Joe Banner

The dynamic may have shifted slightly, some tinkering may have been done, but the Eagles still conduct business as they always have. And yet, the narrative, after what unanimously has been declared a successful offseason, has been that the Eagles have significantly altered their philosophy or shaken up the front office after a disastrous 2011. Not true. They have made changes. However, they are micro adjustments that owner Jeffrey Lurie hopes will have a net macro result - the Eagles finally winning a Super Bowl.

In the early morning hours before the start of the second day of the 2005 NFL draft, Joe Banner awoke to a crash . . . crash . . . crash. By the time Banner reached the hallway, the pounding had stopped. His 10-year-old son, Jason, was sprawled on the bathroom tile. "I found him in the bathroom, on the floor and totally incoherent," Banner said. Jason was having a seizure and had been stumbling into walls. His father thought it might be a stroke. The Banner family rushed to the emergency room at Children's Hospital.

Daily News columnist Elmer Smith spoke with Eagles president Joe Banner last night about the Eagles' signing of Michael Vick. Here is some of what he told Smith: On fan reaction: "We got quite a few calls from people who were upset. But there was a fairly significant, large number, in favor. I'd say there was a smaller number opposed ... "We've been hearing anecdotes of people in sports bars who were enthusiastic about it. There were some chants for Vick here at the game. " On the decision-making process: "I just hope the people will understand that we did our research.

It seemed pretty clear. And now? Well, now it doesn't. The Eagles can thank Joe Banner for that. After the Birds' season ended, Andy Reid held a news conference and was immediately asked what would happen with Donovan McNabb moving forward, whether he would be Reid's quarterback next season or if Reid was thinking about making the switch to the Hog Hunter (more traditionally referred to by his Christian name, Kevin Kolb). Reid normally dodges direct answers the way Asante Samuel avoids physical contact and tackling, but for once he was candid.

Repress your rage, if you can for a moment, over Eagles ticket prices, $7.50 stadium beers, hoagiegate, Staleygate, the opening-night shutout. Joe Banner, chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Eagles, has a team you can cheer for without mixed feelings. Every school morning, an army of young adults in red "City Year" jackets gather at the foot of City Hall, then disperse to the city's most understaffed public schools. They aid teachers, they clean grounds, they tutor and mentor.

Imagine that you've spent two years doing right by the world by devoting your time to charity work. You might see it as good karma when a friend asks you to run his professional football team. Instead, you find, as Eagles executive vice president Joe Banner has, that there is a special place in hell for the managers of Philadelphia sports teams with losing records. Ask him about the past year and he takes a moment to gather his thoughts. "It has been very difficult," he says slowly.

The NHL is going to a $39 million salary cap. And, as they have in the NFL, teams are designating personnel to fill the role of capologist. Barry Hanrahan, assistant to general manager Bob Clarke, has been given that task for the Flyers. Hanrahan met with Eagles president Joe Banner late in the 2003-04 NHL season, getting a four-hour crash course in managing a salary cap. Banner has been the Eagles' cap wizard for a decade and is considered one of the sharpest cap managers in pro football.

With the Eagles preparing to travel to Jacksonville for the Super Bowl, team president Joe Banner spent four hours yesterday at a Philadelphia City Council hearing that explored why dozens of subcontractors who built the team's stadium in 2002 and 2003 still have not been paid in full for their work. During the emotion-filled hearing, Councilman Rick Mariano, who had convened the hearing and issued subpoenas compelling Banner and others to attend, got into an obscenity-laced scuffle with a contractor, Jamal Johnson, who wasn't part of the stadium situation.

It's a vision that has shimmered like a mirage for four years now, sometimes looking so close you could reach out and touch it, sometimes threatening to vanish forever. "I imagine a Monday night game to open the 2003 season," Joe Banner said. "The new stadium is all lit up. There are fireworks. Everyone is excited about it. And then the team takes the field and it's a great team with Donovan [McNabb] in the prime of his career. That image is the one that kept me going through all of this.

Chuck Banker was a scout with the Washington Redskins when Plan B, a limited form of free agency, was introduced into the NFL in 1989. At the time, the Redskins were in transition at the general manager's position, from Bobby Beathard to Charley Casserly. "The change didn't affect us," Banker said. "We were completely prepared; we knew who we wanted. When that (Plan B) list came out in February, we had a file on everybody. " That was how an effective NFL organization works.

