Gardner-Johnson not so sad to see Gannon go
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni isn’t a big fan of coaching turnover, but he appreciates the fit he has in newly appointed defensive coordinator Sean Desai, an assistant on an aggressive Seattle defense and a disciple of the Vic Fangio style of defense.
“What I did like is some of the similarities to things that we’ve already been doing on a very successful defense,” Sirianni said Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, “with different coverages, different run blitzes, things like that.”
That said, the 38-35 Super Bowl LVII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs has left a serous scar bearing the DNA of outgoing defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon.
Eagles defensive back Chauncey GardnerJohnson, who with six interceptions shared the league lead this past season, took umbrage with the explanation Gannon provided for the disastrous second half in which the Eagles were unable to make even one stop of the Chiefs. The Eagles surrendered two embarrassing second-half walk-in receiving touchdowns, leaving apologists to rail about a clear defensive holding call on James Bradberry that set up the winning field goal.
In his new role as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, Gannon was asked about the Super Bowl clunker at the scouting combine. He had ducked questions immediately after the Super Bowl.
“They made a lot of good plays in that second half,” Gannon said of the Chiefs. “We weren’t able to get some stops when we needed to. I obviously could have done a better job of coaching a couple things that I want out of the calls.”
That bothered Gardner-Johnson, who had the best season of any Eagles defensive back and is an unrestricted free agent March 15. Gardner-Johnson tweeted, “You ain’t put us in position to make plays” to the above explanation from Gannon. GardnerJohnson later deleted the tweet but not before it went viral.
Gardner-Johnson isn’t the first Eagles veteran to publicly criticize Gannon, who had one of the top-rated defenses in the NFL statistically but clearly benefited from the Jalen Hurts-charged offense that limited the number of defensive snaps and enabled the Eagles to pin their ears back and rush the passer.
During the 2021 season, defensive tackle Fletcher Cox ripped Gannon for playing too soft and playing players out of position during a stretch in which the Eagles were giving up a completion percentage of 70-plus percent. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Yet Eagles general manager Howie Roseman offered Gannon a lucrative raise to remain as defensive coordinator of the Eagles rather than take a head coaching job.
Roseman loaded the roster with veteran defensive talent, including pass rusher Haason Red- dick and Gardner-Johnson. Clearly, he feels the Eagles are close enough to a Super Bowl run that it would make sense to keep Gannon around.
Gannon was almost deified in some media outlets after the Eagles systematically dismantled quarterbacks Daniel Jones of the New York Giants as well as Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson of the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional and conference championship round of the playoffs. As solid as the Eagles played in those games, those quarterbacks are extremely limited. Purdy needed a choke by the Dallas Cowboys to survive in the semifinals. Johnson is a veteran of the XFL, Alliance of American Football and the United Football League.
Desai has a chance to show what he can do for a defense still full of talent, even if it loses free agents Gardner-Johnson, Bradberry and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave.
“I think we interviewed a really good group of guys,” Sirianni said of hiring a defensive coordinator. “I was really impressed by all of them. It’s just that at the end of the day, obviously some experience that Sean has had calling it. But also, I’ve got to do what I feel is best for the team. And I felt that Sean was the best guy for the job.”
There were no negative tweets or outrage over the elevation of quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson to offensive coordinator, where he will call plays. He replaces Shane Steichen, who became head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.
“I’m with him every day seeing him work every single day, seeing him with the quarterbacks, seeing him in game-planning meetings, seeing him on the practice field,” Sirianni said. “I thought that was the natural progression for us to go that route. And his relationship with Jalen Hurts. Brian’s a sharp, sharp dude. I lean on him for so many different things, and now he’s in charge of running the offense.”