IT FELT a little strange this weekend watching all four NFL wild-card games in my home.
That has rarely happened for me over the past 13 years.
On all but a few occasions, I've either been at a wild-card game involving the Eagles or one involving a team that could possibly be the Eagles' opponent in the divisional round.
That's a tribute to the success Andy Reid has had as the head coach. Since taking over in 1999, Reid has made the postseason nine times - with six involving wild-card games.
So to watch the Saints beat the Lions and the Giants beat the Falcons from home, knowing that there was no vested Eagles interest, was different for me.
It wasn't much fun. I found it easy to pay attention to other things besides football.
And that's why I think those who have taken Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie's proclamation, declaration, whatever you want to call it, that Reid is under some kind of "Super Bowl-or-Bust" doctrine for 2012 read Lurie wrong.
No, the Eagles owner, who took a chance on Reid, then a quarterbacks coach with the Green Bay Packers, didn't give him a vote of confidence beyond next season.
But, "win it all or hit the road?" I didn't get that from Lurie.
"If I didn't think next year would be substantially better, I would be up here announcing a coaching change or other changes," is all Lurie said.
Yes, he added, "It's not enough just to make the playoffs. That's not my goal, that's not our fans' goal. It is a precursor . . . "
Ah, but a precursor to what?
I think that's where what Lurie said and what a lot of people interpreted Lurie as saying go in slightly separate directions.
In all reasonable logic, making the playoffs is a "precursor" only to winning a Super Bowl, and nothing less. It is the only thing that Reid has not accomplished in his 13-year tenure.
If making the playoffs is only a "precursor" to winning a Super Bowl, Lurie already has had nine opportunities to figure out that Reid doesn't have the stuff to take the Birds over the top.
Reid has lost two NFC Championship Games at home and lost a third in Arizona when the Eagles were a favorite. Nine trips to the playoffs and five trips to the NFC Championship Game under Reid have produced no championships and just one trip to the Super Bowl.
How much "real cursing" do Eagle fans have to do before Lurie realizes what they already know?
