Is Doug Pederson Feeling the Pressure?
Boy does life come at you fast.
It seems like it was just yesterday, we watched a head coach that a certain someone declared to be “the most-least qualified to coach a team than anyone I’ve seen in my 30+ years in the NFL” defy the odds.
Of course, we all know how that story ended; Doug Pederson leading an undervalued Eagles roster to a Super Bowl victory, all while spearheading the massive leap in the development of his second-year quarterback and creating an offense tailor-made to the strengths of the backup quarterback once his starter went down. Innovative, fearless, the NFL’s next great literary hero. These are just a few terms used to describe Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson as he took the league by storm in just his second season as a head coach.
Hell, it took the man two years to get a Lombardi trophy on his resume. Do you understand the significance behind this? For context, it took his mentor and former Eagles coach Andy Reid 21 season as a head coach to achieve this milestone.
Yet, here we are with Reid’s very own upstart, wet behind the ears prodigy making it look so easy and eviscerating a few haters in the process. Truly, you can’t make these things up. Not impressed? Well, for his second trick Pederson showed the critics how to create adversity and how to make it disappear within the blink of an eye.
Fresh off a Super Bowl campaign, in 2018 Pederson watched his Eagles unit sit 6-7 with many starters including Wentz, once again sidelined by injury. So once again Pederson became reacquainted with Foles, only to see Philadelphia come arguably one Alshon Jeffery reception away from a second consecutive NFC championship appearance. So what could Pederson possibly do in 2019 that even comes close to topping or matching his two previous seasons? Well, what’s the best way to top a 6-7 turnaround? Can I offer you a 5-7 turnaround? See after a loss to a team, who after the first half of the season made an argument for the worst team ever, Pederson once again galvanized the troops leading the Eagles to four consecutive victories in en route to the second NFC East title of his tenure.
Fast forward to the modern-day and the Eagles sit at 0-2 for the first time since 2015. Following two crushing losses to the Football Team and Rams, Doug Pederson’s Eagles once again have their backs against the wall. Surely no problem for a team and a coach who has essentially made a career out of defying the odds when the doubters voted them out. They say pressure can burst pipes or pressure can make diamonds. So when you take a look at the impressive resume Pederson has been able to build over his five years as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, there is no denying that Jeffrey Lurie hit on a diamond with this hire back in January of 2016.
However, what they don’t tell you about diamonds? Sooner or later they’ll begin to deprecate. Nonsense, this is Doug Pederson we’re talking about right? Leader of men and the head underdog himself. There’s no storm this team can’t weather as long as Pederson is the coach, right? Which is what makes it so unexplainable why this time feels so different from the rest. This was supposed the first season since 2017 where the Eagles put together a complete season from start to finish. Maybe not necessarily another Super Bowl campaign, but when Carson Wentz head into the season generally healthy and with a complete offensive skillset unit (minus Alshon Jeffery), Jim Schwartz has his fingerprints on many of the off-season moves made by Philadelphia, and of course Pederson leading the way. Philadelphia sitting winless heading into the final week of September is not what anyone expected.
So, the Eagles are facing a little bit of adversity? Big deal, nothing new for Pederson.
Philadelphia is a veteran group and just like their coach, these veterans would like to say they perform at their best
Though it does come off as a bit concerning when you hear that there are some around the league that feel like Pederson has reached his peak.
“There are some rumblings from people inside the league who I spoke with earlier this week who feel that Doug Pederson may have reached his limit. Doug Pederson may be stressed out a little bit. Basically, it’s not going to get any better for Doug Pederson,” – Tony Pauline
Pederson says players are “mad” and “they’re upset that they’re in this position”. Well, maybe they aren’t the only ones feeling this way. There were a lot of interesting things that come from the quote, but the word that seems to stick the most is stressed. This year there’s been no mention of Haagen-Dazs quirk or anything funny about Doug Pederson’s press conferences as of late.
Pederson has been more aggressive in his tone with reporters.
“As I said, I think either this morning or after the game, I can’t remember now, but those guys in that locker room are mad. They are upset that we’re 0-2 and in this position. But nobody’s going to feel sorry for the Philadelphia Eagles or feel sorry for me. I’m going to come here every day and take your questions. You may not like the answers, but I don’t care, quite frankly, and what I care about is our team, right and getting our team prepared to play the Bengals this Sunday.”
During the Wednesday press conference following the week one loss to Washington, Pederson seemed to look fatigued and stressed (there goes that word again).
Then there was this awkward exchange.
This isn’t the Doug Pederson we’ve come to know and love. It seems as if he’s fighting an internal battle both on the field and off it. Could it be possible that Pederson is finally feeling the pressure? It’s hard to imagine the coach that bought the first Super Bowl to the city of Philadelphia and is coming off a third consecutive playoff appearance is on the ‘hot seat’. However, the Eagles start of this season has the continued success of Pederson’s “new norm” prophecy in jeopardy.
Is the season over for Philadelphia? Not by any stretch. There is over 75% of the season left to play out. Which gives the coach and quarterback more than enough time to get on the same page. Time and time again Doug Pederson’s squads have proven to be as battle-tested and resilient and they come. If it makes you feel any better, the success that Philadelphia saw during the Reid-McNabb regime is widely known.
Well, just like this year as we enter the fifth season of the Pederson-Wentz era winless; Reid and McNabb began their fifth season in a similar fashion.
http://twitter.com/dariusdaulton/status/1308078022902214656?s=21
History has a way of repeating itself, right? The Eagles in recent years have pounded the significance of installing a winning culture (something Nigel Bradham didn’t think they had), and up to this point, you can make the argument that they’ve practiced what they preached. It may not have been the prettiest but only the Patriots, Chiefs, and Saints have playoff streaks tying or eclipsing the Eagles active consecutive playoff appearance streak. Still, this could be considered Doug Pederson’s greatest challenge. It’s worth noting that only 12 percent of teams have made the playoffs following an 0-2 start since the league expanded the playoff format in 1990. At 0-3 the odds become drastically lower, as there have only been six teams in this history of the league to complete what seems to be the impossible.
The public seems to believe Pederson is showing cracks in his poker face, He has a franchise quarterback that is playing some of the worst football of his career and an offense that seems to give the ball to the other team more than their own; as proven by the 24 points allowed off six turnovers. Does he have his work cut out for him? Yes. Is the pressure mounting? More and more with every single day that passes without an Eagles victory. But this is nothing new for the Eagles head coach, another year, another chance to add another moment to his growing legacy in Philadelphia. Adversity builds character, something Pederson knows very well.
In fact, if he could steal words of basketball phenom Kevin Durant to address the concerns surround the building concern, it would sound something like:
“I’m Doug Pederson. You know who I am. Y’all know who I am.”
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