The Honeymoon is over, so now what?
The script had wrote itself! Usually sitting at 4-9-1 a team is looking forward to next year. Yet, because the Eagles are participants in one of the worst divisions in NFL history, a playoff berth was in reach. Despite coming off a heart wrenching loss, with the next two opponents being divisional foes, the task was simple. Win and you’re in. Lose and you’re out. Daunting, yet accomplishable; as far as the Eagles were concerned, their destiny was in their own hands.
But this? This was a book that we’ve read so many times before. The Eagles fall behind in the standings early in the season, only for them to flip the switch just in time for their annual playoff push. The new norm is what they call it right? Sure a different quarterback has been inserted into the equation, but this wouldn’t be the first time.
In fact:
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That would make Jalen Hurts the third different quarterback in four years to make a playoff appearance for the Philadelphia Eagles. That’s right you read that correctly three different playoff appearances with three different quarterback. There are many head coaches that haven’t made a playoff run with one quarterback, let alone two. But three? That’s almost unheard of. Of course that says more about head coach Doug Pederson, than it does about any quarterback but we’ll touch on that in a few. As of now, back to the guy who was the current QB1. While Hurts provided the offense a much needed spark, there was more to this than what meets the eye. Truth be told, the quarterback play of the Philadelphia Eagles looked drastically better since the change, according to the eye test but how much better was it really?
Still left on the schedule? A matchup against a Dallas Cowboys team that the Eagles had defeated prior this year and a matchup against the Washington Football Team, with massive quarterback problems. Well it took the Eagles all of one game to ruin any hopes of a playoff run. A 17-37 defeat at the hands of the arch rival Cowboys saw the Birds eliminated from post season contention in 2020. The next chapter of the story? Something none of us saw coming.
There was reassurance of a Pederson return from both respected sources and Pederson himself.
“In regard to my status, obviously Jeffrey and I have a lot of conversations throughout the season. Our main focus is on this season right now currently. And really my confidence lies in myself, that I know exactly how to get things fixed. We’ve won a lot of games around here, been in the postseason three out of the five years I’ve been here and a championship and all that. I’ve seen it, I’ve done it. That’s where my confidence lies. So these conversations that we’re talking about will be at the appropriate time.” – Doug Pederson (December 28, 2020)
Then there was the odd situation where many of the Eagles key players were listed on the injury report prior to the teams week 17 meeting with the Washington Football Team, signifying that Philadelphia was waving the white flag on the 2020 season. This despite the NFL flexing the contest to Sunday Night Football, and while the NFL couldn’t have been happy about that, they almost certainly weren’t happy when Pederson decided to insert Nate Sudfield in place of Hurts; who almost immediately killed any chance Philadelphia had at victory. Thus causing a massive public outrage from the national media and those around the league.
All this just for news to break that Pederson’s job was not as safe as reports initially described, following his first meeting with owner Jeffrey Lurie. Thus all leading up to Pederson’s eventual firing after reports surfaced that Lurie was ‘unimpressed’ with Pederson’s plans to right the wrongs of this season.
So here we are, just three short years after Doug Pederson bought the first Lombardi Trophy in franchise history to Philadelphia, following the first season that Pederson has missed the playoffs in the last four seasons. The Philadelphia Eagles are now in search of a head coach. Certainly not what anyone expect heading into the 2020 season. Now with Doug Pederson out, the honeymoon is officially over in Philadelphia, so long to the era of underdogs, Philly Special’s, and ‘new norms’. Now all that is left are questions; starting with, what’s next?
Well for starters the Eagles need to figure out who will be the head coach for the foreseeable future. But the thing is, Philadelphia doesn’t just any head coach. They don’t need the next great offensive mind or a defensive guru. While each of those options would make sense given the state of the roster, the Eagles need a leader of men. Someone the players will rally around and play for, and while you can make the argument that Philadelphia had exactly what it was looking for in Pederson. Reports suggest that Pederson’s approach intended on a quick fix roster turn around that included Press Taylor as the offensive coordinator and Matt Burke or Cory Undlin as the defensive coordinator. However, based on Lurie’s comments during his press conference following Pederson’s dismissal; it sounds like the Eagles are in line for a rebuild over the next few years.
