Steichen coordinating growth of Rivers’ coaching career

PHILADELPHIA » The Eagles popped into the Manning Cast Monday on ESPN, in an interesting way.

Brothers Peyton and Eli Manning, who host a Monday Night Football program featuring a Zoom cast of celebrities from all walks of sports while the game plays in the background, were chatting with retired NFL quarterback Philip Rivers about his new gig as a high school head coach.

Rivers spoke about how rewarding it was to see growth in his players at St. Michael Catholic in Fairhope, Ala. Asked about his offense, he opened up by mentioning that he would pick the minds of various NFL coaches for ideas, including Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and head coach Nick Sirianni.

Rivers said he enjoyed texting plays to Steichen and Sirianni, having worked with them during tours quarterbacking the Chargers and the Colts. In essence, the St. Michael Cardinals are running the Eagles offense.

Steichen, who rarely smiles, couldn’t hide a grin out of respect for Rivers, the soonto-be 40-year-old who won 139 games in 17 NFL seasons.

“Yeah, we still stay in contact all the time,” Steichen said. “He sends us little clips and tidbits of the plays he runs with his high school football team. And they use the terminology we use. So, when we’re talking, he says, ‘Hey, we hit this play,’ and, obviously, we know what this is. So, it’s pretty cool to see that.”

The Cardinals went 6-3 this season. It offense is quite similar though not as detailed as the Eagles’, per Steichen.

Steichen has yet to see the Manning show. Suffice it to say the Manning Cast is so popular that pundits are charting how its guests perform the week after they appear on it. They call it the Manning Curse. The current victims:

• Travis Kelce appears Week 1, lost Week 2

• Russell Wilson appears Week 1, lost Week 2

• Rob Gronkowski appears Week 2, lost Week 3

• Matt Stafford appears Week 3, lost Week 4

• Tom Brady appears Week 7, lost Week 8

• Josh Allen appears Week 8, lost Week 9

• Draymond Green appears Week 9, TBD (Green and Golden State opposed the New Jersey Nets Tuesday).

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The Eagles have interesting decisions to make at running back as Miles Sanders has put word out on radio shows that he expects to be active this week after missing three games with an ankle injury.

The Eagles have averaged 209 rushing yards in his absence, Jordan Howard and Boston Scott both rushing for three TDs.

Rookie Kenneth Gainwell has played his role well.

“I think we have a lot of good backs and we’ll work through that this week and see where that goes,” Steichen said. “A lot of guys can do different things for us, some good things, out of the backfield running the football. It’s a good problem for us.”

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It would be remiss not to mention what Steichen said about Jalen Hurts’ effort in the 30-13 win over the Broncos Sunday, calling it the best performance from the offense all season.

“Everyone was on the same page,” Steichen said. “That’s three weeks in a row we didn’t have any penalties, too. You know, the self-inflicted wounds, not getting any of those. The offensive line played exceptionally well. Receivers blocked, tight ends blocked, backs ran it well and Jalen played well.”