The dynamic may have shifted slightly, some tinkering may have been done, but the Eagles still conduct business as they always have. And yet, the narrative, after what unanimously has been declared a successful offseason, has been that the Eagles have significantly altered their philosophy or shaken up the front office after a disastrous 2011. Not true. They have made changes. However, they are micro adjustments that owner Jeffrey Lurie hopes will have a net macro result - the Eagles finally winning a Super Bowl.

What a difference a few months make. After a toxic 2011, Andy Reid and the Eagles management have restored a sense of optimism and hope around their team. Even the loudest Reid critic should be impressed with what the Eagles have done the last two months, including the draft that just unfolded. "It's a positive thing. When you're around the team right now you feel that," Reid said Saturday, wearing a signature Hawaiian shirt. "I think they're excited to get going. " For anyone else it would be a bit early for short-sleeves with a tropical motif, but as the weather warms and the Eagles' barren January fades in the distance, the team once again looks great in the offseason.

In the early morning hours before the start of the second day of the 2005 NFL draft, Joe Banner awoke to a crash . . . crash . . . crash. By the time Banner reached the hallway, the pounding had stopped. His 10-year-old son, Jason, was sprawled on the bathroom tile. "I found him in the bathroom, on the floor and totally incoherent," Banner said. Jason was having a seizure and had been stumbling into walls. His father thought it might be a stroke. The Banner family rushed to the emergency room at Children's Hospital.

WHO THINKS the Eagles might bounce back from last year's disappointing 8-8, nonplayoff season? The TV networks, for starters. The Birds were among eight teams with the maximum five prime-time appearances when the league officially unveiled its 2012 schedule last night. This time last year, we thought the Eagles' 2011 schedule was light at the start, then got tougher. The Eagles started out 1-4. They won their final four games. So, really, nobody knows. "Tough" often depends on who's healthy, for you and your opposition, and the teams that were good last year often aren't the teams that are good this year.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Right now, the Eagles' backup quarterback options are Trent Edwards, who spent last season out of the NFL for reasons unrelated to injury, and Mike Kafka, who could not supplant Vince Young on the depth chart in 2011. Andy Reid may head into the coming season with Edwards and Kafka as his reserves behind Michael Vick. But history would suggest that the Eagles coach would prefer some greater stability at quarterback. Of course, there is stability for next season, and then there is long-term stability, and the selecting of a quarterback relatively high in the draft would help address both concerns for Reid.

There are head scratchers and then there are head smackers. The Los Angeles Times report suggesting Andy Reid banged his shoe on Jeff Lurie's desk and issued an ultimatum about personnel control was both. Reid was given full control of player personnel in 2001, when Lurie and Eagles president Joe Banner chose him over Tom Modrak, who had the title of director of football operations. The names have changed over the years, from Modrak to Tom Heckert to Howie Roseman, but the bottom line has not. Reid has final say over personnel decisions.

Despite a few potential obstacles, the Eagles will try to trade Asante Samuel before April's draft. The cornerback is 31 and due to earn $9.5 million next season, so it's unlikely they'll get anything close to what they would have had last August in a near-complete swap with the Detroit Lions. But don't underestimate the Eagles' negotiating powers. It's one of the front office's strongest traits, although the bartering has had to camouflage systemic failure in the evaluation of draft prospects on defense.

THE EAGLES have said a lot of really nice things about DeSean Jackson the last couple of weeks. Coach Andy Reid praised Jackson for "showing maturity" after the two-time Pro Bowler acknowledged he spent much of the 2011 season acting totally immature over his contract situation. The big guy said he was "proud of him" for the way the little guy played in the last six games of the season, when he caught 23 passes. Pass the tissues. General manager Howie Roseman followed that up last week by saying, "We feel fortunate to have him as part of our team.

Abused fans That Eagles season-ticket-holders can defend Andy Reid after all this time is incredible ("Reid keeps job as Eagles coach," Wednesday). The only analogy that works for me here is the child with an abusive parent. The child keeps hoping the bad things won't happen again, but they happen again. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie's holding Reid up as a paragon of allegiance because he doesn't reveal anything negative about the players or coaches is hysterical. The reason Reid is not throwing anyone under the bus is that he's the only person who belongs there.