"Twelve years," the coach said, pacing the room, looking at his players. "Twelve years have gone by since the Eagles have come out winners. Well, we're gonna come out winners today.
"We've lost a few we should have won, but guess what? We've won a few we should have lost. We're right where we deserve to be -- playing for the first winning record in Philadelphia since 1966."
Dick Vermeil was perhaps 30 pounds lighter as he delivered that speech in 1978, in full view of the NFL Films cameras. He wore a garish white belt around his checkered polyester trousers, the fashion statement for football coaches back in the day. It was the year of the Miracle in the Meadowlands, when Herman Edwards scooped up a Joe Pisarcik fumble and took it to the house to beat the Giants in the waning moments, when a simple kneel-down would have sealed the deal for New York. That's probably one of the games Vermeil was referrring to. Likely.
The Eagles won that day, the final game of the '78 season, and had themselves a 9-7 record. And Vermeil was right. It was the first winning football record in Philadelphia since the days of Joe Kuharich as coach and Norm Snead at quarterback.
Jaworski wasn't the most talented QB, but his toughness led the Eagles to Super Bowl XV
The Lions haven't gone 12 years since their last above-.500 record. It only seems that way. In fact, a quick trip to the data files shows that in the previous 11 seasons before this one, the Lions have actually managed to have two such winning campaigns -- 1997 and 2000. So the Eagles of 1967-77 were worse in that regard.
It might be hard to imagine now, with a Super Bowl appearance and annual trips to the playoffs in recent years, but the Philadelphia Eagles didn't always soar. Far from it.
The Lions haven't won an NFL championship since 1957. But the Eagles aren't much better. Their last title came in 1960. In fact, the Lions from 1960-75 were a far superior team than the Eagles in that same time frame. But then Philly hired Vermeil from UCLA, and all that changed. The Eagles made Super Bowl XV in 1981. In the quarter century since, the Eagles have fielded competitive teams far more often than they haven't.
The Eagles ended their misery through the coaching sleight of hand of Vermeil and the tough-as-nails quarterbacking of Ron Jaworski. And with a swarming defense.
Lions QB Jon Kitna earned points last Sunday for his body-sacrificing in the OT win over Minnesota. He returned from a mild concussion to lead the team to victory. It had old curmudgeons like me recalling the days of Bobby Layne, mainly because I would defy you to come up with a similar example from a Lions quarterback between 1958, Layne's last year in Detroit, and last Sunday. Coach Rod Marinelli loves the word "tough", and he used it often in describing Kitna's performance.
"That was special," the coach said after the game. "That's toughness right there. He's tough. This is a tough city and it deserves a tough quarterback. And that's what this city has -- a tough quarterback representing it."
Those might have been the words of Dick Vermeil in describing Ron Jaworski, circa 1978.
So if you look at the Eagles, this week's Lions opponent, and think that they've been good forever, hold on. It only seems that way.
1 comment:
The Eagles are looking very weak into the season. However, the Lions struggled defeating to lower end teams. It will certainly be a good matchup this Sunday.
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