Birds’ offense will have new look this season
PHILADELPHIA » At the end of last season, Doug Pederson gave offensive coordinator Mike Groh a vote of confidence, only to lament the ill-timed remarks when his right-hand man the previous two campaigns was fired.
The Eagles made sweeping changes to their offensive staff, promoting quarterbacks coach Press Taylor to passing game coordinator, hiring Andrew Breiner to be passing game analyst and bringing in Rich Scangarello to be senior offensive assistant. Three minds, no formal offensive coordinator designation.
Scangarello was canned after his only year as offensive coordinator by the Denver Broncos, veteran quarterback Joe Flacco criticizing the team’s conservative play-calling.
The same unimaginative calls helped the Broncos, who finished 7-9, win four of their last five games under rookie quarterback Drew Lock, who threw just seven touchdowns and three interceptions in that time.
So, here Scangarello is in a new role and a virtual offseason. He’s just beginning to get to know Carson Wentz, who clearly was unhappy with Groh’s dink-and-dunk offense last year.
Scangarello’s early impression of Wentz is — get this — a lot like Matt Ryan in the way he sees the game. Scangarello was a quality control coach with the Atlanta Falcons in 2015.
“I think I would compare Carson more mentally to like a Matt Ryan,” Scangarello said Tuesday. “I wasn’t in the room with Matt but I was there and around it. I talked a lot about people. I have a great deal of respect for Matt as a player and his mental ability.
“Carson, he’s an elite processor in my opinion, both pre-snap and post-snap. He’s able to do a lot of things because of it. That’s what separates him to me from a lot of people in this league.”
Scangarello, whose favorite word is seamlessly, figures to be a critical addition in that the Eagles are transitioning to the system he was accomplished in with Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers.
Scangarello is responsible for blending run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland’s scheme with the passing scheme.
Scangarello said nobody did that better than Shanahan, who developed the style serving under his father, two-time Super Bowl champion head coach Mike Shanahan, and Gary Kubiak, who won a Super Bowl with the Broncos.
Kyle Shanahan took the 49ers to the Super Bowl this past season.
“To be part of that process, you just learn details and intricacies that very few people know, that come from him ultimately,” Scangarello said. “People see it on film and they think they know but they really don’t.
That’s the cool part of being part of it and having that knowledge. It’s exciting taking that somewhere into a new building and sharing that with coaches who maybe you can help with that. So, it’s been exciting to be a part of so far. I think it fits our quarterback. It fits our personnel. But again, this is our offense here in Philadelphia. I don’t think it will look much different than it has in the past.”