Grotz: Super Bowl repeat? Birds face daunting odds
Most of us realize how worthless statistics can be from time to time.
For the rest of you tortured souls, try to remember the Eagles’ Super Bowl numbers that gave you pause earlier this month.
First and foremost, teams wearing the white uniforms had won all the Super Bowls. And in Super Bowls where teams played each other a second time, the team that won the first time almost always won when the rematch. Oh, and no player voted league MVP had ever triumphed in the Super Bowl.
Well, two out of three isn’t awful, the Eagles putting the first two stats to shame in their 41-33 win over the Patriots in Minneapolis. Thankfully Tom Brady extended the MVP curse at least another year.
Still, there’s no getting around the upward battle facing the Eagles after their very successful — and draining — world championship season.
There have been just eight repeat Super Bowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers doing it on two occasions. Moreover, since the last realignment in 2002, only the Patriots in 2004-05 have claimed consecutive Super Bowls, a testament to free agency, parity and the hard salary cap.
Player personnel obviously changes, and the Eagles will be no exception. We all have ideas about which veterans and free agents they should keep and who they should move on from. Don’t get too attached to tight end Trey Burton, the Philly Special quarterback, or cornerback Patrick Robinson, whose pick-six sparked the Eagles to victory in the NFC title game.
Eagles fans might want to pray that 34-yearold Darren Sproles, who wants to return for another season, instead exits with his health. He just doesn’t have the same wheels that allowed him to survive the injuries that dogged him in recent years.
And sentimentality aside, it sure doesn’t make sense to roll with 36-year-old veteran Jason Peters at left tackle at the expense of Hal Vaitai, who was outstanding in the playoffs. Big V earned the right to play.
Those are critical decisions facing the front office, along with what to do should some team make the Eagles an offer they can’t refuse for Super Bowl LII MVP quarterback Nick Foles, and whether to bring back running back LeGarrette Blount and/or defensive end Chris Long.
But there’s a subtle yet critical area the Eagles must shore up to keep the locker-room culture thriving and Doug Pederson doing the things he does so well. The Eagles need another veteran offensive coordinator.
Can we pretty much agree that Pederson could have been co-MVP of the Super Bowl, that his playcalling, all-around game management and demeanor throughout the week would make a solid how-to coaching tool for less accomplished colleagues?
It was more than just pushing the right buttons and say, bringing Brett Favre in to have a talk with the guys. More than allowing the guys to dance around him singing happy birthday. More than running that fake stadium walkthrough in full view of whatever, uh, spies might have been trying to mix in with the Super Bowl support staff at U.S. Bank Stadium the day before the actual game.
Pederson didn’t think about all that stuff on his own. He had a powerful collaborator and coaching soulmate around him 24/7. And that was Frank Reich, who has left the Eagles to become head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. Pederson and Reich were kindred souls, and then some.
The way we hear it, Pederson and Reich had incredible chemistry. What they hadn’t lived in a combined 23 NFL seasons at quarterback, most in the role of backups, they’d seen on film. Training Foles, and positioning him to beat the “GOAT” fair and square is something that only Pederson and Reich could have done, with a huge assist from quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo, now the offensive coordinator of the Vikings. Getting Foles prepped to play on a high level took a lot more time than most of us can appreciate, and it’s something only the quarterbacks among us ever will be able to relate to.
Reich, 56, was like a big brother to Pederson, who is six years younger. While we give Carson Wentz a ton of credit for blossoming into a finisher in just his second season, it was Pederson and Reich who showed the way in the classroom, at practices and in games.
Pederson needs to find his next buddy, and it won’t be easy. The candidate isn’t necessarily on staff, no disrespect to running backs coach Duce Staley or wide receivers coach Mike Groh, both obvious coordinator candidates. There’s going to be a break-in period.
When Pederson interviewed Reich for a job with the Eagles, there was no getting around the story they shared. They were career backups with a taste of greatness — Pederson by stepping in at quarterback for Don Shula to win record 325th game with the Dolphins, Reich by leading the Bills to the greatest comeback in playoff history.
Hopefully Pederson gets that kind of ah-hah moment with the next coordinator. And they’ll get together this season when the Eagles — bidding to become the ninth Super Bowl champion to repeat in 53 years — oppose the Colts at Lincoln Financial Field.