From champ to chump, a strange trip for Pederson
So, who do you like as the next head coach of the Eagles?
Duce Staley, Lincoln Riley, Eric Bieniemy, Jim Schwartz?
Doug Pederson is on the verge of getting his pink slip due to several issues with management, not just his role in Tank Gate, according to an ESPN report citing sources.
We probably should be elated because, well, it’s just tough to look Pederson in the eye when he says whatever as the face of the team. Trust me, a contingent of players feel the same way.
Long before Pederson turned the Eagles into the laughingstock of the NFL, insisting that he was not trying to lose the regular season finale to secure better draft position, he had a poor working relationship with quarterback Carson Wentz, who sources say resisted his coaching.
Pederson tried everything he could think of to reach Wentz, who led the NFL this season with 19 turnovers despite playing in only a dozen games.
Wentz didn’t take Pederson seriously until he was benched in favor of rookie Jalen Hurts, who won just one of his four starts, although it would have been two victories had he not been pulled in the fourth quarter of the finale against Washington, which created the second quarterback controversy of the season for the Birds.
The Eagles trailed Washington by just a field goal with Hurts, who had scored both of their touchdowns
and were trending toward a victorious finish when Pederson played the T card, inserting Nate Sudfeld. On his best day Sudfeld didn’t give the Eagles a chance to win, which is why it was an affront to the integrity of the game. Not that any of you kids out there who dig tanking would know anything about integrity, there were playoff implications for Washington and the New York Giants. There’s also this thing called the point spread and how anything that manipulates it could stain reputations, although in this case it didn’t appear to.
The bottom line is the loss improved the Eagles’ draft positioning from ninth to sixth at the expense
of what was left of the players, who played hard that evening but weren’t happy according to various accounts that Pederson gave them up after telling them he would play to win.
At any rate, the ESPN story intimated that Pederson’s meeting with Jeffrey Lurie last week didn’t go well and that there would soon be a follow-up at the owner’s palatial estate in Florida.
Pederson presumably needs to present a well thought out plan detailing which quarterback to build around, how to fix the offense and what his coaching staff will be like. The latter point, by the way, is hilarious because the Eagles approve who’s
on Pederson’s staff.
In the past week the Eagles have moved on form Rich Scangerello, one of the passing game coordinators and offensive consultant Marty Mornhinweg, who Hurts appreciated.
Can we all agree that defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz saw the friction between Pederson, Wentz and general manager Howie Roseman and decided this would be a good time to take a year off from football? Then again, Schwartz’s getaway statement suggested he’d still be a lifeline.
“I have too much respect for the game and for everybody involved to compromise the level of commitment that I believe is necessary to do
the job,” Schwartz said. “I don’t know what my future holds but I am willing to do anything I can to help this organization in any way.”
The Eagles hired Schwartz before they interviewed Pederson. That should tell you the nature of their involvement in the coach’s staff.
Would a coach such as Oklahoma’s Riley, who in a limited time molded Hurts into a terrific college quarterback, be willing to become part of an Eagles program where Roseman and Lurie wield the hammer?
Then again Riley, we’ve been told, also is the guy who told the Eagles that Jalen Reagor would a 100-catch guy in their offense. That’s worth a hard look because it’s unlikely he meant 100 catches for a career.
With the money Lurie has lost due to the pandemic it’s hard to believe he’d shell out something in the neighborhood of the seven-year, $60 million commitment the Carolina Panthers made last year to Matt Rhule.
Bieniemy supposedly is a package deal with John Dorsey, who the last time we heard was working as a consultant with the Eagles. The good news is Dorsey is an accomplished evaluator of talent. The not so good news is Roseman still would be around, possibly with a hammer.
Staley? The long-time running backs coach has a rapport with the players. He interviewed for the head coaching job that went to Pederson.
If the Eagles move on from Pederson, go through a coaching search and are uncomfortable locking up anyone long term, Staley and possibly Schwartz are there.
Whoever the coach is, he’ll have to live under the reality that three years after you win a Super Bowl, you could be toast.
Wentz almost certainly is on his way out, and is OK with it. It’s unlikely he’d want to return unless he received an ironclad assurance he’s the starter in 2021. That won’t play well with teammates unless he lets go of the past, humbles himself, plays incredibly well and earns respect, rather than demands it. What are the chances he does that?