Embarrassing off-field incidents weighing on Pederson, players
PHILADELPHIA >> Super Bowl winning coach Brian Billick preferred the proactive approach in dealing with off-the-field disciplinary matters,.
Billick, who led the Baltimore Ravens to their first world championship in the 2000 season, would point out player problems other NFL teams were managing and bounce them off such veteran leaders as Ray Lewis, Jonathan Ogden, Rob Burnett and Rod Woodson.
“What do you want me to do if that happens?” Billick would say. “How do you want me to deal with it?”
Frequently the players’ disciplinary suggestions were tougher than the coach’s.
The Eagles aren’t there. Doug Pederson, in his first year as an NFL head coach, hasn’t been around long enough to be hands-on in this department. He’s a coach, not a disciplinarian, and it shows.
Pederson is coming off as Mr. Softee in his handling of two players who, in essentially a six-week span, engaged in conduct unbecoming of the Eagles. It’s taken some of the luster off the magic card tricks of long snapper Jon Dorenbos on
Wide receiver Nelson Agholor is lucky the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office determined there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him with the alleged assault of an exotic dancer. Minicamp was barely over when Agholor rolled into a South Philly strip club looking for whatever. Joining him at the joint but leaving before Agholor put himself in a position where he had a lot of explaining to do to his coach and the authorities were veteran leaders Connor Barwin and Fletcher Cox.
This past Monday, linebacker Nigel Bradham, signed in free agency, turned himself into authorities for allegedly punching a cabana guy in the nose in Miami Beach. Pederson’s hands are tied in this case as it’s still playing out with authorities. Until due process is complete, the Collective Bargaining Agreement basically limits the ability to make a statement like cutting the player, although Pederson has said he doesn’t think there’s much of a chance of that happening in this specific case.
Bradham also is under investigation by the NFL. If he’s found to have violated the Personal Conduct Policy, he could be fined and even suspended.
While that drama plays out Pederson has to cross his fingers that the rest of his players understand how important it is to play safe while getting his team ready for the Sept. 11 season opener against the Cleveland Browns.
Eagles tight end Zach Ertz doesn’t think poor decisions of players is an honest reflection of Pederson.
“It’s not like Doug’s out here saying, ‘Guys, you can do whatever you want, this is going to be an easy training camp,’” Ertz said. “He’s demanding the most out of us.”
Each year the NFL sends representatives to each club at the beginning of their respective training camps to give a stay-out-of-trouble video presentation. What was enlightening about this year’s lecture with the Eagles was that July seems like the month to stay away from NFL players. If players rent a chair, get it to them quick. If they want a dance … oh, behave.
At any rate, Ertz said the presentation showed that July is “when the most altercations with the police (and players) happen.
“It’s a league-wide issue,” Ertz said of off-thefield trouble. “Things have definitely gone down dramatically in the past couple of years with incidents in the league with the emphasis a lot of people have put, I think, on the Greg Hardy and the Ray Rice situations. It’s very unfortunate what happened to two of our teammates but I think they’re going to learn from it and grow from as men.”
Barwin, who usually throws himself into community service, not a bad situation, feels the rest of the players have gotten the message.
“I think they were just a couple of isolated incidents and Doug addressed it,” Barwin said. “He’s always reminding us that we represent ourselves, this team, this organization and this city. I think as a whole we’re embarrassed about what happened, but again, I think those were isolated incidents and I don’t expect things like that to happen anymore.”
Echoing that was it Ertz, who also sounded as if the players would do a better job of policing each other.
“Obviously Doug’s the head man but no matter who it was, I don’t think these events could have been avoided,” Ertz said. “I think guys just have to put themselves in better situations. Guys have to understand the risks and the pressure there is playing for this organization and the high standards that we set. And we’re not going to allow people to have consistent off-the-field troubles here. Mr. (Jeffrey) Lurie is not going to allow it. Guys represent the Eagles both on and off the field and it’s a very high standard to uphold.”
The next player to try Pederson’s patience might not be so lucky.
Fool him once, shame on you.
Fool him on him.
Fool him … twice, three shame times