“I would say we changed our balance as a franchise between short, mid and long term. The way we’ve created the success and been able to have the success we’ve had has been thinking mainly in the mid term and long term and making unpopular short-term decisions at times. And we got away from that, understandably, because when you have competed to win a Super Bowl and you want to retain emotionally and physically the people that helped bring us all there, and if you remember, there were a lot of people injured that year and we very much wanted to bring them all back to be able to participate the following year in trying to win another one… We haven’t had that balance. We have much more erred towards giving up a draft pick for an immediate infusion at a position or drafting for a specific position because we thought it was our biggest weakness, or a trait that we thought was our biggest weakness. I don’t regret any of that, but I know where we’re at.”
So with questions of a rebuild comes the obvious questions at the quarterback position, starting with the $100 million man — Carson Wentz. Will he or will he not be on the roster this upcoming season? Well don’t ask Lurie who deflected the question when asked stating “I don’t think any owner should decide that.” Of course this did nothing but further speculation that Carson Wentz could possibly seek to be traded, even despite the departure of Doug Pederson. With the emergence of Jalen Hurts and the team currently holding the sixth overall pick in the upcoming draft, Lurie sounded as if all options were on the table for whoever is the next head coach in Philadelphia. Of course Lurie did his best to endorse Wentz stating “Carson, to us, to me, and to I think virtually everybody in our organization, is a quarterback that his first four years was in many ways elite and comparable to some of the great quarterbacks’ first four years in the league.” Yet the Eagles owner didn’t sound like a man ready to declare Wentz victor of the war.
“On the quarterback situation, we’ve got two really interesting assets. They’re both young. They’re both hungry. They’re, you know, terrific people. Very different and terrific people. Coach is going to have options. Coach is going to have an ability to fix what he feels is necessary in our offense and have a potential star in Carson and a potential star in Jalen. And that gives us an asset also. So, then if we end up deciding on one someday, the other is a really good asset.”
While reports have surfaced that Lurie was generally the only one in the building that wanted Pederson fired. The fact that the decision was made about a week later than the typical ‘Black Monday’; following week 17, the Eagles look like a team behind the eight ball, scrambling for interviews, while the top candidates are either already off the board or are circling the block for second interviews. The fact that the team has no cap space, feature a limited supply of youthful talent, and comes with pesky general manager and meddling owner, why exactly would anyone want this job?
“First of all I would think it’s a very, very attractive job because if I’m a coach, first thing you want to know is if you’re going to have as much resources as possible to create a successful team; are the facilities good; what’s the organization’s track record over the last ten, 20 years, are they a team that rarely makes the playoffs, are they a team that’s satisfied to occasionally make the playoffs, how many division titles do they have, do they ever get as far in the playoffs in the way they build their roster or is it just one-and-done or did they get to championship games and Super Bowls and things like that. That’s what I’m looking for…”
They say it’s always sunny in Philadelphia, however with the most important off-season in recent memory looming, the pressure is on for the Eagles brass to make the right decision. For the third time in eight years Howie Roseman will lead the charge in Philadelphia’s search for a new head coach. How Roseman has made it through four coaching changes unscathed? There of course is the narrative that Roseman is the master manipulator and blame deflector. However, it sounds as if Lurie maybe more involved in some of the teams day to day operations than originally believed. If that’s the case, it’s understandable why Roseman doesn’t get a lion’s share of the blame from Lurie, because he may be just as much of the problem in Philadelphia. Whoever the next coach is will have his hands filled trying to bring the Eagles back to prominence. Replacing Pederson leaves some huge shoes to fill, as seen by the Lombardi showcased at the Novacare Complex or the 9ft statue located outside of Lincoln Financial Field. Sometimes change is necessary however and as one source put it following Pederson departure “all this might be for the best.” However it turns out Jeffrey Lurie is taking a leap of faith on the generally unknown. History has shown with the firing of Andy Reid sometimes the grass isn’t greener on the other side, only time will tell if he made the same mistake with Pederson.
Featured Image: Kris Connor/Getty Images
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