive team that's worth watching on sunday. and for the most part, that's exactly what lurie has given us. it's also exactly what he's talking about when it comes to being the "gold standard" in the nfl. he's not talking about on field performance. he's talking about the profit margin.
so in the midst of all my farg reids, farg mcnabbs, farg the defense, farg farg farg, let me throw a nice, big, fat FARG LURIE out there too.