Air cleared, Doug can bathe in Week 1 glory

PHILADELPHIA » Doug Pederson wants to kick someone’s tail this weekend.

And it doesn’t belong to Jim Schwartz, the defensive coordinator who has designs on Pederson’ job with the Eagles, if you believe those fantasy football farts.

No, the target is Andy Reid, who coached and mentored Pederson with the Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. Pederson and the Eagles oppose Reid and the Chiefs Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. The loser gets to say something nice about the winner.

“Yeah, it will be fun,” Pederson said Monday. “It will be fun to see him over there, Big Red on the other side. But at the same time I know he wants to kick my tail, and I want to kick his.”

Reid benched Pederson four times after making him the starting quarterback in their first year with the Eagles.

Sure, Pederson knew he was keeping the starting seat warm for Donovan McNabb, who the Eagles selected with the second pick in the 1999 draft.

Still, it had to be humbling getting yanked four times in favor of a rookie. In 1993, Pederson quarterbacked the Miami Dolphins to a historic win over the Eagles at Veterans Stadium. That was Don Shula’s 325th NFL victory. This is going to be personal.

“Listen, Andy Reid teams are well prepared, as we know and we’ve got to do the same thing this week,” Pederson said. “We’ve just got to be ultra-prepared. That stadium is a tough place to play now. It is a loud, loud place and we’ve got to be able to handle that crowd noise. We’ve got to do it through communication, nonverbal communication. All that has to be on-point this week in practice but it will be fun. It will be fun to get out there. But again, once we tee it up and kick it off, it’s all about the business and all about the game.”

It’s also loud in Philly right now. It’s a mindless kind of noise triggered by the ex-GM who had such a warped agenda he caused

irreparable harm to Pederson by trashing the latter’s coaching qualifications.

Eagles billionaire owner Jeffrey Lurie called the basher’s charges “click bait,” which is a nice way of describing material without substance.

Each and every word of Lurie’s press conference last week praising football operations chief Howie Roseman and Pederson has been dissected to the point where it’s nauseating. Who the heck says exactly what they mean each time they verbalize something? How can you tell what someone means by what they say when they don’t mean it? Thank you.

That’s where Pederson is right now, in fantasy land, because some opinion piece that someone else labeled a ‘report’ got traction.

With the report and respect to Schwartz, did you feel the need to clear the air

and where does that stand?

Pederson smiled. A good answer would have been, are you kidding me? A Brian Kelly response would have worked, too. Something like “the air isn’t dirty. Why should I clear it?”

Pederson responded anyway.

“No, I did not,” Pederson said. “Jim and I have always had a great relationship. And it was … I don’t know what to tell you. Jim and I have always had a great relationship and even yesterday, the communication is always there. We talk quite a bit, actually, during the week, and I love his enthusiasm. I love his swagger. I think our defensive guys feed off of that. Most D-coordinators I’ve been around have that, and he’s no different and that’s one of the things I like about Jim is the fact that he has it and the guys feed off of that and

that’s the way they play.”

That Gatorade bath Pederson got Sunday came from two defenders — Kamu Grugier-Hill and Steven Means. If a Gatorade bath is enough hard evidence to prove a defensive coordinator has designs on the head coach’s job because someone the coordinator knows ripped the head coach, read Pederson his rights.

We think the Gatorade deal is a salute to the tough-mindedness of Pederson, who coached hard from start to finish to secure a 30-17 win over the hated Washington Redskins, who had beaten the Eagles in five straight games. Or if you prefer, a tribute to Pederson’s coaching qualifications.

The win is proof that Pederson, quarterback Carson Wentz and the Eagles can beat a tough opponent in a hostile environment

despite significant adversity, the latter in injuries to cornerback Ronald Darby, kicker Caleb Sturgis and offensive tackle Jason Peters.

“Philadelphia is a showme city, which is fine,” former Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil said. “Show me you’re going to be good. They have a tendency to get too hyped up early when they start talking about playoffs before they’ve played a game, the fans do. One trade and we’re going to the Super Bowl. I just think you take each week, one week at a time, like coaches try to do. The fans might enjoy it more if they do it that way.”

That’s the way Pederson rolls. One week, one Gatorade bath at a time.

To contact Bob Grotz, email bgrotz@21stcenturymedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobGrotz.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS — ALEX BRANDON With the wind of a Week 1 win in his sails, Eagles coach Doug Pederson can look forward to next week’s meeting with mentor Andy Reid in Kansas City.