The Confidence Index

Some executives in this town have a forever pass. Others have no benefit of the doubt

In my career - both in print and on air- I’ve said a lot of dumb shit.

I actually thought that Ryne Sandberg would be a great manager, Dom Brown would be a future multiple All-Star - we'll always have May ‘13, DB- and the Flyers made a huge mistake firing Peter Laviolette.

The absolute worst thing that I’ve said however came after the Eagles disastrous 2020 season when I argued that if Doug Pederson was going to be let go, Howie Roseman should go right out the door with him.

Oops.

Yes, Roseman had won a Super Bowl already. But so did Pederson and I figured that the head coach was saddled with a poor roster in a COVID year, it should have been a both or none leave situation.

Thank God nobody at the NovaCare Complex (at the time) listened to me. Since then, Roseman’s rosters have been the league’s best and the Eagles have another Lombardi in their trophy room.

The Roseman case highlights the fickle nature that owners and team presidents in this town go through. As outlined on Monday, the Phillies issues are largely the result of the failures by a President of Baseball Operations (POBO) who has ignored the glaring weaknesses this team clearly has (see lineup, right handed).

Overall, there have been worse times in Philadelphia sports for the confluence of the three main structural parts - owner, GM/President of Ops and head coach. But where do they stand at the moment?

This is one man’s personal scale of each part, rated on a scale of 1 (please be gone) to 10 (bronze statues forever) for each element.

Eagles (25 out of 30)

There’s little doubt that the Eagles are the top team in this city, Two titles in nine years, steady contention, a satisfied fan base has even found a way to overcome non-stop drama at different spots.

Owner: Jeffrey Lurie (10)

If there’s a Mount Rushmore of Philadelphia sports owners, Lurie is a lead pipe lock to be on it with Ed Snider and likely Ruly Carpenter. Two Super Bowls wins, two other appearances for a franchise that went 38 years of the Super Bowl era with only one ticket punched. Even now at his age, he has shown a fire to win while not becoming a cartoonish figure like Jerry Jones has for Dallas.

Is he perfect? Well, there’s some who would complain about his ambition for the new stadium to replace the Linc. Others may say that he let Joe Banner handle too much and caused the Andy Reid era to not fully fulfill its potential. That’s all hindsight, to be honest. (Except the Dawkins decision- Lurie should have stepped in on that.)

President of Football Operations: Howie Roseman (10)

Howie does strike out some time. The good news, however, is he’s secure enough in his position to correct his mistakes after a year. See Bryce Huff or Carson Wentz’s mega contract as a perfect example. There is an arrogance at times and that’s when Roseman can get in trouble- but again, the ability to correct it has been his biggest strength.

Head Coach: Nick Sirianni (5)

Here is where I differ from most: I’m not a Sirianni guy. Yes, he’s made the playoffs all five years and went to two Super Bowls. And yet, I can’t really put a finger on what he actually does well. The offense is someone else’s when it’s good and has his finger prints all over it when it goes into the ditch. The defense has belonged to Vic Fangio - so you only give him marginal points for hiring Fangio.

And the one thing I’ve heard constantly is “he has a good pulse in the room”. Has he really? The ‘23 season fell apart and Nick couldn’t stop it. The ‘25 season had grumbling all season and Sirianni couldn’t patch the A.J. Brown/Jalen Hurts situation. So while you give him credit for the success in record - it is fair to wonder if he’s done anything that makes you think that Sirianni is any factor in it.

Flyers (19 out of 30)

They returned to the playoffs and still managed to stick to the plan that management has set out upon since 2023. However, the Flyers second place ranking right now is based more on projection that reality.

Governor: Dan Hilferty (7)

Quick, remember who was the guy who was before Hilferty? It was Dave Scott- who you honestly wouldn’t pick out of a lineup if he kicked you in the shin on Market Street. Scott’s absentee nature has made whatever Hilferty has done- and he’s been way more active- a positive. Maybe his best skill: getting out of the way. (He did get a major win with the arena moving back to the old Spectrum site.)

President/GM combo: Keith Jones and Danny Briere (7)

Give both men credit for resisting quick fixes which a lot of Flyers fans have wanted. The Porter Martone pick has been huge. Signing Dan Vladar was a godsend at a position that has been the franchise’s black hole since Ron Hextall’s first trip around here ended in 1992. And yet, a lot still hinges ion them finding a center for the top line and where Matvei Michkov goes next year.

Head coach: Rick Tocchet (5)

If you were on social media too much, you would think Tocchet was the worst coach ever during the season because of the Michkov situation. But he did manage to get this group that has zero power play to win a round in the playoffs. A lot of his future projection will depend on where the power play and Michkov goes. Any step back and it is pretty clear that the fan base will blame Tocchet more than anyone else.

Phillies (17 out of 30)

This era of Phillies baseball has been perplexing because they have been consistently good, supported by an owner that will spend lots (and lots) of cash and will bring star power in. And yet, the lack of a parade and the fact that the "surprise” run of 2022 has clearly been the highlight has been completely baffling.

Owner: John Middleton (8.5)

In a sport without a salary cap, Middleton is doing exactly what you should want an owner to do - spend out of his own pocket to win. He often was tagged as a “wannabe Steinbrenner” when he was still a little in the background to Dave Montgomery. However, the payroll of $315 million is a reflection of Middleton’s desire to go after a ring that is his own in a Boss-like manner. (I’m retiring the “damn trophy back” line.) If there’s a legitimate criticism of Middleton, there is this: Steinbrenner’s best era is when he found someone like Stick Michael and developed the core of those four rings in five years through the farm system.

POBO: Dave Dombrowski (4)

I wrote a ton about this on Monday, so I’m not going to rant much more except this: what would he have done without Middleton’s cash? Because the farm has yet to really develop anything under him.

Interim Manager: Don Mattingly (4.5)

I’ve actually liked what Mattingly has done so far. But the Interim tag in there and we know that Dombrowski- if he has his way- gets Alex Cora here next spring. Which is a shame, to be honest.m

Sixers (15 out of 30)

No franchise in this town’s history frustrates its customers more than the Sixers, who have a weird combination of elite talent and seemingly no hope. Most of this has been a result of disfunction in the management class.

Owner: Josh Harris (4)

You don’t become as rich as Harris was without a competitive streak. But the biggest problem that the Sixers owner has is the image issue. One, he’s awful at press conferences- something the other three in this town don’t suffer from. Two, having teams in other markets that are in direct competition give an impression that the Sixers are just a widget to Harris- one that he looks at as a portfolio stock as opposed to living and dying with every night. (That would be the Commanders.) In fairness, he also inherited a mess when he bought the team from Comcast Spectator, who was content to have the team practice at PCOM and push it down the order there as well in the post-Pat Croce era. But still, the passion just doesn’t seem there - and that’s a huge problem.

Basketball Chief?: Bob Myers (7)

Let’s assume that whomever is placed running the franchise has to run anything through the former Warriors GM. You really going to object to that? For this team to earn trust back, Myers has to be front and center for the franchise to regain trust in this town.

Coach: Nick Nurse (4)

Not all of this has been Nurse’s problem. The roster has been beat up and shallow as hell in depth. Still, the Jared McCain thing and how he had an unreasonable hatred for the guy’s game seems to insure that Nurse should be the guy at the bottom of the coaching tiers.

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Programming Note

I will be on FOX 29’s “Phantastic Sports Show” on Wednesday night at 6:30 with Jason Martinez and Breland Moore. Please tune in.