Jason La Canfora Vs. Reuben Frank In The Battle Of NFL Writers
By Spike Eskin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Gus Bradley will have his second interview with the Eagles today in regard to the team's head coaching vacancy. If the team's recent interviews hold form, we could be waiting a while for it to end. What better way to pass the time than with writers taking shots at each other?
Yesterday, CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora wrote a piece, citing unnamed sources, that one of the reasons the Eagles are having trouble finding a coach is because of Howie Roseman's bad reputation in the NFL.
Monday, on Comcast Sportsnet's Daily News Live, Michael Barkann and Eagles writers Reuben Frank and Les Bowen discussed the report, that both Bowen and Frank dismissed.
"Listen, when you have a hatchet job when you're quoting unnamed sources, you just have to take it with a grain of salt," Frank said. What's the guys agenda? If you're going to do a story like that, at the very, very minimum if you have any professional standards you go to the guy you are ripping and say hey, 'I got a source telling me this, what's your reaction?' Did he even do that?"
"Well, here's what happened. Yesterday, Jason LaConfora called Howie Roseman, he had heard that the Eagles have interviewed Brian Billick," Bowen said. "Howie wouldn't confirm that to him. Roob broke the story a little bit later. Today, Jason wrote this column."
Tuesday morning, La Canfora fired back, when he was a guest of Angelo Cataldi and The WIP Morning Show.
"I don't know who Reuben Frank is. I don't care. I've never heard of him, whatever," La Canfora said. "Look, I'm not in that media group, I'm not there everyday. It's a relationship business. I'm sure there are certain people there who are probably more or less on the Eagles payroll, and others who aren't. And that's the way it works in a lot of places. I've covered teams before and some people are close to the GM, some aren't, some are more willing to take off the blinders and put the pom-poms down, and others aren't. It can work to your favor or to your detriment depending on the regime you are covering. I've talked to a lot of people, have been talking to a lot of people. I'm covering all of these coaching searches, I'm not just covering one. I'm talking to multiple people everyday who have to decide, am I going to go into Philly, or am I going to go into Arizona. Or what's the best fit, and what's really being said here, and how much power could I have in this place or could I have in that place."
"I've been hearing this for a long time," La Canfora said. "This has been coming since before they even decided to part with Andy Reid and you talked to established coaches, and you see what they're advising people. What are younger coaches hearing from older coaches when they ask about; what do you think of this regime, what do you think of Howie Roseman, what do you think of coming in Philadelphia. I didn't call Howie Roseman yesterday. I didn't have any conversation with Howie Roseman. I also didn't need any confirmation from anybody about anything, because I knew what had happened with Brian Billick."
Frank broke the story that Billick interviewed with the Eagles last week.
"Did I notify the Eagles and say hey, I know this happened and if you guys want to say anything about it, great. If you don't, great. If you want to make an on-the-record or off-the-record comment," La Canfora said. "If you want to tell me he's a candidate or not candidate---whatever. I'm giving you guys the opportunity to say whatever you want to say about this, but I'm going to let you know that this is something that I am going to be reporting when I go to air at 4 o'clock and it'll be included with some other things. Whatever happened in Philadelphia beyond that, I have no idea. I am sitting in a studio in New York."
I don't know why the Eagles haven't hired a coach yet, but I'm thankful for the writers who will fight about it.
