Lurie Got a Red Carpet at Halftime of a 38-21 Loss. Who Exactly Runs This Thing?

The owner of the Eagles got a red carpet.

Not a figure of speech. According to the Inquirer's Mike Sielski, a red carpet was stretched from the Eagles' sideline to midfield at halftime on Oct. 26. The lights inside Lincoln Financial Field went down, the video boards lit up and white flags reading LURIE swayed in the night air. Jeffrey Lurie walked out in a pine green Eagles jacket with Donovan McNabb and Brian Dawkins and got inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame.

The Eagles then lost that game 38-21 to Dallas. That made them 2-5, with five straight losses and Jalen Hurts being treated with blood thinners.

Great night. Really tied the week together.

First, the fair part. Lurie owns two Super Bowl wins (LII and LIX), per the team's own announcement, and a résumé the Eagles list at length. You can argue he's earned a plaque. Plenty of people will.

Come on. The guy who owns the Eagles is going into the Eagles Hall of Fame. Who runs this thing?

Here's what we know. The team says a selection committee picked him. Ron Jaworski, speaking on behalf of that committee in the team's announcement, said the committee "felt it was important to recognize him with the organization's highest honor."

Here's what we don't know. Beyond Jaworski, the team hasn't said who's on the committee or what role the owner played. Sielski wrote that Lurie "signed off on a selection committee's decision" in August and "might have done the humbler, more honorable thing and said no." That's Sielski's read, in an opinion column. The Eagles haven't described their process that way, and we can't confirm it.

To be clear, nothing we found says this was anything other than what the team says it was. We're not alleging a fix. We're asking why the Eagles haven't told us how their own Hall of Fame works.

Owners having a say isn't some Eagles invention, either. ESPN's NFL Nation reporters surveyed how every team runs its honors in 2023. In Dallas, ESPN's Todd Archer wrote, "There is no voting. It's Jerry Jones' call." In Kansas City, ESPN's Adam Teicher wrote, "The final decision rests with chairman Clark Hunt." In Pittsburgh, ESPN's Brooke Pryor reported that Art Rooney II is one of five people on the committee that decides. When the Steelers announced their first Hall of Honor class in 2017, they named all five committee members publicly, and the class included Dan Rooney, the team's late chairman, who died that April.

Those are 2017 and 2023 descriptions, so they could have changed. The Eagles' entry in the same survey, from ESPN's Tim McManus, said the team "has a selection committee that consists of internal and external members who meet annually." No names. No word on an owner's role.

Dallas's version, as ESPN put it, is that it's Jerry's call. Say what you want about that. At least it's an answer.

Now the part that makes the optics uglier. On Sunday, Oct. 25, the NFL and the NFLPA announced in a joint statement that they're working together to review how the Eagles handled Hurts' blood clots. The red carpet came out the next night.

Front Office Sports' Mark Maske reported that a source said the investigation hadn't formally launched yet, and that the CBA allows it to take up to 120 days.

As of reporting through Oct. 26, Lurie, Howie Roseman and the medical staff hadn't publicly addressed the review. Only Nick Sirianni has been made available, and his answer, per the Inquirer, has been that he's "not a medical expert" and trusts the medical staff. We checked again at about 9:52 AM ET on Friday, Oct. 30, and found nothing newer. The Eagles' own press conference page lists Oct. 28 and 29 sessions with Sirianni, Vic Fangio, Tanner McKee, Sean Mannion, Michael Clay and a group of players. No Lurie. No Roseman. No medical staff.

That's the factual version. Sielski's version, in his column, is that the timing of the party "could not have been worse." We'll go with Sielski on that one.

The counterpoints, because they're real.

The Eagles announced the date on Aug. 26, long before anyone knew Hurts would be on injured reserve or the Eagles would be 2-5. Nobody booked this week on purpose.

And ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported, as relayed by Sporting News, that Hurts' camp, per a source, called Roseman "exceptional" and "extremely hands-on" throughout. One anonymous source isn't a press conference, but it belongs in the story.

Lurie did put out a written statement on induction day, and the Eagles have issued two statements on Hurts. Statements aren't answers, but they aren't nothing.

Still. A red carpet, flags with his name and a halftime speech, during a 17-point loss, one day after the league and the union announced a review of how the team handled its quarterback's blood clots. You don't need a committee to see how that looks.

The Eagles are 2-5. Their quarterback is being treated with blood thinners. The owner has an Eagles Hall of Fame induction. Somewhere there's a committee that made it happen.

We have one name. Name the rest.