Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Pederson is right to think big as camp opens
PHILADELPHIA » Just before he would welcome quarterbacks, rookies and an assortment of veteran Eagles inside the NewsControl Compound Monday, Doug Pederson did what he does best. He made it clear that it was OK to dream.
For that, the Birds’ next six months have a good chance to matter.
It was a strange but productive Eagles offseason, one that began with Jeffrey Lurie joining the Pattison Ave. chorus and preaching patience, all while Howie Roseman was running around the NFL trying to throw together an alluring rotisserie team.
The oddity of it all peaked around the NFL Draft when Roseman and some other guy — Joe Douglas, that’s his name — stood at the front of the stage to address every player the Eagles selected. That, they did while all but shoving Pederson behind the nearest curtain, just in case he would say something off-script.
But off-script is what Pederson does. More, he does it without apology. He often rejects punting, instead ordering fourthdown passes. He approves plays that the more timid in his profession would avoid, such as allowing his quarterback to run in the direction of violence just minutes after having taken an injury timeout. He thinks positive, and he coaches that way.
The other day, Pederson addressed a small circle of football writers. Somewhere during that mini-press-caravan, without robust prodding, he was unable to help himself. So he all but began to wonder if the parade should travel south on Broad Street, or whether it would make for better optics if it traveled north toward the Rocky-palooza.
OK, maybe he didn’t go that far.
But he did get within secondand-short.
“I look back at my time in Green Bay as a player when we were making those playoff runs and those Super Bowl runs there,” Pederson said. “And do we have as much talent on this team than we did then? We probably have more talent, right?”
The Eagles were 7-9 last season, and the only Super Bowl run they made was down to the corner for more wings at halftime. So Pederson’s boast is ripe for a robust cross-examination. If his deeper point is that most NFL teams have better athletes in 2017 than they did at the turn of the century, well, who would argue? But what if he was being more literal? And what if he sees something that makes him channel his inner Buddy Ryan and start preordering greatness?
If so, how’s this? The guy might be right.
Piece by piece, at least on the point-producing side of the line of scrimmage, the Eagles have assembled a very good team. Their tackles, Jason Peters and Lane Johnson, are two of the best of their generation. Last season, their running back, LeGarrette Blount, contributed 18 touchdowns to the New England Patriots, who would win the whole thing. The Eagles had trouble hanging onto passes last year; for that, Roseman hired Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith, proven NFL receivers. Their quarterback, Carson Wentz, remains largely unproven, but he was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 draft, has a year of experience and is reputed to have a legendary work ethic. So it all should work. Should. “But we also had a lot of talent in here, and where did that get us?” said Pederson, who was a Birds assistant in 2011, when they thought they’d assembled a dream team but didn’t reach the playoffs. “So there’s got to be a combination of blending all this talent with the coaching staff, with my ideas and philosophy, to bring that all together, put the egos aside, put pride aside and just go focus on winning this game that we have in front of us.”
Wouldn’t hurt. But then, that’s one of the two reasons why training camp will begin Monday, to formally begin that process (the other is to entertain sponsors, who are thrilled to blur the line between football-team-preparation and a carnival).
There will be plenty to monitor at camp. Will first-round draft choice Derek Barnett be the game-changing pass-rusher the Eagles have projected? Will Peters look old? Will Johnson read the fine print before going bottoms-up with a vitamin bottle? Is Wentz really any better than Nick Foles? And that will be convenient to monitor, too, because, yep, Foles is back and ready to show that he can play, too.
All of that will pile pressure on Pederson, one of the most unpopular backup quarterbacks ever to work for the Eagles and, with that, a coach immediately thrust into fourth-and-long in any drive to public acceptance. He’s OK with that, apparently. He’s OK with saying out loud what others should be thinking. He’s OK for going for it. So open the gates and get it started. Why not? For Eagles fans, it’s OK to dream.