Like many of you I am underwhelmed by the ongoing search for a new Eagles head coach, so it was somewhat of a relief to escape the drudgery of following that stale job interview story line and just sit back and enjoy Wild Card Weekend.
The Joy of Football… it’s much better when your team is in the postseason and there are no looming questions about coaching changes. Barring that, you take what the NFL gives you. I rather enjoyed rooting for Andy Reid and his Chieves, and I found the other wild card games intriguing to say the least. Pittsburgh, Seattle and Green Bay moved on to the next round along with Big Red.
The Eagles front office is interviewing more HC candidates. Adam Gase took the Miami job. I jinxed another one.
Doug Pederson is the fifth candidate to interview for the job since Chip Kelly was fired Dec. 29. He’s currently the OC for Andy Reid in Kansas City. Pederson started nine games at quarterback for the Eagles in 1999 and began his NFL coaching career as an assistant under Andy Reid in Philadelphia in 2009. Pederson followed Reid to Kansas City in 2013.
“I think it’s great he has an opportunity, compliment to the hard work he’s put in, and he’s done a nice job,” Reid said. “He’s ready to do that, and if he has that opportunity, more power to him.”
Eagles running backs coach Duce Staley and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and New York Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo have also interviewed. Former Giants coach Tom Coughlin is also expected to get an interview, sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
When you hear Tom Coughlin’s name as a candidate, I suspect it’s a professional courtesy move extended by owner Jeff Lurie. I personally feel hiring Father Tom would be like feeding a missionary to the lions in Philly. He’s too nice a man to be allowed to be eaten alive by what he would face here if things went sour.
I suspect what ~Broz says is probably true— the guy the Eagles really want is still working for a team currently alive in the playoffs…and no, I doubt it is Doug Pederson.
I think we already have our fall-back guy in Pat Shurmur. That is probably the safest direction Lurie and Roseman could take anyway. The guy is solid and has a loyal relationship with management already. Shurmur won’t rock the boat—and if anyone could persuade Sam Bradford to take a hometown discount for the club, it would be Shurmur.
But the question would remain: is Shurmur the dynamic force, the organized motivator for team improvement who is capable of rolling the dice and shaking things up when the situation calls for bold moves?
That is something you can never know in advance until the defining moment of conflict or adversity arises.
The Miami Dolphins snatched Adam Gase for their HC job even as Gase was scheduled to meet for the second time with the Eagles. That sort of thing happens more than you’d think. Jerry Jones in fact recruited his current head coach Jason Garrett back in 2008 after the Baltimore Ravens had already offered Garrett the job.
But it does make me wonder if the picture of how things are to be run in the Eagles front office is just a little too blurry right now in order to sell a top flight up-and-coming coaching candidate on coming here.
It will all play out. But for one glorious weekend it was fun to just watch the sport of football—and not dwell on the back office stuff that comes with a losing record. Someday we’ll be back in the hunt for playoff wins instead of new coaching hires. That said, I’m a Big Red Chieves Fan for the next week—Doug Pederson notwithstanding.
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