Phil Sheridan: What Eagles team has Lurie been watching?

When Jeffrey Lurie delivered his Eagles state-of-disarray address, most of the focus was on his decision to give coach Andy Reid another season despite his "unacceptable" 2011 campaign. And rightly so.

With the team's decision-makers mostly gathered in Mobile, Ala., for Senior Bowl workouts, it seems like an appropriate time to reflect on another of Lurie's comments: his reply to a question about the team's recent drafts, especially on defense.

"I think the analysis is complicated," Lurie said. "You know, we've had a pretty good defense and we've had a lot of veteran players we've brought in that have been very successful that probably overplayed the draft choices. . . . [In] today's NFL, it's a combination of draft, free agency - whatever - every aspect has to be analyzed by everyone internally, and it's putting the pieces together."

This brought to mind a hilarious and tasteless skit from one of the earliest episodes of Saturday Night Live. The cast gathered around Ray Charles to present the legendary soul man with a painting by Monet. Upon its unveiling, the audience saw a plain white canvas with block letters reading, "Please Don't Tell Him."

Is this what Reid, president Joe Banner, and general manager Howie Roseman do - sell Lurie a pretty picture and hope no one tells him it's junk?

The Eagles have not had a "pretty good defense" in the time period we're talking about. Indeed, the Eagles defense gave up a franchise-record number of touchdown passes, was horrible in the all-important red zone, and led to the firing of one defensive coordinator and the nearly universal ridiculing of his replacement.

But proof that Nnamdi Asomugha and Jason Babin were worth their millions is that they kept Trevard Lindley and Daniel Te'o-Nesheim off the field? This explanation is backward and illogical.

The Eagles have long preached the importance of building through the draft and using free agency to fill the occasional hole or add a budding superstar. The idea that you build a team with veterans and let your draft picks try to crack the lineup is just absurd.

The truth is, the Eagles have been forced to add so many veterans the last few years because their drafts have been terrible. Going back to their last truly excellent team - the 2004 squad that went to the Super Bowl - the Eagles have done a terrible job of drafting replacements as defensive stars aged out.