Urban's development continues in Philly

Like any NFL coach worth his weight in clipboards, James Urban knew his stuff.

The playbook was scripture, the game tape exquisite cinema and a quarterback's audible part of the poetic second language he'd picked up over the years.

A true pupil of the pigskin, Urban had done all he could to prepare for this moment.

"As soon as the ball's kicked off," he said, "it's a football game."

And yet as he sat aloft in a coaches' box at ALLTEL Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla., surveying the 78,000 fans as flashbulbs littered the venue's landscape, Urban had to realize that this was no football game.

This was Super Bowl Sunday. And he was there.

Hired by the Philadelphia Eagles as an assistant to head coach Andy Reid in 2004 after five seasons with Penn, four as director of football operations, Urban would not sip championship champagne that night in February 2005; his Eagles fell to the New England Patriots, 24-21.

But in the following years, though his team has won just one playoff game since Super Bowl XXXIX, the 34-year-old Urban has ascended the coaching ranks within Reid's administration. In 2007, he was promoted to offensive assistant and quality control coach.

In this role, Urban's primary responsibilities include breaking down film to identify opponents' defensive formations, self-scouting of Eagles personnel and assisting quarterbacks coach Pat Shurmur.

"It's pretty hardcore football," he said matter-of-factly, before uncorking a litany of formation terms like "Bucket Two" and "Three Fire Zone."

His former employer, Penn coach Al Bagnoli, is hardly surprised by Urban's success at the professional level.

"He was terrific," Bagnoli said. "You could give him five different things to do, and he'd be able to juggle everything and do them all well."

For Urban, the feeling is mutual.

"You can't help but learn from Coach Bagnoli," he said. "There are many, many similarities that I see between Al Bagnoli and Andy Reid."

Of course, Sundays at Lincoln Financial Field bear little resemblance to Saturdays at Franklin Field - something Urban realized quickly.

While recruiting is an all-consuming, year-round practice at a college program, Urban says that professional coaches are free to focus exclusively on X's and O's.

In a city like Philadelphia, though, such tunnel vision is often an elusive goal.

"We've got the best fans in the NFL," he said, "but along with that comes rabid reporters. At the end of the day, it's football, and you're coaching your guys and teaching your schemes . just like you would in the Ivy League."

With a seemingly healthy Donovan McNabb and the free-agent acquisition of shutdown cornerback Asante Samuel, the Eagles have many in the media - "rabid" or otherwise - bullish on their playoff prospects, even on the heels of a disappointing 8-8 campaign in '07.

Sports Illustrated, for one, penciled in Philadelphia for a Super Bowl rematch with the Pats.

Urban, briefly channeling his inner Belichick, knows the dangers of engaging in such prognostication.

"There are 32 teams in our league," he said diplomatically. "And every team is very optimistic right now."

Spoken like a seasoned NFLer.

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